It’s All About Maroon
 
There is as much myth as there is truth surrounding the history of Fordham’s college color.  One thing is known for certain – maroon was not the original color – magenta was.  Magenta was used on the uniforms of the Fordham’s “Baseball Nines.”
 
However, magenta was also used by Fordham arch rival, Harvard.  Both institutions claimed prior right to use magenta, and neither institution was willing to make concessions.  Since it was “improper” for the two schools to be wearing the same colors, the matter was to be settled by a series of baseball games.  The winning team could lay claim to magenta and the losing team would have to find another color.  Fordham won the series, but Harvard reneged on its promise.
 
That was the situation in 1874 when the student body gathered at the College to meet Rev. William Gockeln, S.J., the newly installed College president.  One of the matters discussed at the historic meeting was the choosing of an official College color that would belong to Fordham and Fordham alone.  With matters at a standstill, Stephen Wall, class of 1875, suggested maroon, a color that was not used widely at the time. 
 
In a letter that Wall subsequently wrote to the editors of the Fordham Monthly in 1907, he stated, “I was asked what maroon was, and the only way I could explain it was that it looked something like claret wine with sun shining through it, but I said that, if I was given time, I would produce a piece of maroon ribbon.  So I was accorded the privilege, and wrote to my sister to send me a piece of maroon ribbon and velvet.”
 
These samples came in due course and were submitted to the committee.  It received the unanimous approval of the committee, was adopted, and has been the color that has carried Fordham through many a victory.  An ironic footnote: Harvard also stopped using magenta in favor of crimson.
 
Why the Ram?
 
One of Fordham’s oldest traditions has an intriguing history.  It has to do with the origin of the RAM as a symbol of the university.  Whence come our ARIES?
 
The answer is from a team cheer, the first organized Fordham cheer.  It was a spring afternoon in 1883.  The Fordham nine (baseball) were playing against the United State Military Academy at West Point.  The student began cheering: One-Dam, Two-Dam, Three-Dam…. FORDHAM!!!!
 
The cheer was a unanimous hit with the students.  However, the Jesuit faculty felt the cheer was not in keeping with the image of Fordham gentlemen.  Unwilling to give up the cheer entirely, the students found “RAM” a suitable rhyme for “dam”, and thus today, the athletic teams are known as the Fordham Rams.



 
Ring the Bell
 
One of the classic traditions of any win by a Fordham team is the ringing of the Victory Bell, located just in front of the Rose Hill Gym.  The bell is also rung at the start of the Commencement procession each May.
 
The Victory Bell was the ship bell of the Japanese warship JUNYO, and presented to Fordham by Admiral Chester Nimitz.  President Harry S. Truman became the first to ring the bell on campus in 1946.
 
Fordham Ram Fight Song
 
The Fordham Ram Fight Song was written and composed by John Ignatius Coveney, A.B. 1906.  Coveney died in 1911 at the young age of 26, but was fondly remembered by his classmates.  A plaque at the entrance to the Rose Hill Gym was dedicated to Coveney by his classmates of 1906 on their 25^th reunion on June 13, 1931.  The fight song has seen minor edits over the years with the last in 2013 to reflect that we are all Rams!

 
Lyrics

Hail! Rams of Fordham, Hail!
On to the fray!
Once more our foes assail in strong array;
Once more the old Maroon Wave on high;
We’ll sing our battle song: We do, or die!
 
With a Ram, a Ram, a Ram for loyalty!
With a Ram, a Ram, a Ram for victory!
To the fight, the fight, To win our laurels bright!
 
Hail! Rams of Fordham, Hail!
On to the fray!
Once more our foes assail in strong array;
Once more the old Maroon Wave on high;
We’ll sing our battle song: We do, or die!