History
The band was formed in 1912 with just 14 members under director Dr. Gustav Wittig. Four years later, in 1917, the band became a military band and was student-led until 1927. The band earned its name during a football game between Alabama and Georgia Tech, a game which the Yellow Jackets won 33–7. The band struggled for funds, having to solicit money from local merchants, to travel to games off campus. An Alabama alumnus, W.C. Pickens, was asked " what do you have at Alabama?" by an Atlanta-based sportswriter. Pickens replied only, "A million dollar band."
In 1936, Colonel Charleton K. Butler took over the band and led it to national prominence among collegiate marching bands. He remained director for the next 33 years until Mr. Earl Dunn took charge in 1969. After a one-year stint at the Capstone, Dr. James Ferguson was named director, where he remained until 1983. Legendary Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant often voiced his support for the band during his tenure, giving them partial credit during victories. Dr. Kenneth Ozzello has been in charge of the band since 2002, taking over for Ms. Kathryn B. Scott. One year after he was named director, the band won the prestigious Sudler Trophy, awarded by the John Philip Sousa Foundation.
Read more about this topic: Million Dollar Band (marching Band)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
—Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)
“The history of this country was made largely by people who wanted to be left alone. Those who could not thrive when left to themselves never felt at ease in America.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“A great proportion of the inhabitants of the Cape are always thus abroad about their teaming on some ocean highway or other, and the history of one of their ordinary trips would cast the Argonautic expedition into the shade.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)