FSU football: Marching Chiefs offer help to Kansas City Chiefs War Chant
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football has the pleasure of having the FSU Marching Chiefs to bring a joyous noise to the fans and players during the games.
FSU football and the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs share some similarities in that both have ties to Native American culture.
The Chiefs originated in 1959 had their first season in 1960 and of course the Noles were around well before that.
Kansas City did have someone named Bob Johnson with a full Native American headdress riding a horse bareback around the stadium first. The Noles actually adopted that from San Diego State according to Bobby Bowden on the Bowden Dynasty documentary.
However, the FSU Marching Chiefs introduced the War Chant at an Auburn game in 1984 and now it’s one of the most iconic traditions in college football along with the Tomahawk Chop.
Here’s footage of how it’s supposed to go down with FSU football fans at Doak Campbell Stadium.
The Kansas City Chiefs starting using the War Chant at games sometime after 1990 when they first heard FSU grad Al Sergel directing the song with the Northwest Missouri State Band.
The Chiefs earned their first Super Bowl appearance in 50 years with a come from behind victory over the Tennessee Titans Sunday afternoon.
Apparently, they need some work on how to properly perform the War Chant at their games, and the Marching Chiefs were kind enough to offer their services since they are the originators.
Thoughts
I thought that was a great job by whoever runs the Marching Chiefs Twitter account. It was polite and subtle but also lets people know who the experts in performing the song are.
I’m biased, but it is one of the most riveting moments in all of sports when attending a game in person. There’s nothing like when the Marching Chiefs play and it reverberates through the stadium!
If you’re going to borrow it, do it right or don’t use it at all Kansas City! However, I’ll give them a pass this time since they are going to the Super Bowl and there are two former Noles on the team in Derrick Nnadi and Cam Erving.