11.29.2025 – hail victors valiant

hail victors valiant
raise next generation right
sing to the colors

I am pretty sure that I have related the story of the night I got a phone call from my brother Paul that opened without a hello or greeting, but the words, I AM INCENSED.

This was kinda startling for two reasons.

One was that my brother Paul, so far as I know, never called anyone in his life.

And, Two, my brother Paul, so far as I know, had never been incensed about anything in his life.

Paul had just paged through the latest Michigan Today Alumni Magazine and found an article that recognized some family that had 6 siblings who had all earned degrees from the University of Michigan.

This was not right, Paul, declared and he called me and he told I had to do something about it.

So I got in touch with the Alumni Association and let them know that the Hoffman Family had a little bit more history to recognize.

Started with Grandpa Robert Karl Hoffman, the 1st Hofman born in the US and the 1st to change his last name to Hoffman, he was the 1st one to graduate from Michigan with a DDS in 1911.

Then our Dad, Robert Paul Hoffman, who graduated with a DDS in 1942.

Then the siblings.

Paul, Jack, Mary, Janet, Tim, Lisa, Me, Steve and Al graduated from Michigan stretching out over the 1960s. 70s and 80s.

Growing up, I knew there was only one college for me and I was so focused on accomplishing graduating from Michigan that when I finally DID graduate, I was at a bit of loss of what to do next and maybe still am.

My roommates knew the story of me getting into Michigan and they all agreed that the school changed the rules so it would never happen again.

And there were more graduates to come.

The spouses of Paul, Janet, Lisa and Al who graduated from Michigan.

Then the nieces and nephews of the 4th Generation who graduated from Michigan.

A couple of editions later, the Alumni Magazine ran an article that stated simply, they didn’t know what they were getting into when they recognized that family with 6 graduate siblings.

They didn’t know what they were getting into as they heard from so many other families, who I guess, were incensed.

The heard from several families also with 6 sibling graduates.

The heard from several families with 7 sibling graduates.

The heard from a couple of families with 8 sibling graduates.

But they only heard from 1 family, the Hoffman Family of Grand Rapids, with 9 sibling graduates.

If we act like we own it, at least we are acting honestly.

Work is starting on that 5th generation.

If you been to a game in Ann Arbor and listened to the crowd sing The Yellow and Blue with the band you know that 95% of the crowd knows one word, HAIL!.

We had a family tradition of singing The Yellow and Blue at family gatherings if the mood was right and by unspoken agreement, we would all drop out and let Dad sing the HAIL by himself.

With that memory in mind:

Sing to the colors that float in the light;
Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue!
Yellow the stars as they ride through the night
And reel in a rollicking crew;
Yellow the field where ripens the grain
And yellow the moon on the harvest wain;
-Hail!
Hail to the colors that float in the light
Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue!

Win or lose today, Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue!