Come for the game. Stay for the band.
The world-famed Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band will perform at halftime of the Saturday’s game.
It might be worth the price of admission.
The GSU Tiger Marching Band has been dubbed by many as “The Best Band in the Land.”
Here are seven fun facts about the band, according to its website:
1. The band was formed in 1926. Faculty member Ralph Waldo Emerson Jones, who later would become GSU’s president, obtained 17 musical instruments from a Sears and Roebuck catalog to get things started.
2. It wasn’t uncommon in the early days for football players to also be band members. They’d have to be subbed out when they got hurt playing ball.
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3. The band’s popularity exploded when it performed at halftime of the 1965 AFL championship game in San Diego. Transportation expenses weren’t provided, so Jones paid for chartered buses out of his own pocket.
4. The GSU Band performed with the Pride of Arizona marching band and others during halftime of Super Bowl I in Los Angeles. The GSU Band also played at halftime at Super Bowls II, IX, XIV, XXI and XXXII.
5. The band performed at the inauguration of Liberian President William R. Tolbert in January 1972, at the United States’ bicentennial celebration in Washington, D.C., in July 1976 and at George W. Bush’s inauguration in January 2001.
6. The band goes through its own form of training camp each August. The sessions can last from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. and include jogging, calisthenics and marching at a cadence of 180 steps per minute.
7. The band has grown in size over the years. The full band now consists of 250 members, including staff, dancers and color guards.
