It was composed by two Michigan students, J. Fred Lawton and Earl Vincent Moore,[1] while they were riding a street car in Detroit in 1911.

[2] "Varsity" was written in 1911 as a replacement for "The Victors", which includes the line "Champions of the West" that no longer applied to Michigan athletics after the university departed the Western Conference.

[1][3] Michigan football coach Fielding H. Yost pulled Michigan out of the conference in 1907 due to changes made to its recruiting and eligibility rules, and the football team played as an independent for the next decade before rejoining what ultimately became the Big Ten Conference.

According to University of Michigan music historian Joseph Dobos, "The Victors" had all but disappeared from campus in the 1900s, and the most popular songs at football games and pep rallies were the alma mater, "The Yellow and Blue", and a modified version of "Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" that included Michigan-specific lyrics.

[6] In 1917, "The Victors" began being played again as Michigan returned to the Western Conference, and it surpassed "Varsity" in popularity during the 1920s.