Aha -- a fictional account from a 30's film:

"I think that it was in the late '30s or '40s that a movie was made that spoofed college football. It stared Jack Oakie as the star of the football team of Winsocki University. It was complete with a college fight song called "Buckle Down Winsocki," which had characteristic original lines such as:

Buckle down, Winsocki, buckle down

You can win Winsocki if you knuckle down,

...you will make them wrecks etc.

Even in those days there were problems with star athletes who really had no business being in a university. Oakie had to pass an exam in order to be eligible to play. The professor asked him one question, "Name a means of locomotion?" He hemmed and hawed until someone asked him "What do you do to get ready for a game?" He replied "train," and he passed the exam and was eligible to play in the big game. "

Still don't know the name of the movie but I believe the derivation above until better information comes along.

A