Building Men forn Others: Alma Mater

Several parents have commented that they like to see the players do the alma later after each of our games.  But what led to us doing the alma mater?

Webster's Dictionary defines the word Alma Mater as: 1) The school, college, or university that one has attended.  2) The anthem of an institution of higher learning.

Patrick Henry is my alma mater.  I take great pride in graduating from our school.  As a young boy, I followed Patrick Henry Football and I looked up to them while I played Pop Warner football at Alvarado.  I followed their championship runs in the mid 70's and I looked forward to playing at Patrick Henry.

Once I got to Henry as a student/athlete, there was a tradition after every game for the players to stand in front of the band, with our helmets off.  The band would play the alma mater and everybody (fans and players) would sing the alma mater.  Win or lose, we would stand in front of the band and pay homage to the band and to Patrick Henry High School.

When I returned to coach here in 2009, I was up in the press box for the Varsity Homecoming game.  The game started with a young man singing the alma mater.  I sang along with him...  But nobody knew what the song was or what the words were.  How sad.

I am proud to have Patrick Henry as my alma mater.  So I took it upon myself to change the culture of Patrick Henry Football.  I taught last year's Freshman team how to sing the alma mater.  We finished the season with a win over Hilltop HS for the last game of the year.  After the game, our players sang the alma mater and took great pride in being from Patrick Henry.

I have done the same for this year's team.  I want the players to take great pride in being from Patrick Henry.  The alma mater is our version of the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem. 

So this week, I have been singing Mira Mesa's alma mater.  Our players got together and began to sing the Patrick Henry alma mater as to drown me out.  They do take pride in their school.  They know what school spirit is all about.

ON OUR CITY’S EASTERN BORDER

MIDST THE HILLS AND THE SKY

HOME OF THE VALIANT PATRIOTS

PATRICK HENRY HIGH.

IN OUR MANY HALLS OF LEARNING,

ON OUR FIELDS OF PLAY,

GOALS OF EXCELLENCE AND HONOR

ALWAYS LEAD THE WAY.

AS WE MARCH ALONG TOGETHER

LET’S BE BRAVE AND BOLD.

ALL HAIL TO PATRICK HENRY HIGH SCHOOL

HAIL TO THE GREEN AND GOLD.