100 years ago, John Byrd “Button” Salmon left the 1926 football team with one final message before his passing. “Tell them […] tell them to bear down.” 100 years later, athletes, fans, students, alumni and all of Tucson have continued to keep this message alive.
Salmon was the student body president and quarterback of the 1926 team. After a win against the freshmen team in an annual scrimmage, he took a trip to Phoenix. Upon returning, he got into a car crash and became paralyzed from the chest down, passing away 2 weeks later. Prior to the accident, Salmon’s coach J.F. “Pop” McKale had visited him and asked what word he should take back to the team. That’s when the Arizona rally cry was born.
Students quickly adopted this motto, leading them to paint bear down on top of the gymnasium, now known as Bear Down Gymnasium. Former band director Jack K. Lee saw the motto on the roof from his airplane, which inspired him to write “Bear Down, Arizona,” putting a melody behind the iconic motto.
While saying bear down might come naturally, most don’t know why it is said. In an effort to inform all incoming students about the tradition, this story has become a staple fact for campus tours.
“It’s because a lot of people, when they’re coming here, they don’t know why we say bear down,” Arizona Ambassador Rachel Zorer said. “It’s such a big part of our history, like our Bear Down building. You’ll notice our bear down sign that’s kind of near the library, it’ll have a little plaque that says why we say bear down, but a lot of people are just coming in wondering ‘why do you say bear down when you’re the Wildcats?’ That confuses a lot of people.”
Whether you took a tour before starting at the University of Arizona or are just walking around campus, you’ve probably heard an Arizona Ambassador singing “Bear Down, Arizona” and sharing the history behind the motto. This is done for all tours and always sung in front of the gym because the lyrics are engraved into the steps. According to Zorer, this sets them apart from other tour groups and they’re known as the singing tour guides; something they joke about with their group at the beginning of their tour.
“You really notice people start to loosen up and get more comfortable with you after you sing to them because you’re kind of putting yourself in a vulnerable position singing to a big group of people you’ve never met before,” Zorer said. “We always say at the beginning of the tours, ‘I need you to cheer and clap for me at the end like you just saw your favorite artist in concert’ […]. Some people get really into it and they just love it, like parents eat it up. Sometimes they’ll record you while you’re singing, but it’s definitely one of my favorite parts, especially with a good tour group. Just seeing the way people laugh and light up afterwards.”
Tucson takes pride in its university and this saying brings the entire city together — whether you are just starting at the university, or graduated decades ago. Alumni groups can also be found outside of Arizona, sporting the logo or iconic motto and coming together to say bear down.
“Something that we always like to say too is that Tucson really rallies around the University of Arizona. I think we’ve seen that especially with the Final Four and everything. Just the way people have really shown out for this university and the way it’s such a big part of what Tucson is. I really like to emphasize that on my tours and just kind of embody that spirit of this is what we really care about and it’s not just the university that cares about this, it’s the whole city that really rallies around the community,” Zorer said.
The UA is celebrating Bear Down 100 by remembering important achievements from the university within the past 100 years. Remarkable events include the return of the OSIRIS-REx mission in 2023, the opening of the Center for Creative Photography in 1975 and the NCAA National Championship win in 1997.
Heard around stadiums and campus, read on t-shirts and signs and sung aloud with the Pride of Arizona, bear down has remained as important to the UA and Tucson community as it did in 1926.
Follow the Daily Wildcat on Instagram and Twitter/X
