NEWS

NEWBERRY — The Newberry College Alma Mater is celebrating a full century of stirring the hearts of students and alumni alike. The song was composed in 1923 by the historian and musician Gilbert P. Voigt, a 1903 Newberry College graduate. He wrote the lyrics while he served as a professor of modern languages and as an accompanist for the glee club.

Voigt derived the tune from Gustav Luders' two-act musical, "The Prince of Pilsen," which debuted on Broadway in 1903. The romantic comedy was adapted for a silent film by the same name in 1926.

After graduating from Newberry, Voigt earned graduate degrees from Southern Theological Seminary and the University of Virginia, and he completed graduate work at the University of Leipzig in Germany. He served on the Newberry College faculty three separate times — 1907-19, 1921-23, and 1948-54 — in which he taught English literature, French and German. He also served as Newberry's first men's basketball coach from 1911-13, leading the team to the South Carolina state championship in 1912. He received an honorary doctorate during the College's centennial celebration in 1956.

The Alma Mater is traditionally performed at the end of commencement exercises, convocations, football games and more. The Alma Mater is also played on Holland Hall's carillon bells at noon each day. Students, alumni, faculty and staff raise their right hands while singing the last two lines of the second and fourth verses. Listen to the Alma Mater, performed by the College Madrigalians.

Lyrics

Though small nor rich in worldly goods,
Our Alma Mater dear,
We bless thy name, fresh crowned with fame,
In every passing year.

Oh, Newberry, we pledge to thee
Our hearts and hands this day;
Our love, our faith, our loyalty,
Hail, Scarlet and the Gray.
Our love, our faith, our loyalty,
Hail, Scarlet and the Gray.

When years have passed and college days
Become but memories,
Though far or near, we’ll all hold dear
Thy name, thy victories.

Where’er we go, come weal or woe,
For thee we’ll work and pray.
Thy loyal ones we’ll ever hail,
The Scarlet and the Gray.
Thy loyal ones we’ll ever hail,
The Scarlet and the Gray.

In the last stanza, the Board of Trustees changed the word "sons" to "ones" in 1992.

For more information about Homecoming 2023, click here.