Princeton University Band - in The Media

In The Media

• The PUB has an ongoing presence in, of all media outlets, Sports Illustrated. Among the highlights:
  • The PUB appeared on the cover of the October 17, 1955 issue. This was the first time any Ivy League students appeared on the cover.
  • After Princeton's stunning knockout of the UCLA men's basketball team in the 1996 NCAA tournament, SI wrote "If there really is a hoop heaven, the house band would be Princeton's, troubadours in straw hats who played the theme from "Underdog" late in the Tigers' victory."
  • More recently the PUB was cited in the on-line version of SI. Paul Zimmerman, in his column of February 26, 2004, claimed "for years, the fastest rendition I regularly clocked was that of the Princeton band. Always around 53 seconds."

• The Band won ESPN's Battle of the Marching Bands in 1996, beating the Stanford Band, another scramble band, in the final round. The other competitors in this online poll were: Rice, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Grambling, Michigan, Stanford, and Texas A&M. It is suspected, though unconfirmed, that the Band won partly due to very strong voting in their favor by bands previously eliminated who did not want any of their rival bands to win. None of Princeton's rival bands were in the competition, therefore the PUB was something of a neutral choice.

• The Band has been on national television playing for the Princeton University basketball teams at the NCAA tournament. In 2010, they followed the women's team to Tallahassee as they took on St. Joseph's in the first round.

• The Band has also made television appearances at the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. They played at Princeton's first-round loss to the Bulldogs of University of Minnesota Duluth at Minneapolis in 2009 and the year before when they lost to University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux in Madison.