When SDSU President Walter Hepner challenged then music major Frank J. Losey to write the SDSU fight song back in 1936, it was an instant hit. “Fight on and on ye Aztec Men, Sons of Montezuma we will win again!”… The lyrics were full of energy and perfectly suited for the game on the gridiron.
However, as with all things change is inevitable. So as documented through the SDSU alumni, the lyrics were changed in 2011 to better accommodate all the athletic teams regardless of gender or sport.
Now you might presume that we, with our name “Sons of Montezuma”, might oppose this decision. In fact we whole heartedly agree with it and applaud our heralded Director of Athletic Bands, Bryan Ransom, for his foresight and creativity! I mean, does it really make sense to belt out ‘Sons of Montezuma!‘ at the ladies volleyball match? Not so much.
Little did Losey or Ransom know, that this change in the SDSU Aztecs athletics culture would pave the way for our creation soon after.
In the middle of a resurgent football season in 2015, Sons of Montezuma was born as a fun social media brand creating Aztecs sports graphics for both the players and our fellow fans. Once the War for Mission Valley came to our doorstep in 2017, the Sons of Monty crew was assembled in full effect.
Getting the word out to voters on behalf of SDSU West for Measure G through online postings, street team activities, and of course the daily twitter battles with our adversaries in the private hedge fund’s camp. Instinctively our online efforts quickly formalized into our Sons of Montezuma Podcast with our original host K5James.
SDSU won a decisive victory at the polls and gained the schools very own brand new Aztecs Stadium and an expanded western campus. Simultaneously however, it appears the school has begun to lose ground in keeping hold of its old Aztecs sports traditions. The elimination of the Montezuma mascot years ago has now led to the recent decision of eliminating any warrior iconography in the representation of a human image.
Today, we here at Sons of Montezuma seek to do whats never been done in Aztecs Nation. We aim to create a new and different kind of Aztecs sports hub—integrating sports news articles, in-depth recruiting information, game film analysis, graphic edits and original merchandise—all while celebrating to keep the old Montezuma traditions of our San Diego Sports culture alive.
This is ‘Monty’s Den’ blog entry #1. Keep an eye out for more personal stories, reflections and celebrations here. Because maybe you’re an SDSU alumnus that lives in town or perhaps you relocated outside the San Diego County lines … maybe you were a real San Diego football fan that wants to cheer for a real San Diego football team again … or maybe you’re just a Barry from La Mesa, Kearny Mesa, or Clairemont Mesa, one thing’s for sure … we are all Sons of Montezuma.
