"The Hard Way" is less a slogan than a way of life for generations of Huskie football players, but even the most die-hard fan or former player doesn't know the true origin of the phrase that has become the mantra for many of Northern Illinois University teams...until now. The Hard Way – including the chant joyfully shouted after NIU wins, came to DeKalb from Athens, Texas by way of a junior college transfer more than 20 years ago.
Kenneth Williams arrived at NIU in 1996 after spending two years at Trinity Valley Community College. Before the 1993 season at TVCC, he was taught a chant by some of the veteran players looking to provide a spark to the guys struggling with the three-a-day practices in the Texas heat.
"The veteran players knew something needed to be done quickly to boost the morale of the team." Williams said. "They said that we were all players who were passed over for some reason or another and if we had any chance at success, we had to figure out who we were. They challenged us to stop complaining about the hard work and embrace it. They told us if we commit to being the hardest working team that we win regardless of the outcome on the field."
Sound familiar?
TVCC went 11-1 that season and won the Junior College National Championship the following year with a 12-0 record.
During training camp in 1996, Williams felt like the NIU team he had joined that fall was struggling to find its identity. So, he shared the chant with some of his teammates, and it quickly caught on. Since then, the Hard Way chant has been passed down from Huskie to Huskie. For a time, it wasn't heard much and was thought to be lost. Then one day, after a Homecoming victory over Central Florida in 2000, it started up again.
"A guy by the name of Bobby Reed, he was two years ahead of me, he was in the locker room jumping up and down and we were getting ready to say the chant," said Cameron Saulsby, a senior on the 2000 team. "I saw him and I had him come and lead the chant. I think that the young guys, seeing the older guy come in and lead the chant, they kind of realized, you know, that this was our thing. I guess the young guys that went after us just kept it going."
Unfortunately for Williams, he never was able to sing the chant he had taught his teammates.
"Due to a series of injuries and life circumstances, I was not the player I wanted to be for NIU and thought that the chant had died with my football career," Williams said. "I was moved to tears when I was notified that not only did it survive, but is now the creed of the team I once sweated blood for."
For years the chant hid in the shadows, known only to those who have been inside a Huskie locker room following a victory. However, over the last seven years "The Hard Way" mantra has been embraced by the coaching staff and players and now appears everywhere, from the back of the Huskies' helmets, to the interior facade of Huskie Stadium, to team gear. Williams for one, couldn't be happier.
"It humbles me to know that I was able to deliver a winning mentality," Williams said. "I thought I had failed at that. I have never been so glad to be so wrong. Go Huskies!"
