Lyrics
Mannford High we shout your name with loyalty and pride.
We set our course for open seas. We raise our banner high.
Give glory, laud, and honor to Pirates brave and bold.
And you, our Alma Mater, the purple, white, and gold.
Mannford Public Schools
Mannford Alma Mater
A song of loyalty, pride, and Pirate tradition—written for Mannford and recorded by Mannford students.
The Alma Mater is part of Mannford’s living history.
The lyrics honor the school, the Pirate identity, and the district colors of purple, white, and gold.
The song
Mannford Alma Mater
How the Alma Mater came to be
The story behind the song
Mrs. Glass had noticed that she never heard of an Alma Mater in Mannford and wondered why. She asked some alumni that she knew if there was one and no one could really answer whether there ever had been. She knew of one person who would know — Gary McBride.
When she saw him at the next football game, she asked Gary about it and he told her, “No, we never have. Why don’t you write one?” With his encouragement, she began working on the tune and lyrics in the fall of 2019.
Once the lyrics were done, she sent a copy to him. The last line originally read “the purple and the gold.” Gary emphatically insisted that it be changed to the current lyric.
At the next football game Mrs. Glass saw him and she was “entertained” with the history of the school colors and why the white had to be included. The colors were purple and white, and the gold was only supposed to be a trim color.
When Mrs. Glass explained that the song could not be performed
until it was approved, Gary replied in typical fashion:
“Do it anyway.”
The students learned the song and were ready to perform it, but it had not yet been sent forward for approval. When Gary asked about it at the next football game, Mrs. Glass said she could not perform it until it was approved.
The process was not completed before COVID-19 disrupted school. Since that time, it was put on hold while the choir program finished out the last school year. Gary was never able to hear the song completed.
The recording
Recorded by Mannford students
Drapp Studios
The Mannford Alma Mater was recorded at Drapp Studios in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on March 2, 2022.
Students participating in the recording
Brittany Ash
Zayn Burt
Evan Collins
Dane Cummings
Alyssa Cupples
Forest Frost
Riley Fry
Cole Greenwood
Nora Greenwood
Emmanuel Jaime
November Scheuer
Gavin Spess
Proud to be Pirates.
The Mannford Alma Mater preserves a piece of district history while giving students and alumni a song that belongs to their school.