History
The first recorded marching band at UK was an unofficial "Cadet Band" led by Herman Trost, who had been a bandleader in Sherman's Army in the Civil War and a close friend of John Philip Sousa and was part of a group of immigrants from Germany and Prussia call the Forty-Eighters. Informally affiliated with military training, the band existed by 1893, and possibly as early as 1889.
In 1903, Captain George Byroade, Commandant of the Military Science department, appointed Professor Rucker as band director, creating the first official marching band at UK.
In the fall of 1920, Sgt. John J. Kennedy was hired as band director, and under his direction the band became known as "The Best Band in Dixie".
In the late 1920s, Elmer "Bromo" Sulzer founded the all-female "Co-Ed band", for many years the only such band in the US.
Mr. W. Harry Clarke introduced many new things to the band. Just before Mr. Clarke took over, the Band had suffered from low membership and some bumpy times. Within a few years, the "Marching Hundred" turned into a 200-plus member Marching Band. The UK Band was honored during this time to perform at the 1969 Presidential Inauguration of Richard M. Nixon.
The WMB has participated in bowl games, a World Series, and performed for the Cincinnati Bengals on several occasions. The band travels two or three times a year to away games and was most recently invited to perform in exhibition at the Bands of America Regional Championship in Louisville. In 2008, the WMB participated in the opening ceremony of the Ryder Cup in Louisville. Several years ago the WMB was declared one of the "Top Bands in the South" by Southern Living.
Mr. Clarke also added an Associate Director of Bands in the late 1970s. Carl C. Collins was the director of the WMB from 2008-2011. The current director of the WMB, Scott-Lee Atchison, arrived in Lexington in 2012.
Read more about this topic: Wildcat Marching Band
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