WATCH: Alumni join Ohio State marching band for huge halftime show

COLUMBUS , Ohio ( WCMH ) — “The Best Damn Band in the Land” was joined by a few extra members for Ohio State’s halftime show for Saturday night’s game against Western Michigan. More than 600 Ohio State marching band alumni joined current members on the field for Alumni Band Day.

This is the 55th year the alumni will join TBDBITL, with Saturday’s halftime show honoring the 30th anniversary of “Forrest Gump.” Arranged by Ishbah Cox, “Run, Forrest, Run!” will feature songs from the original motion picture soundtrack, beginning with “The Feather Theme” from the film and concluding with the film’s end credit song, “Go Your Own Way.”

The band will also display classic scenes, including stick-figure Forrest sitting on the bench and running to “Runnin’ on Empty” and two people playing ping pong to “Break on Through.” Donning red uniforms, the alumni band joined the current roster, surrounding them as this year’s band built scenes.

“This feels like home away from home for me,” said Joe Koehne, OSU Marching Band alumnus. The group got to join the band for the pregame and halftime shows with four former sousaphone players “dotting the i” during a quadruple Script Ohio.

“Like everything at Ohio State, tradition is huge here and that’s part of the values of being a Buckeye. It’s a simple thing, simple spelling but dotting that i in Script Ohio it’s the biggest thrill that any of us sousaphone players ever get to have,” said Koehne.

Joe Koehne was in the marching band from 1991 to 1993. He missed his opportunity to dot the i while he was in college. “I missed my opportunity when I was in the band and it haunted me for a long time,” he said.

31 years later, he finally got to march to his mark in front of thousands of fans inside Ohio Stadium. It’s an honor Koehne doesn’t take lightly, especially because he nearly lost his life a year ago. Last October, he had a diabetic seizure and went into kidney and heart failure. After a long recovery and work to get back in shape, Koehne had a feeling that this would be his year.

“I want to do it well not just for myself, not just for my family but over 600 of my extended family that’s going to be on that field with me,” said Koehne.

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