Marching Royal Dukes | |
---|---|
Nickname | "Virginia's Finest" |
School | James Madison University |
Location | Harrisonburg, Virginia, U.S. |
Conference | Sun Belt Conference |
Founded | 1972 |
Director | Scott Rikkers |
Assistant Director | Chris DeVona |
Fight song | "JMU Fight Song" |
Website | http://www.jmu.edu/mrd |
The Marching Royal Dukes (MRDs), nicknamed "Virginia's Finest", is James Madison University's official marching band. Formed in 1972 alongside the football team, the band performs a pre-game, halftime and post-game show at all home football games. In 1994, the MRDs were the recipients of the Sudler Trophy, the highest honor available for a college marching band. [1] [2]
The MRDs have performed at venues such as the inaugurations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the NFC title game between Washington and Dallas in 1983, Bands of America Grand National Championships in 1988 and 1991. The band has made four appearances in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, first in 2001, again in 2008 and 2013, and most recently in 2018. [3] [4] In the past decade, the band has taken trips to Europe during the school's winter break, featuring Athens, Dublin, Monaco, London, Paris, and Rome. [5] In the most recent trip to Europe, the MRDs participated in the 2023 Italian New Year's Day Parade in the Vatican. [6]
The Marching Royal Dukes rehearse in Bridgeforth Stadium and learn two shows every year. Each show consisting of arrangements of at least three songs. Their show music consistently spans across a variety of genres, from funk and rock to musicals and movie themes. The second piece of each show always features the Dukettes, the university's four-time National Dance Alliance champion dance team. From 1978 to 2011, the MRDs released and sold CDs featuring music from that season's show.
Marching band is offered as a two-credit applied music class at JMU. [7] As a result, the Marching Royal Dukes continuously retain one of the largest college marching band rosters in the country, sizing up at 510 members for their 2023 season. [8] The MRDs are open to all majors and to students from local community colleges.
Every summer, the MRDs host an annual band camp, the JMU Summer Band Camps, which welcomes students from across the Mid-Atlantic to attend and train with staff. During fall, the Marching Royal Dukes perform in exhibition at various Virginia high school band competitions. In October, the MRDs host Parade of Champions, a large high school marching band competition in which attracts over 50 bands from across Virginia and other nearby states come to perform and be adjudicated.
During the basketball season, the JMU Pep Band, performs at all home games. If either team plays in a postseason tournament, the band travels with them as well. The Pep Band is open to all members of the marching band, and has twice been named "Best Pep Band in the East" by Eastern Basketball Magazine. In recent seasons the Pep Band debuted an arrangement of "Start Wearing Purple", a song by the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello, at basketball games and both the 2013 CAA and NCAA Tournaments. The song has since taken off around campus to the extent that it is now a staple song for the athletic promotional material, and starting in the 2013 Football Season, the Marching Royal Dukes presented it as a part of their pre-game show. [9]
James Madison University is a public research university in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Founded in 1908 as the State Normal and Industrial School for Women at Harrisonburg, the institution was renamed Madison College in 1938 in honor of President James Madison and then James Madison University in 1977. It has since expanded from its origins as a normal school and teacher's college into a comprehensive university. It is situated in the Shenandoah Valley, just west of Massanutten Mountain.
The Cavalier Marching Band (CMB) is the marching band at the University of Virginia. The band's original director, William "Bill" Pease, was the first full-time marching band director in the history of the University of Virginia. The Cavalier Marching Band made its debut on September 11, 2004, after a considerable donation was made by University of Virginia benefactors Carl and Hunter Smith to found the band in 2003. The CMB uses a mixture of both DCI style glide step and high step in its performances. Of its 200 members, all seven undergraduate schools at the University of Virginia are represented.
Michael Chester "Mickey" Matthews is a former American football coach. He served as the head football coach at James Madison University (JMU) from 1999 to 2013, compiling a record of 109–71. Matthews coached the 2004 James Madison Dukes football team to an NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship.
The JMU Convocation Center is a 6,426-seat multi-purpose arena in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The arena opened in 1982, and was home to the James Madison Dukes men's basketball and James Madison Dukes women's basketball teams through the 2019–20 season. It hosted the 1984 ECAC South men's basketball tournament.
Duke Dog is the official mascot for the James Madison University Dukes. "Dukes" was made the official nickname in 1947, and was named after the University's president from 1919 to 1949, Samuel Page Duke. However, the bulldog was not chosen to represent the Dukes until the 1972–1973 school year.
Pickerington High School Central is a public high school in Pickerington, Ohio, United States. It is one of two high schools in the Pickerington Local School District. In the city of Pickerington, it is referred to simply as Central and their mascot is the Tiger. In 2003, "Pickerington High School" split into two high schools, Pickerington High School Central and Pickerington High School North. Construction of Pickerington High School, which currently houses Pickerington High School Central was completed in the fall of 1991. The high schools which previously served the Pickerington community were Pickerington High School and Violet Township High School. Before 1906, there were many schools in the Pickerington/Violet Township area. The Pickerington School (c.1883), a two-story, two-room school was built to replace the original building. Heritage Elementary is now housed in the Pickerington School. The school has sports programs that include football, boys basketball, girls basketball, girls volleyball, boys volleyball, wrestling, boys tennis, girls tennis, boys soccer, girls soccer, boys golf, girls golf, cross country, cheerleading, track and field, baseball, softball, and Marching Band.
The James Madison Dukes are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent James Madison University (JMU), in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The name "Dukes" is derived from Samuel Page Duke, the university's second president. The Dukes play as members of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC), which sponsors sports at the NCAA Division I level. In football, JMU participates in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of Division I, formerly known as Division I-A. JMU was a charter member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA),. The Dukes officially left the CAA and joined the SBC in 2022, participating in Division I FBS football and other sports sponsored by the conference.
The James Madison Dukes football program represents James Madison University in the sport of American football. The Dukes compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Sun Belt Conference (SBC), beginning play within the conference for the 2022 season. The university first fielded a football team in 1972, and the Dukes play at the on-campus Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Dukes are currently coached by Bob Chesney.
The Pride of Acadiana is the marching band at the University of Louisiana. The band plays pregame and halftime shows for all home games of the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football team.
The Carolina Band, or the Mighty Sound of the Southeast, is the official marching band of the University of South Carolina. With an average membership of 360, it is the largest ensemble associated with the university's School of Music. The marching band performs at all South Carolina Gamecocks football home games played at Williams-Brice Stadium, as well as neutral site games, bowl games, and all games against Clemson, where both the Carolina Band and Clemson's Tiger Band both perform at half time regardless of which school is hosting on a given year.
The Mountaineer Marching Band, known as The Pride of West Virginia, is the marching band of West Virginia University located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The band was awarded the prestigious Sudler Trophy by the John Philip Sousa Foundation in 1997.
The Pride of the Mountains Marching Band is the marching band which represents Western Carolina University. The band performs pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows at all Catamounts Football home games and routinely provides exhibition performances throughout the Southeast. Unlike most college marching bands, the Pride of the Mountains designs, creates, and performs one perfected halftime show other than doing different performances every week.
The James Madison Dukes men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The school, a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, joined the Sun Belt Conference on July 1, 2022, after having been a member of the Colonial Athletic Association since that league's establishment in 1979. The Dukes are led by head coach Preston Spradlin. The Dukes play their home games at the on-campus Atlantic Union Bank Center which seats 8,500 fans and opened in November 2020. The Dukes have appeared six times in the NCAA tournament, most recently in 2024.
Kirby Burkholder is a professional basketball player. She is a 6' guard. In college, she played Division 1 NCAA basketball for James Madison University as one of the best shooting and rebounding guards in the nation, winning numerous awards, including Conference Player of the Year. She (2014) signed contracts with both the Washington Mystics and the Azzurra Orvieto of the Italian A1 League.
The 2019–20 James Madison Dukes men's basketball team represented James Madison University during the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Dukes, led by fourth-year head coach Louis Rowe, played their home games at the James Madison University Convocation Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia as members of the Colonial Athletic Association. They finished the season 9–21, 2–16 in CAA play to finish in last place. They lost in the first round of the CAA tournament to Elon.
Atlantic Union Bank Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia that plays host to the James Madison Dukes men's and women's basketball teams. It seats 8,500 and opened for the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's and women's basketball season, replacing the JMU Convocation Center. Atlantic Union Bank is the arena's naming partner.
The 2020–21 James Madison Dukes men's basketball team represented James Madison University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Dukes, led by first-year head coach Mark Byington, played their home games at the newly opened Atlantic Union Bank Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia as members of the Colonial Athletic Association. In a season limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they finished the season 13–7, 8–2 in CAA play to earn a share of the regular season championship. They lost in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament to Elon.
Matt Lewis is an American professional basketball player for Le Mans of the French LNB Pro A. He played college basketball player for the James Madison Dukes.
The Royal Rivalry refers to the U.S. college rivalry games between the James Madison Dukes and the Old Dominion Monarchs of the Sun Belt Conference. It is an intra-conference match-up between two Div. I FBS public universities, James Madison University and Old Dominion University, in the state of Virginia.
Kevin Clayton Kelly is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.
The Marching Royal Dukes is a class at JMU and members earn 2 credits each semester of participation.
...it was first performed in 2013 by JMU Basketball's Pep Band. The song eventually became a gameday staple for years to come.