page_title: Hail to Pitt
section_title: Historic performances, recordings, and publication
hierarchical_section_title: Hail to Pitt / History / Historic performances, recordings, and publication
caption_attribution_description: Display depicting the release of Songs of Pitt by RCA Victor Recording company by the Pitt Band and Pitt Men's Glee Club that appeared in the Owl student yearbook of the University of Pittsburgh in 1953.
context_page_description: "Hail to Pitt" is the most traditional fight song of the University of Pittsburgh, which is commonly referred to as Pitt. The saying "Hail to Pitt!" is also the most traditional and commonly used slogan of the University of Pittsburgh and its athletics teams. The slogan is frequently used in promotional material, printed on merchandise and souvenirs. It was also the title of a 1982 history of Pitt athletics by author Jim O'Brien. The slogan is often used among alumni as a statement of affiliation, including as a closing signature in conversation or correspondence between alumni, and is sometime abbreviated as "HTP" or "H2P", the latter of which is a registered trademark of the university and is frequently used on official university signage and merchandise.
context_section_description: "Hail to Pitt" has been heard many times on local and national radio and television broadcasts and has been professional recorded several times throughout history by renowned musicians. It is believed that "Hail to Pitt" was the first college song to be broadcast on the radio when KDKA used it when airing the first football game in 1911.
  One of the first professional recordings of "Hail to Pitt", along with the university's "Alma Mater", was by the Criterion Quartet on Gennett Records in 1920. In 1925 "Hail to Pitt" was also one of seven fight songs comprising a compilation song titled "Collegiate Melody" that became a huge hit for Fred Waring & the Pennsylvanians. The performance of "Hail to Pitt" appeared in Part 1 (Side A) of the 1932 Victor Records release of "Collegiate Melody", which remains the Waring's Pennsylvanians best known song.
  "Hail to Pitt" was also performed by Tommy Dorsey as part of his broadcast from Meadowbrook Ballroom in Cedar Grove, New Jersey on February 24, 1940 that featured Frank Sinatra among others. Dorsey's performance of "Hail to Pitt" appears on original recordings that were released from that broadcast, and is among the select songs chosen to appear on a CD rerelease titled Tommy  Dorsey plays Sweet and Hot. Also during the 1940s, Joseph Wood arranged and conducted a recording of a collection of songs titled Songs of the University of Pittsburgh that featured baritone Walter Scheff, tenor Ralph Nyland, and bass baritone Michael Stewart.  Released on two 78-rpm discs by Republic records, the album featured "Hail to Pitt", "Pitt Alma Mater", "The Panther", and the "Pitt Victory Song".
  "Hail to Pitt" was also one of only 16 college songs performed and featured on a 1948 recording by Jan Garber and His Orchestra released as Collegiate Melodies on Capitol Records in both a 10-inch LP and a 45 rpm EP set in 1950, and re-released in 1955 as a 12-inch album. Garber's album is considered one of the best recorded collections of fight songs in existence.
  During the 1952-1953 school year, the Pitt Band and the Pitt Men's Glee Club collaborated to release a compilation songs titled Songs of Pitt on RCA Victor Records. Soon after that, on October 7, 1953, the Vaughn Monroe and the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra performed "Hail to Pitt" as part of a Camel Caravan taping that was broadcast on CBS Radio Network on October 26, 1953.
  The sheet music for "Hail to Pitt" has undergone various publications and has appeared in a multiple music compilations including a collection titled Songs of the University of Pittsburgh in 1929 by the Thornton W. Allen Company of New York, as well as more recently in Studwell and Schueneman's College Fight Songs published in 1998.
caption: In the early 1950s, the Pitt Band and the Pitt Men's Glee Club cooperated with the RCA Victor recording company to release a compilation of Pitt songs titled Songs of Pitt
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