| The University of Chicago Band | |
|---|---|
 | |
| School | The University of Chicago |
| Location | Chicago, IL |
| Conference | UAA |
| Founded | 1898 |
| Director | Katherine Demartini |
| Assistant Director | Zachary Grelewicz |
| Members | 18 |
| Fight song | "Wave The Flag" |
The University of Chicago Band is a pep band and a marching band (of the scramble band variety) for the University of Chicago. The Band was founded in 1898, five years after the university opened.
University President William Rainey Harper organized the group in Autumn 1898. [1] The band's first concert was held on December 16, 1898, in an auditorium in Kent Hall. [2]
Amos Alonzo Stagg, football coach and head of the Athletic Department at the time, was eager for a band to support his teams. He incorporated the band into the Athletic Department and provided it with a budget for travel, equipment, and uniforms. The uniforms consisted of maroon sweaters and ties with white shirts and trousers. In cold weather, the bandsmen also wore overcoats and caps.
The band's original primary purpose was to support the football team in their matchups against other Midwestern and East Coast universities. Typical opponents of the time included such schools as Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northwestern, and other universities known today as football powerhouses. In fact, the University of Chicago has a perfect 4–0 record against Notre Dame in football; the most recent matchup between the two schools took place in 1899.
The Band was originally called the UC Military Band, although it had no affiliation with any form of the Armed Forces at that time. [3] However, during World War I, almost every male member of the band enlisted in some branch of the federal service. [4] The band lived up to its name during World War II when it became a color guard military band.
With a fluctuating membership of 50 to 100 musicians, the band performed field maneuvers in the classic Big Ten style, spelling out letters and words as wells as forming pictures. However, it added its own zany twist to shows with balloons, confetti, and singing along with the more traditional elements of its performance.
The band performed at all home football games at Stagg Field, which stood on the current site of the Regenstein Library. It also travelled to at least one road game each year. In addition to performances at football games, basketball games, and other athletic events, the band put on concerts on a regular basis in Mandel Hall.
For many years, the band possessed permanent rehearsal and storage space underneath the stands of Stagg Field. In 1941 the band moved to new quarters in the basement of the Music Building at 5727 S. University Ave., currently called the Statistics and Mathematics Building.
The UC Band's fate took a dramatic turn in 1939 when the university cancelled intercollegiate football. However, the organization survived as a concert band for several more years. It seems to have disappeared entirely sometime during World War II. The group reappeared in 1953 as a basketball band. Since then, the band has gone through several periods of activity and inactivity.
The band has had a number of directors throughout its history. The most famous was Harold Bachman, [5] a nationally renowned band leader, who served from 1935 until the band's demise sometime in the early 1940s. The current pep band does not have a professional director. Student members take the responsibility for musical and administrative leadership. The band continues to perform regularly at intercollegiate matches in football, men's basketball, and women's basketball.
The band's most notable and memorable feature was its bass drum. Known as Big Bertha, the drum measured eight feet in diameter and required a crew of six members, four to push the drum and two to beat it. [6] After Purdue University brought its own large bass drum to a 1921 Chicago-Purdue football game, [7] Big Bertha was donated in 1922 by C. D. Greenleaf, the president of C. G. Conn Company, a well-known manufacturer of instruments in Indiana. Greenleaf was a Chicago alumnus and an original member of the band. Along with the drum, he gave 100 instruments to the band, each bearing an engraved copy of the university seal. Big Bertha was so large that it could not fit through the doors of Mandel Hall; thus it could not be used during the band's indoor concerts.
The drum rested on a cart supported on airplane tires. Mr. Greenleaf sent a representative to the Chicago stockyards to select the largest steers found in the Chicago Stockyards, and had the drum built around drumheads made from their hides. [8]
When the university canceled intercollegiate football in 1939, [9] Big Bertha went into seclusion for a number of years. It was hidden underneath Stagg Field, the old football stadium. Since the first nuclear reactor occurred under the stadium, Big Bertha later became contaminated by radiation from the atomic bomb research during the 1940s. [10] Big Bertha came out of seclusion when a movie about the life of the great John Philip Sousa was to be made and was offered a role in the film, "Stars and Stripes." [11]
In 1955, Colonel D. Harold Byrd, a long-time benefactor of the Longhorn Band, purchased Bertha from the University of Chicago and gave it a new home in the heart of Texas. Mr. Moton Crockett, former Director of the Longhorn Band, constructed a special trailer for the storage and transportation. The permanent dwelling is in the comfort of the University of Texas at Austin's large Band Hall. Big Bertha is currently owned and used on a regular basis by The University of Texas Longhorn Band.
Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (1890–1891), the University of Chicago (1892–1932), and the College of the Pacific (1933–1946), compiling a career college football record of 314–199–35 (.605). His undefeated Chicago Maroons teams of 1905 and 1913 were recognized as national champions. He was also the head basketball coach for one season at Chicago (1920–1921), and the Maroons' head baseball coach for twenty seasons.
The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation of Purdue's students and alumni at large. The nickname is often shortened to "Boilers" by fans.
Big Bertha is a bass drum used by the Longhorn Band of The University of Texas at Austin. The Big Bertha name was chosen to evoke the famous German Big Bertha howitzer and has been used for two Texas bass drums, with the second debuting in 2022. Both Big Berthas have laid claim to being the largest bass drum in the world, with the second currently holding the title.
The University of Texas Longhorn Band (LHB), also known as the Showband of the Southwest, is the marching band of The University of Texas at Austin. The Longhorn Band was founded in 1900 by distinguished professor of chemistry, Dr. Eugene P. Schoch. The band is currently under the direction of Dr. Cliff Croomes. The band performs at all in-state football games, for various Texas Longhorn Athletics teams, and at special pep rallies and parades throughout the year. The band includes about 375 students, all of whom must register for a year-round course offered by the Butler School of Music.
Harold Jonathan Iddings was an American football player and coach of football, basketball and track and field. A 1909 graduate from the University of Chicago, he served as head football coach at Miami University from 1909 to 1910, at Simpson College from 1911 to 1913, at Otterbein College in 1916, and at Penn College—now known as William Penn University—in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1921, compiling a career college football record of 16–26–1. Iddings was also the head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky (1910–1911), Simpson (1911–1914), Otterbein (1916–1917), and the Carnegie Institute of Technology (1920–1921).
The Purdue Big Bass Drum is a percussion instrument played by the All-American Marching Band (AAMB) of Purdue University. At a height of over ten feet when the carriage is included, it is branded by Purdue as the "World's Largest Drum". Since its inception, it has become a lasting symbol of the marching band as well as the university. The drum can be seen at all Purdue home football games as well as parades, alumni rallies, the Indianapolis 500 Race, and many other special events.
The Chicago Maroons are the intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Chicago. They are named after the color maroon. Team colors are maroon and gray, and the Phoenix is their mascot. They now compete in the NCAA Division III, mostly as members of the University Athletic Association. The University of Chicago helped found the Big Ten Conference in 1895; although it dropped football in 1939, its other teams remained members until 1946. Football returned as a club sport in 1963, as a varsity sport in 1969, and began competing independently in Division III in 1973. The school was part of the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference from 1976 to 1987, and its football team joined the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference's successor, the Midwest Conference (MWC), in 2017. In the 2018–19 school year, Chicago added baseball to its MWC membership, and elevated its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status, with that sport competing in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).
The University of Florida Fightin' Gator Marching Band, also known as The Pride of the Sunshine, is the official marching band for the University of Florida. The current era of the band is also referred to as The Sound of the Gator Nation. They perform at every Florida Gators home football game at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and also at various other events such as pep rallies, parades, and the annual Orange and Blue spring scrimmage game. A full band usually travels to two away games a year while at other games a small/medium-sized pep band will attend. Members of the Gator Band, as well as other University of Florida students, are encouraged to join other ensembles such as concert band, jazz band, basketball band, and volleyball band. The twirlers for the Gator Band are referred to as the Gatorettes and the color guard is called the Florida Visual Ensemble.
The Chicago Maroons football team represents the University of Chicago in college football. The Maroons, which play in NCAA Division III, have been a football-only member of the Midwest Conference since 2017. The University of Chicago was a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the Maroons were coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg for 41 seasons. In 1935, halfback Jay Berwanger became the first recipient of the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later known as the Heisman Trophy. In the late 1930s, university president Robert Maynard Hutchins decided that big-time college football and the university's commitment to academics were not compatible. The university abolished its football program in 1939 and withdrew from the Big Ten in 1946. Football returned to the University of Chicago in 1963 in the form of a club team, which was upgraded to varsity status in 1969. The Maroons began competing in Division III in 1973.
Boris Stephan "Babe" Dimancheff was an American football halfback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Boston Yanks (1945–1946), the Chicago Cardinals (1947–1950), and the Chicago Bears (1952). He played college football at Purdue University.
Walter Scott Kennedy was an American college football player and coach, college basketball coach, and newspaper publisher. He was an All-American quarterback for the University of Chicago and captain of the Chicago Maroons football teams in 1898 and 1899. Kennedy later moved to Albion, Michigan, where he was the publisher of the Albion Evening Recorder from 1904 to 1939. There he was also the head football coach at Albion College for three stints between 1904 and 1920 and school's head basketball coach from 1910 to 1913.
Walter E. Marks was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, college athletics administrator, sports official, and university instructor. Marks played football, basketball, and baseball at the University of Chicago. Between 1927 and 1955 he served as the head football, basketball, baseball, and golf coach at Indiana State University, with hiatuses from 1930 to 1931, when he earned a master's degree at Indiana University, and from 1942 to 1945, when he served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Marks was best known for his football and baseball coaching career(s); though his tenure as basketball coach was highlighted by the Sycamores' run to the semifinals of the 1936 U.S. Olympic Trials.
The 1892 Chicago Maroons football team represented the University of Chicago during the 1892 college football season. The University of Chicago opened its doors for its first semester on October 1, 1892, and the football team, led by Amos Alonzo Stagg as both player and coach, played its first game one week later on October 8, 1892. In its first year of intercollegiate football, the Chicago team compiled an 8–4–1 record. The 1892 season included four victories over local high school teams, two victories over a local YMCA team, and seven intercollegiate games. In intercollegiate play, the team compiled a 2–4–1 record.
The 1898 Chicago Maroons football team represented the University of Chicago during the 1898 Western Conference football season. This was the first known year that the Chicago football team used the wishbone-C logo.
The 1915 Chicago Maroons football team was an American football team that represented the University of Chicago during the 1915 college football season. In their 24th season under head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Maroons compiled a 5–2 record, finished in third place in the Western Conference, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 83 to 50.
The 1917 Chicago Maroons football team was an American football team that represented the University of Chicago during the 1917 college football season. In their 26th season under head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Maroons compiled a 3–2–1 record, finished in sixth place in the Big Ten Conference, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 82 to 51.
The 1918 Chicago Maroons football team was an American football team that represented the University of Chicago during the 1918 Big Ten Conference football season. In their 27th season under head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Maroons compiled a 4–6–1 record, finished in last place in the Big Ten Conference, but still outscored their opponents by a combined total of 128 to 91. No Chicago players were selected to the first team of that All-America or All-Big Ten teams.
The 1919 Chicago Maroons football team was an American football team that represented the University of Chicago during the 1919 college football season. In their 28th season under head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Maroons compiled a 5–2 record, finished in third place in the Big Ten Conference, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 205 to 26.
The 1932 Chicago Maroons football team was an American football team that represented the University of Chicago during the 1932 Big Ten Conference football season In their 41st and final season under head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Maroons compiled a 3–4–1 record, finished in ninth place in the Big Ten Conference, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 95 to 94.
The 1918 Big Ten Conference football season was the 23rd season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference and was a part of the 1918 college football season.