The Penn State Blue Band: 125 Years of Raising the Song

This article originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette .

By TOM RANGE

UNIVERSITY PARK — As the instrumentalists take the field, the drum major makes his flip, the Blue Sapphire throws her baton and the majorettes twirl and dance at the first home game of the season this Saturday, Sept. 7, the Blue Band will start its celebration of 125 years of song.

The Penn State Blue Band’s origin traces back to the formation of the Cadet Band in 1899. George Deike was tasked to find other instrumentalists to create a band. Deike was a bugle player in the Spanish-American War and when Penn State Commandant of Cadets Capt. Thomas Taliaferro noticed Deike’s bugle hanging in the barracks, Taliaferro had Deike play a little and then tasked him to find others for a band. Deike was able to drum up five more musicians to form a Cadet Band.

As the Cadet Band grew and needed financial support, industrialist Andrew Carnegie donated $800 for the procurement of instruments. With the donation was a note stating, “I have long held that there is no better way for a boy to get the devilment out of his system than to blow it out through a brass horn.”

The Cadet Band would continue to be a student-run organization until 1914, when Penn State President Edwin Sparks hired Wilfred “Tommy” Thompson to be the first permanent director. Sparks was a graduate of Ohio State and had been in the Ohio State marching band.

Thompson changed the name of the Cadet Band to the College Military Band. However, in 1923, the term “Blue Band” was first used.

The standard uniform in 1923 was a khaki military uniform, but Thompson received an order of 50 blue uniforms. He had to decide who would wear them. So, he chose the best players for the blue uniforms. This “Blue Band” would be the band that would perform for football games and other special occasions around campus.

The name stuck.

Thompson continued to direct the Blue Band until his retirement in 1938. Hummel “Hum” Fishburn would become the second director of the Blue Band. Under his direction, the band would slowly change from a military style to a more collegiate style of performance.

During World War II, with many college marching bands halting performances until the men came home from battle, Hum decided to fill the ranks of the band with high school students, professors of the college and women. Women stayed in the Blue Band until after the war. When the men came back, the Blue Band was split into two groups — a marching band that stayed all men and a concert band that was co-ed.

Fishburn would become head of both the Music Department as well as the Music Education Department. Due to his departmental duties, he hired James Dunlop to take over the directorship of the Blue Band in 1947.

During Dunlop’s tenure, the Blue Band would move farther away from its military roots. Under Dunlop’s watchful eye, the traditions of Band Day, the Alumni Blue Band playing at Homecoming, the Floating Lions drill for pregame, the drum major flip, the Touch of Blue and the Blue Band Silks all started.

In 1963, the Alumni Blue Band started. A brainchild of Dunlop and some former Blue Band alumni, the tradition of close to 400 returning members playing during the Homecoming game continues to this day.

Though started in 1965 under Dunlop, credit for the creation of the Floating Lions drill for pregame goes to then Assistant Director Ned C. Deihl. Deihl has stated that the impetus for the drill was watching the electric signs in Times Square in New York City.

The drum major flip was first performed in 1971 by Jeff Robertson. The original flip was a back flip, but in 1977, Drum Major Ron Louder changed it to a front flip. When asked why he changed it, Louder stated, “Because I can’t do a back flip.”

Additional flips were added for the student section by Drum Majors Mike Harrell and Tommy Roberts. The flips were added because a lot of the students are in seats where they can’t see the flip on the 50-yard line.

Majorettes were added to the band in 1972, when student Judy Shearer asked Dunlop to watch her twirl. At the end of the audition, much like how the Cadet Band was formed, Dunlop asked Shearer to find additional twirlers to create a full rank of majorettes.

In 1973, female instrumentalists once again joined the ranks of the Blue Band. There were five female trailblazers in 1973. Now, the Blue Band is about 60% female.

In 1974, the Blue Band Silks were born. There were “flag bearers” before 1974, but they were alternate band members who held the flags for on-the-field orientation. They did no drills or performances. During one of the band’s performances, Colleen Schaeffer Rickenbacher noticed that the flagbearers weren’t doing much on the field and stated out loud that she could do a better job with the flags. Dunlop overheard and simply said, “Fine, then do it.”

Schaeffer would shorten the poles and teach the students drills to perform, changing the group from simple flag bearers to the Penn State Blue Band Silks. The Silks will be celebrating their 50th year this year.

Also in 1974, it was decided that the Blue Band would have a feature twirler. Though Judy Shearer was featured in some halftime performances, she did not wear a different uniform from the rest of the majorettes. So in 1974, Lori Donalson would become the first Feature Twirler of the Blue Band. However, the name Blue Sapphire was not used until 1978, when Lori Bowers became the first Blue Sapphire.

In 1975, Deihl became director of the Blue Band when, just a few weeks before Band Camp, Dunlop passed away. Usually, all members of the Blue Band had to audition for their spots for the upcoming season, but due to the short notice, Deihl decided to forego the audition of “returnees” and let those that had performed previously keep their spots.

Deihl started Bandorama during his tenure as director. Bandorama was an indoor concert of the Blue Band’s music that they played during the season. Usually performed the Friday before the last game of the season in Eisenhower Auditorium, the tradition of Bandorama is now sometimes performed in the Bryce Jordan Center, if a day and time can be obtained.

Deihl would continue to have the Blue Band grow under his leadership — so much so that his original pre-game drill had to be tweaked to include more members. He was also in charge of the Blue Band when Penn State moved from independent to Big Ten member. The Blue Band would be performing with some of the most famous college bands in the nation. Deihl made sure the Blue Band could hold its own.

In 1996, Deihl retired, and the band programs were broken into two categories, athletic bands and concert bands. O. Richard Bundy would become director of athletic bands and, more specifically, the director of the Blue Band.

Though only the fifth director of the Blue Band, Bundy holds a very special significance in Blue Band history. He is the only director who was a member of the band. Bundy played trombone in the Blue Band under Dunlop in the late 1960s and still plays trombone at homecoming in the Alumni Band.

The band continued to grow under Bundy, and probably the biggest accomplishment in Blue Band history came under his watch. In 2004, the Blue Band finally obtained its own building. With great support from the Penn State Alumni Association, the Blue Band now had a place to practice when the weather was bad, or a place nearby to store uniforms and instruments. Bundy also oversaw the outfitting of school instruments for all sections of the band.

Bundy was on hand when the Blue Band was honored with the Sudler Trophy in 2005. Awarded by the John Philip Sousa Foundation, the purpose of the trophy is “to identify and recognize collegiate marching bands of particular excellence that have made outstanding contributions to the American way of life.” A marching band can only win the trophy once or the Blue Band would be in the running for the trophy every year.

Bundy retired in 2014, and in appreciation for all he accomplished with the band, the administration named the new Blue Band building after him.

Greg Drane became director of the Blue Band for the 2015 season and currently holds the position. Drane wrote drills trying to incorporate other student organizations around the university and take full advantage of the Beaver Stadium sound system. Drane also kept the Blue Band together during the COVID-19 years. Much like during World War II, some collegiate bands ceased to exist during the pandemic, but Drane still held auditions. Even though the band did not perform during a game because they were not allowed in the stands, he held rehearsals as if they were.

As the Blue Band moves into the next 125 years, it will be interesting to see how Drane has the Blue Band continue to raise the song.

Tom Range is a Blue Band alumnus and co-author of multiple books about the band's history.

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