WVU photo The Mountaineer Marching Band spells out ‘Let’s Go!’ at the WVU-Pitt game in September of this year.

MORGANTOWN — It’s only two words. OK, three if you include the traditional response.

But these 18 letters are instantly recognizable to over 210,000 West Virginia University graduates (and even more fans) worldwide.

Whether you’re at a football game at Milan Puskar Stadium or even in the most unusual places, such as the palace of a Middle Eastern totalitarian (more on that later), they capture the essence of being a Mountaineer.

“Let’s Go!” is a greeting. A not-so-secret passphrase into the Mountaineer Nation. Along with the Flying WV and “Country Roads,” it makes up the holy trifecta of WVU emotional symbolism.

What’s the history of this simple yet powerful phrase? Why has it become so much more than a sports cheer? When did it become popular, and who was responsible?

In the beginning …

Like the start of many traditions, the true origin of “Let’s Go!” is a bit murky.

According to WVU traditions, it’s: “A rousing cheer at WVU athletic events led by the Mountaineer cheerleaders and mascot. One side chants ‘Let’s Go’ and the other side responds ‘Mountaineers.'”

And Wikipedia, surely the source of all knowledge, somewhat mechanically describes it as:

“The ‘Let’s Go … Mountaineers’ cheer originated at home football games as a competition between opposite sides of the stadium. The student side of the stadium chants ‘Let’s Go …’, and the press box side responds ‘Mountaineers.’ The chant can continue for long periods of time, as each side of the stadium tries to keep the chant from fading. The cheer has spread to other athletic events including basketball and soccer.”

Call-and-response cheers are a pretty basic part of sports, and including your team’s name seems obvious. But when did the phrase become part of Mountaineer tradition?

Joe Swan, senior director of WVU Athletics Publications/Design said, “From my perspective, I started following the Mountaineers early in the Don Nehlen era and remember it from that time period. I never saw a game at Old Mountaineer Field, so I’m not sure if it was something created for the new stadium or if it had been used Downtown.”

Let’s revisit Old Mountaineer Field

“Old” Mountaineer Field, located where Field Hall is now, was the downtown stadium home of WVU football from 1924 until “new” Mountaineer Stadium opened in 1980. It heard decades of “Let’s Go Mountaineers!” chants, according to Jay Redmond, who has only missed 2 home football games since 1966 [Wow!]. He attended both WVU and the WVU College of Law (and later owned Jay’s Daily Grind and other establishments in town): “I wouldn’t be able to give you the exact date. It was sometime in the early 1960s.

“I was probably about 7 or 8 years old. And that was a time when, not like modern college athletics, there was a gate at the old Mountaineer Field that you could sort of show up at, and if you were a kid, they kind of turned their head to let you go in … they also let us run on the field after the game. And that’s when I was first exposed to it. I remember seeing it and hearing it live.”

He remembers that “Old Mountaineer Field was a much more intimate stadium. It only sat about 30,000. And it was a bowl. Very like a horseshoe. The cheer used to be done by everybody at the same time. I don’t know how it really started like way back, clear back to the beginning of the stadium. There was a long, drawn-out cheer. It didn’t sound the way it sounds today.

“The old cheer made the hair on your back of your neck stand up, because it was kind of eerie and long and drawn out … the Mountaineer is down on the field, but he would pump his fist to sort it to the time of the chant. A lot of the fans did in the stands, too. It was like, ‘Let’s Goooooo Mountaineeeers.’ But when the crowd was doing it, it was really effective. And very unique.”

Let’s look at some yearbooks

There isn’t a single “Let’s Go!” in the 1971 or 1972 Monticola WVU yearbooks (but 1972 does show lots of miniskirts, muttonchops, and nude female photos that appear for no apparent reason). Nothing in the 1975 edition either, except plenty of plaid polyester, which even covered the male WVU cheerleaders. Nada in 1979.

But by 1980, the phrase appears quite a few times in the yearbook. “‘Let’s Go Mountaineers!’ boomed the crowd at the Lair Thuse,” is the caption for a photo of a pep rally that shares the page with an image of someone dressed as Darth Vader leading the Homecoming parade on High Street. Another caption earnestly claims that, “Spirit comes in many forms: it can be a fan’s shrilling scream of ‘Let’s Go Mountaineers!’; an athlete’s determined will to ‘go for it’; a reporter’s insight to get a good story for the school’s newspaper; a student’s desire to learn and apply that knowledge.”

The phrase was used twice more in this publication, once describing the yell of student Junior Taylor at a basketball game, and another time to describe the spirit the Mountainettes [a white go-go-boots-wearing dance troupe] conveyed at a basketball game against Robert Morris.

Let’s hear the Mountaineer

The Mountaineer has always been strongly connected to the “Let’s Go!” chant at all Mountaineer Fields, WVU venues, and beyond. Current Mountaineer Cade Kincaid, an accounting major from Fayetteville, feels deeply about all things WVU, including “Let’s Go!”:

“[It] feels like more than just words. To me it’s the call that represents the pride, unity, and the spirit of West Virginia. It reminds me that no matter where we come from, we all share the same love for this state, University, and its unmatched people.

“I grew up in a household with 2 WVU alumni parents who are some of the biggest Mountaineer fans you’ll ever meet. Growing up in southern West Virginia, getting to the games wasn’t easy, but that never stopped us from watching in person or on TV. Every Saturday, we’d make a spread of snacks and dedicate the whole day to WVU football, and I remember watching the TV and seeing the crowd do the chant. It gave me the same feeling then that it gives me now. As a kid, I was in awe that just 2 words could spark something so powerful.”

What does it feel like to be able to get thousands of people to yell “Let’s Go!”?

“It honestly feels surreal. When I’m on the field and I am looking to my left and right, seeing how this chant brings everyone together just hits me in such a powerful way.”

WVU photo
Mountaineer mascot Cade Kincaid chants ‘Let’s Go!’