UNC Wilmington fans have a new fight song to sing. After a contest to develop a new song for the university, the audience of the last home men’s basketball game this season decided on the new song after a halftime sing-off.

The contest gave the public a chance to change the original fight song, “Green and Gold,” which was written by Graham Hatcher. Seahawk Sports Marketing, a division on the UNCW Department of Athletics, spearheaded the competition.

“A lot of other schools know their fight song,” said Angela Pucher, assistant director of Seahawk Sports Marketing. According to Pucher, UNCW, being a smaller and younger college, does not have many fans that know the old fight song. She indicated that the department wants to educate UNCW fans about the fight song’s existence.

The marketing department received 17 entries. A committee made of five UNCW community members reviewed the entries. A faculty member, a student representative from the Student Government Association, the pep band director, a student-athlete and an athletic representative gathered to narrow the fight song selections to three entries.

The final three entries were presented to the audience during the half of the UNCW-Virginia Commonwealth game. The new fight song was chosen based on the crowd’s reaction.

The first song had a bluegrass/folk/country sound. It was not received well by the audience. The second song had the appeal of a gospel song. Similar to the first song, the crowd seemed disinterested to the tune.

The final choice had a familiar sound to the original fight song, probably because the tune was the same. Hatcher submitted a new song that had the same melody as his original. The lyrics of the new jingle are a combination of Hatcher’s revision and UNCW student Mark Eyre’s submission.

The words are as follows:

UNC, Wilmington It’s blue, teal, gold for me.

Soaring Seahawks, scoring Seahawks, Champions of land and sea. (GO HAWKS)

To the Seahawk team we proudly hail, Our Seahawk pride will never fail.

Hail to thee oh mighty Seahawks On to victory! (GO HAWKS)

Eyre was proud of the university’s decision. “It feels good to think that I’ve made a contribution that will last long after I’ve graduated and moved on,” he said. “It’s also rewarding to make use of my creative writing education even before graduating.”

The UNCW Pep Band will play the new fight song when it attends Seahawks sporting events.