Six years after it was banned for its racist overtones, the "Gator Bait" cheer returned Saturday in Gainesville for Florida's 2026 college football opener.
The University of Florida's marching band played the cheer in the first quarter of the Gators' Sept. 5 game against Florida Atlantic for the first time since then-president Ken Fuchs banned it at football games in 2020.
Former UF defensive star Lawrence Wright popularized the term in 1995 after a win over rival Florida State when he said, “If you ain't a Gator, ya Gator bait, baby." The phrase caught on with the Florida faithful during the team's run of success under coach Steve Spurrier.
Even though Fuchs acknowledged the cheer itself wasn't racist, he based his decision on the "historic racist imagery
associated with the phrase." The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University said that newspaper articles and imagery from the late 19th and early 20th century depicted African American babies as alligator bait, a term that was also used as a slur for Black people.
New university president Stuart Bell said before he was hired in July that he would be open to bringing the chant back.
"I know there’s a lot around the ‘Gator Bait.’ It’s meaningful to the Gator family,” Bell said, unprompted, in an interview with 1010XL radio in Jacksonville. “I hope we’re able to have some really great conversations around that.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida football revives banned 'Gator Bait' cheer for 2026 opener
