As the head coach of the men’s swimming team, Francis Stroup led 13 Huskies to the NCAA College Divison Championships from 1960 to 1968. While Stroup was successful as coach, his legacy lies in three words, “Forward Together Forward.”

Stroup responded to an appeal from the Northern Star to improve on A. Neil Annas’ “Loyalty Song.” He rewrote the lyrics and the “Huskie Fight Song” was born and was first published in the Northern Star on Nov. 17, 1961.

In 2000, the “Huskie Fight Song” was named one of the Top 25 fight songs in an ESPN national poll.

After the Feb. 14 shootings, Stroup’s song took on new meaning and became more than just a game-time fight song. The words “Forward Together Forward” became the campus-wide rallying cry for a campus in mourning.

Aside from the fight song, Stroup also went 32-32 in dual meets and won two Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conferences in his coaching career and was a member of NIU’s physical education faculty from 1959 to 1974. In the 1964-1965 season the Holliday, Texas native qualified nine swimmers for the NCAA’s and also had a 400-meter freestyle relay team that placed third in the nation.

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