Welcome to a very special edition of FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.
Have you ever stopped for a moment to think about why we sing the national anthem of the United States before the Super Bowl? Or before other sporting events like baseball games? By now, it’s second nature to us. With Super Bowl LIII right around the corner, we realized it was time to dive into the history of The Star-Spangled Banner at the NFL’s championship game before Gladys Knight belts our her rendition at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Yeah, good question: What’s up with the national anthem before games?
The Star-Spangled Banner was penned in 1814, after Francis Scott Key wrote the words during the War of 1812 and they were put to a British song by —
I know all that. How did we start singing it at sporting events?
Oh, okay. By most accounts, during the seventh inning stretch in Game 1 of the 1918 World Series — which coincided with World War I and was years before the song was declared the national anthem in 1931 — a band played the song. From The New York Times, via the Washington Post
“As the crowd of 10,274 spectators — the smallest that has witnessed the diamond classic in many years — stood up to take their afternoon yawn, that has been the privilege and custom of baseball fans for many generations, the band broke forth to the strains of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’
“The yawn was checked and heads were bared as the ball players turned quickly about and faced the music. Jackie Fred Thomas of the U.S. Navy was at attention, as he stood erect, with his eyes set on the flag fluttering at the top of the lofty pole in right field. First the song was taken up by a few, then others joined, and when the final notes came, a great volume of melody rolled across the field. It was at the very end that the onlookers exploded into thunderous applause and rent the air with a cheer that marked the highest point of the day’s enthusiasm.”
From there, the anthem would be played at special games like opening day, World Sereis contests and holiday games per ESPN. Huffington Post reports national anthem performances for regular games became more normal during World War II, when sound systems replaced expensive bands and gave stadiums the ability to play the Banner anytime.
When did it reach the NFL?
In a history of the Star-Spangled Banner being performed before NFL games, Axios noted the National Football League played the anthem in the early 1940s because of the United States’ involvement in World War II. A New York Times piece in 1945 quoted then-commissioner Elmer Layden, who announced he would require the national anthem to be a part of NFL games, saying, “we must not drop it simply because the war is over. We should never forget what it stands for.”
Were players required to stand on the sidelines for the performance?
In the NFL, it wasn’t until 2009 that a rule was put into place that mandated players had to be on the sidelines.
Was it performed at the first Super Bowl?
Yup! By the UCLA choir, at the first AFL-NFL championship game, which was retroactively called Super Bowl I.
Has the anthem not been performed at a Super Bowl?
Yes, once: At Super Bowl XI in 1977, Vikki Carr sang only America the Beautiful.
