32 years ago today and the birth of the Who Dat phenomenonBy Jeff Duncan, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
on September 01, 2015
Ever wondered how the Who Dat chant started?
The popular rally cry's relationship with the New Orleans Saints actually dates to a WVUE-TV feature story on St. Augustine High School's football team, which aired 32 years ago today on Sept. 1, 1983, according to local sports historian William Taylor.
As part of its high school football preview series, WVUE featured the St. Augustine Purple Knights. In the story, then-St. Aug coach Tony Biagas revealed that the players used a chant on the daily bus ride to practice to set the mood.
"Who dat, who dat, who dat talkin' about beatin' St. Aug?! Who dat?! Who dat?!" Reporter Ken Berthelot and photographer Avis Landry documented the ritual for the feature story and showed the finished product to sports director Ron Swoboda back at the studio. Swoboda loved it.
After the feature aired that day, WVUE received several phone calls from viewers asking that it be re-aired. The station obliged at 10 p.m.
Three days later, the chants could be heard echoing through the crowd at the Superdome during the Saints' 28-17 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1983 regular-season opener.
A legend was born.
"That's where it started," Swoboda said.
A few weeks later, the famous "Who Dat" song was recorded by Aaron Neville and a group of players known as "The Singing Saints": Brad Edelman; John Hill; Reggie Lewis; Louis Oubre; and Dave Waymer. The song, which actually was a version of "When the Saints Go Marching In," was produced by Carlo Nuccio and brothers Sal and Steve Monistere and copyrighted on Oct. 17, 1983.
WVUE had exclusive access to film the recording session and produced a music video featuring the session and Saints season highlights. The station aired the video throughout its Saints coverage that season.
"It turned into a phenomenon," Swoboda said. "It was the first time the Saints were out of the chute with such a good start (4-2) and everyone was excited about (Coach) Bum (Phillips). It was viral before we knew what viral was."
In southern Louisiana, "who dat" was in wide use before 1980, and was used in chants by African-American schools by the early 1970s and in majority-white schools by 1979, according to Nicholls State University English professor Shana Walton, who led a research team hired by the NFL and later contracted by New Orleans businesses to trace the saying's origins. Patterson (La.) High School and some Southwestern Athletic Conference college teams have also laid claim to the chant over the years.
The phrase has become the unofficial chant of Saints fans far and wide. A few years ago, the Saints even started a pre-game tradition by having a designated player lead the cheer at mid-field before kickoff each of home game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The saying became so popular the NFL and a group that claimed to have trademarked the catchphrase, waged a legal battle over its rights in 2012.
So while "Who Dat" clearly has been around these parts for decades, it's association as the unofficial chant of the Saints dates to Sept. 1, 1983.
"Just like the (Catholic) Church co-opted Mardi Gras, the Saints and NFL co-opted the Who Dat chant," Swoboda said.
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