September 27, 1946: CHARGE!

Tommy Walker

September 27, 1946: The familiar sports sound of, "Da da da DAT da DAH! Charge!" makes its debut.

Thomas Luttgen Walker was born on November 8, 1922 in Milwaukee. This Tommy Walker is not the character from The Who's rock opera Tommy. But this one also has a musical legacy, connected to sports. Both a placekicker on the University of Southern California football team and a trumpeter in the school's marching band, he wrote a fanfare that he said was a combination of cavalry charge calls and "The Call to the Post" at horse races.

After playing it, "Da da da DAT da DAH!" he would yell, "Trojan warriors, charge!" That night, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, USC opened their season by beating Washington State, 13-7. Eventually, the "Trojan warriors" part was dropped, and it is now universally known as "Charge!"

Walker later became the director of events at nearby Disneyland, produced the Opening Ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games in his adopted hometown of Los Angeles, and died in 1986, shortly after producing the TV broadcast of the Centennial celebrations for the Statue of Liberty.

A New York Yankees legend said that Eddie Layton invented "Charge!" when he debuted as Yankee Stadium organist in 1967. He didn't, and never claimed he did. But, at that time, he did invent the rhythm that gets played there before "Charge!": "DUN dun dun dun DUN dun dun dun... " Mike Burke, then president of the Yankees, heard the fans clapping along with it, and told him to make it a regular thing. He did, and began following it with "Charge!" He remained at the Stadium organ until 2003, and died a year later.

Eddie Layton

Sports Illustrated cleared the matter up in a 1990 article, showing that it was Tommy Walker who created "Charge!"

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September 27, 1946 was a Friday. Aside from USC's win over "Wazzu," there were 8 college football games played:

* Auburn beat Southern Mississippi, 13-12 at Cliff Hare Stadium (now Jordan-Hare Stadium) in Auburn, Alabama.

* Drake University beat Texas Western University (now the University of Texas at El Paso, or UTEP), 7-2 at the Sun Bowl in El Paso.

* Furman beat Wofford, 31-0 at Sirrine Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina.

* Georgia beat Clemson, 35-12 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia.

* The University of Houston beat West Texas A&M, 14-12 at Buffalo Stadium in Canyon, Texas.

* Kansas beat the University of Denver, 21-13 at Hilltop Stadium in Denver.

* The University of Miami beat William & Mary, 13-3 at Burdine Stadium (later renamed the Orange Bowl) in Miami.

* And Wake Forest beat Boston College, 12-6 at Alumni Field (predecessor to Alumni Stadium) outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

There were 6 baseball games played that day:

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Washington Senators, 5-4 at Fenway Park in Boston. Ted Williams went 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 8-0 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Joe Beggs pitches a 5-hit shutout

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-8 at Briggs Stadium in Detroit (renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961). Hank Greenberg went 0-for-4 with a walk. Bob Feller pitched 5 innings in relief of Bob Kuzava. If you know of Feller as one of the greatest starting pitchers of all time, and of Kuzava as a fine reliever for the New York Yankees in the early 1950s, and this seems strange to you, it gets stranger: Kuzava was credited with the win, despite not going 5 innings, and Feller with the save. Under today's rules, Feller would have been given the win.

* The Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns at Comiskey Park in Chicago, 7-3 and 8-3.

* And the Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Cardinals won the National League Pennant, anyway, and beat the Red Sox in the World Series.