Lauren Hart is singing ‘God Bless America’ again. Why did the Flyers stop using their lucky ‘little piece of magic’?

The Flyers were one win out of a playoff spot before hosting the Boston Bruins on April 5 and were looking for a boost to help them get to the postseason.

That’s when Lauren Hart took the ice. But instead of singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” the anthem singer performed “God Bless America.”

The Flyers went on to beat the Bruins, 2-1.

A week later, the Flyers called on Hart to perform the song again on the day they clinched a playoff berth with a shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

It’s a tradition that’s been around almost as long as the organization itself, and it’s one that’s brought the Flyers luck throughout the years. The team’s record when playing “God Bless America” before games was 101-31-5 from 1969 to 2019. But then, they stopped playing it.

Now, with Flyers back in the playoffs for the first time in six years, “God Bless America” has also returned. So how did the tradition start? How did Hart get involved? And what caused the team to move away from the song in recent years?

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No. Hart began her career as the anthem singer for the Flyers in 1997. Her father Gene Hart, the long-term announcer for the Flyers from 1967-95, was being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and she sang the anthem that night, kick-starting her long career with the Flyers.

Growing up, the Flyers weren’t just part of her life, they were her life. That has remained true, even after her father’s passing in 1999.

“I’m singing that [anthem] for the Orange and Black, and I’m singing that song for those fans and those people who love that game, just like I do,” Hart said. “I’m one of them. I’m a fan, even though I’m so closely involved. I live and die, just like they do, with the team.”

Seeing the franchise in many different stages, Hart said this current era has “a little bit of magic that’s going on.”

“It’s just like a band,” Hart said. “It doesn’t have to be the number one guitarist or drummer or singer, but it has to be the right ones. And I think they’re, they’ve got the right people here, and I think that you’re going to see this team just take off in the next year or two, and it’s just a really exciting time right now.”

Which is why Hart has been singing a different tune at the games.

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The Flyers debuted Kate Smith’s recording of “God Bless America” for the first time in 1969 to boost morale at the Spectrum during the Vietnam War. Lou Scheinfeld, who was the Flyers’ vice president of business operations at the time, had the idea after seeing the way fans appeared unmoved by “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the time.

On Dec. 11, 1969, the Flyers beat Toronto 6-3 on the night the song first played. Four years later, Smith sang the song live from the Spectrum for the Flyers’ home opener against Toronto. She also sang the song live in 1974, when the Flyers won their first Stanley Cup against the Bruins in Game 6. She also performed “God Bless America” at Flyers playoff games in 1975, 1976, and 1985.

Eventually, Hart joined, singing a duet alongside the video of Smith.

Controversy surrounding Smith arose in April 2019 when recordings of her singing songs with racist lyrics from the 1930s surfaced.

The New York Yankees, who used Smith’s rendition for their seventh-inning stretch, were the first to stop the practice. The Flyers followed suit the next day and removed the statue of Smith that was located outside the arena.

When the Flyers brought back “God Bless America” in April, Smith’s version was not included. The song was performed by just Hart.

The first night the song was reinstated, the crowd was more quiet than usual, Hart said, which she attributed to the shock of the song returning. At the beginning, she couldn’t tell if the silence was because fans were surprised or because they didn’t approve. By the end of the song, their approval was clear.

The second time she sang it, she was welcomed with “thunderous applause.”

“I think that it just means so much to the people because of the history, because everybody wants to have a little piece of magic,” Hart said. “Truthfully, if I just had to sing that song and we win every game, I would have been doing it for the last 20 years.”