Tech Triumph

Last updated April 15, 2022

"Tech Triumph" is the fight song of Virginia Tech. It was composed in 1919 by Wilfred Pete Maddux (class of 1920) and Mattie Eppes (Boggs).^[1]^[2]

Composers

Wilfred Preston ("Pete") Maddux, a trombone and baritone player in the Virginia Tech Regimental Band (member of the band from the Fall of 1917 to 1919), jointly composed "Tech Triumph" (1985 recording - link updated 2008) in 1919 along with Mattie Walton Eppes (Boggs). Mattie Eppes was a neighbor of Pete in his hometown of Blackstone, Virginia. When he was home, Pete would often play violin with Mattie accompanying him on the piano. One evening in the summer of 1919, Pete asked her to help him compose a fight song for VPI. She played the tune and Pete wrote out the score and the words for two verses in a single evening. Pete Maddux is not listed in the yearbook with the band after 1919. Miss Eppes later married John C. Boggs, Superintendent of Randolph-Macon Military Academy.^[3]

First performance

The song was first performed on Saturday, November 1, 1919, before the football game between V.P.I. and Washington and Lee University. The issue of the university newspaper noted:

On arriving at the grounds, the battalion was formed for the review on the football field. After passing in review before the grandstand, the four companies formed a hollow square with the band in the center, and the band played our new song, 'Tech Triumph'.
— Nov. 5, 1919, The Virginia Tech

In a letter to The Virginia Tech published on Dec. 10, 1919, Maddux expressed his appreciation to the student body.

To the Editor of "The Va. Tech,"

Blacksburg, Virginia

Dear Billy [Virginia Tech editor William Clift]

May I take this means of asking you to express through the columns of "The Tech" my sincere appreciation for the generous way in which the Corps received our new song. It is needless to say that the hearty approval of the student body makes me fell highly pleased, for I am quite sure that those who love their Alma Mater are as eager as I am to see the song become more popularly distributed.

While, of course, every one realizes that I expect to benefit financially through the publication of "Tech Triumph", I want every body to know that it is mainly my devotion and love to the college, which I am proud to boast as my Alma Mater, that prompted me to write the song and it is for the sake of "Tech" that I want it to receive a wide circulation. It is more than gratifying to me to see the ardent spirit and loyalty which the Corps manifests when every man lends his lusty voice to swell the chorus of football singing.

You may be interested to know that the college has approved the song officially and a large number of copies will be sent out by the college to high schools throughout the state as an advertisement of the spirit of "Tech." If I will not be presuming too much upon your kindness, may I ask that you help boost the song through "The Virginia Tech," and furthermore that you encourage the men of V.P.I. to join us in spreading our song around the country until V.P.I. will be known throughout the South and the country at large.

Thanking you again for your cooperation in making the publication of "Tech Triumph" a success, ::I am

Yours very cordially,

W.P. Maddux

Other uses

A strain of the Bliss Triumph potato developed for its disease resistance by Virginia Tech researchers in 1926 and was named Tech Triumph.^[4]

Related Research Articles

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Sumner Dewey "Tex" Tilson was an American football player and coach. He served as head football coach at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (VPI)—now known as Virginia Tech—for one season, in 1942, compiling a record of 7–2–1. Tilson also played college football at VPI.

The 1918 VPI Gobblers football team represented Virginia Polytechnic Institute, now known as Virginia Tech, in the 1918 college football season. The 1918 team went 7–0 and claims a South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SAIAA) championship. It is the only team in school history that finished the season with a perfect record.

The 1892 VAMC football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in the 1892 college football season. The team was led by their head coach E. A. Smyth. In what was the inaugural season of Virginia Tech football, the team finished with a record of one win and one loss (1–1).

The 1894 VAMC football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in the 1894 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Joseph Massie and finished with a record of four wins and one loss (4–1).

The 1895 VAMC football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College in the 1895 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Arlie C. Jones and finished with a record of four wins and two losses (4–2).

The 1896 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1896 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Arlie C. Jones and finished with a record of four wins, three losses, and one tie (5–2–1).

The 1897 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1897 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Charles Firth and finished with a record of five wins and two losses (5–2).

The 1899 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1899 college football season. The team was led by their head coach James Morrison and finished with a record of four wins and one loss (4–1).

The 1900 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1900 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Eugene Davis and finished with a record of three wins, three losses, and one tie (3–3–1).

The 1901 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1901 college football season. The team was led by their head coach A. B. Morrison Jr. and finished with a record of six wins and one loss (6–1).

The 1902 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1902 college football season. The team was led by their head coach R. R. Brown and finished with a record of three wins, three losses, and one tie (3–2–1).

The 1903 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1903 college football season. The team was led by head coach Charles Augustus Lueder and finished with a record of five wins and one loss (5–1).

The 1904 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1904 college football season. The team was led by their head coach John C. O'Connor and finished with a record of five wins and three losses (5–3).

The 1907 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1907 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Bob Williams and finished with a record of seven wins and two losses (7–2).

The 1910 VPI football team represented Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute in the 1910 college football season. The team was led by their head coach Branch Bocock and finished with a record of six wins and two losses (6–2).

The 1925 VPI Gobblers football team was an American football team that represented Virginia Polytechnic Institute as a member of the Southern Conference during the 1925 season. In its fifth season under head coach B. C. Cubbage, VPI compiled a 5–3–2 record, finished in tenth place in the Southern Conference, and was outscored by a total of 52 to 39. The team played its home games at Miles Field in Blacksburg, Virginia.

The 1947 VPI Gobblers football team was an American football that represented Virginia Polytechnic Institute in the Southern Conference during the 1947 college football season. In its third season under head coach Jimmy Kitts, the team compiled a 4–5 record, finished eighth in the Southern Conference, and as outscored by a total of 191 to 162. The team played its home games at Miles Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia.

References

↑ "About Virginia Tech: Tech Triumph". Virginia Tech. Archived from the original on 2012-08-05. Retrieved 2010-08-12.
↑ Temple, Harry. The Bugle's Echo: A Chronology of Cadet Life at the Military College at Blacksburg, Virginia, The Virginia Polytechnic Institute. pp. volume 3.
↑ The Bugle'. Virginia Tech Student Media. 1918–1920.
↑ Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station (1926). Agricultural research report of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station. University of California. p. 85.

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[1] "About Virginia Tech: Tech Triumph". Virginia Tech. Archived from the original on 2012-08-05. Retrieved 2010-08-12.

[2] Temple, Harry. The Bugle's Echo: A Chronology of Cadet Life at the Military College at Blacksburg, Virginia, The Virginia Polytechnic Institute. pp. volume 3.

[3] The Bugle'. Virginia Tech Student Media. 1918–1920.

[4] Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station (1926). Agricultural research report of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station. University of California. p. 85.

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