Thunder of the East-UB's marching band-is finally singing victory.

The Victory March, that is.

Victory March (Fight Song) Music (1956) and Words (2000) by Robert Mols Published by John Zaepfel, UB Marching Band Fight, fight for Buffalo, be proud to fight for your dear Blue and White. So Hit 'em high! Hit 'em low! Throw 'em high! Throw 'em low! Fight for your dear old Bulls! Huh! Cheer, cheer for Buffalo, our spirit will be with you 'til the end. So play the game as best you can for the glory of our dear Buffalo!

Words to the university's official fight song, lost for some time, have been restored by the composer of the original march after one band member decided it was time to resurrect words to the faithful tune.

Computer science major John Zaepfel, who plays tuba with the marching band, said he's always been interested in band history at UB. And a jab from Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly-"even Buffalo doesn't know the lyrics to Buffalo's (fight song)"-didn't exactly hurt his cause, either. A former member of UB's pep band and now a member of the marching band-since its return after a nearly-30-year hiatus-Zaepfel's interest led him to the march's composer, Robert Mols, associate professor emeritus of music.

"I kind of got curious, went into the archive, found a lot of information on the alma mater, but nothing on 'Victory,'" said Zaepfel, an admitted school-spirit fanatic who is completing his final semester at UB. "I decided to talk to (the) composer."

And so Mols, who in 1953 helped establish-along with Cameron Baird and Herbert Beattie-the Department of Music at UB, was called upon by Zaepfel to write a new set of words for the music he composed in 1956.

"He told me there were original words to 'Victory,' but that he did not write them and did not have copies," Zaepfel explained.

Presumed lost forever, Mols set upon the task of crafting a punchy new set of lyrics for the march.

	John Zaepfel enlisted the help of Robert Mols, emeritus music department faculty member, to restore the words to UB’s Victory March.
photo: Nancy J. Parisi

"I've been retired for 17 years, so I was thrilled to...do the job. Writing the lyrics was no big deal-it was fun," said Mols, who during his career at UB actually conducted the marching band for three years. That was before the university dropped Division I-A football in 1970. The band, cut off from funding, exited in 1972. And while football returned in 1977 at the Division III level, a formal marching band did not. Not until last year did the full-blown fanfare of UB's old-school marching band, Pride of the East, re-emerge under a new name. This year, it has a new song.

"It was easy—I remembered a couple of the punch lines—'Victory,' and 'Go Bulls,'" Mols said, admitting he did take into account the Bulls' record and afforded himself a dash of good-natured fun.

"I got a couple little nicks in there," he said, somewhat sheepishly. "The band, they do a bang-up job. At least if the game is a loss, you see a good half-time show," he quipped. "They keep it going all through the game."

Zaepfel said while the band always played the strictly instrumental version of the march, it now does an a capella rendition of the song during half-time and throughout the game.

"We're not a very talented group of singers, so it's pretty much sing it the best we can," he said.

The real kicker of the story, however, is what happened when the marching band presented the new words to President William R. Greiner at his home this summer.

As luck would have it, someone just happened to have what they were looking for all along.

"President Greiner's wife...said these are much better words than the original," Mols said, laughing over the irony that of all people who should have the old lyrics, it was the wife of the man to whom the new lyrics were presented.

No matter for Mols, who was delighted to update the song-a decided detour from his years of classical-music instruction.

"I enjoyed putting it together...(it's) good enough, solid enough-(the words) hit home, they hit all of the points.

"Now, it's up to the Bulls to make some points," he said, partaking in a little more of that good-natured humor.