Rose Oltusky’s (LAS 1922) prize-winning fight song resonates like a theatrical score, reminiscent of ones she would play to accompany the silent movies in her hometown.
Yet, these fierce notes and patriotic melodies, punctuated by dramatic pauses, were to be played by A.A. Harding’s Illini marching band at the Memorial Stadium dedication in 1924.
Oltusky shared the $50 prize with Sampson Raphaelson (LAS 1917), who wrote the lyrics, and the proceeds from sales of the sheet music raised money for the stadium.
“Fight, Illini!,” sometimes called the stadium song, was a creation of its time, meant to rally the players on the field and evoke memories of University of Illinois’ fallen in World War I. America and her allies had won, the Roaring Twenties were in full swing, and Illinois’ new stadium was poised to change the school’s—and state’s—fortunes.
Oltusky’s passion for the stadium went beyond just writing the song. Since the project was to be funded through donations from students and alumni, Oltusky devoted countless hours to promoting and fundraising for the stadium. Her efforts did not go unnoticed.
“Miss Oltusky has given more to the stadium than it would be possible for any person to do with mere money,” Elmer Ekblaw (LAS 1910), one of the organizers of the stadium fund drive, said in the Daily Illini in 1921.
The condensed version of Oltusky’s story at Illinois often begins and ends with the march she wrote for a band that, as a woman, she was not allowed to join.
But, of course, there is so much more. Only twelve years before she enrolled at Illinois, she made her way west across the Atlantic aboard the hulking German steamship, SS Kaiser Wilhelm II, with her mother and younger sister, Lena (GIES 1924).
The trio, from the Russian Empire-occupied Warsaw (now the capital of Poland), arrived at Ellis Island in 1906 with $50. They continued to Waukegan, Illinois reuniting with Oltusky’s father, Joseph, a business owner.
The Oltusky family left behind an area beset by unrest and oppression in search of stability and promise in the United States.
By her senior year at Waukegan Township High School in 1918, Oltusky was the class president.
Oltusky, or Romeo to her friends and perhaps to her many gentleman callers, had an ambitious spirit throughout her time at Illinois. The Daily Illini is replete with mentions of the activities Oltusky either led, was a part of, or founded—the Mu Chapter of the Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority, chairman of the dance committee, participant in theatrical performances, founding member of Delta Alpha Omega Jewish Sorority, hockey player, Daily Illini society personal editor, member of the Mortar Board, honor society, and an inaugural female member of the debate team.
In her senior year, anticipating graduation, Oltusky wrote a tongue-in-cheek farewell to her colleagues in the Daily Illini.
Well-known and admired on campus, Oltusky was now embarking on her next adventure. “Life is divided into hopeful aspirations, philosophical contemporaries, and melancholy has-beens,” she started. She continued outlining the “indignities” of her outgoing student status and ended with, “I was thrust into the third class without warning or sympathy. My only consolation is the presence of other has-beens and membership in a fraternity that ever increases. Where’s my hat? I’m going back to Waukegan.”
Of course, Illinois has never regarded Oltusky in that way, and one hundred years after her song was first performed in the then brand-new Memorial Stadium, the band will once again bring the song to life at the anniversary celebration in October. Marching Illini men and women will perform it at the Michigan game, and it will serve as a reminder that a pioneering, dedicated person like Rose never goes out of style.
This story was published .
