History
A History of The LSU Bands
- 1893 - Two Cadets, Wylie M. Barrow and Rufin G. Pleasant, organized a band called the Cadet Band.
It performed for LSU football games which began that same year. The band totaled nine members.
- 1893 - Pleasant was named director.
- 1896 - Professor w.B. Clarke, a blind man, became director.
- 1897 - Ruffin G. Pleasant returned as director (He later became the Governor of Louisiana).
- 1898 - Charles A. Kellogg was named director.
- 1903 - Frank E. Miller was named director.
- 1904 - D.P. West was named director.
- 1904 - The Cadet Band performed at the St. Louis World Exposition.
- 1905 - W.B. Clarke returned as director.
- 1910 - Band rehearsed Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 4:00-6:00 pm.
- 1910 - Band uniforms were grey with white trim.
- 1914 - Dance Band was organized.
- 1915 - Henry Wallace Stopher was named director.
- 1918 - F.T. Guilbeau was named director.
- 1918 - Summer Band program was initiated.
- 1924 - Tiger Band performed its first halftime show.
- 1925 - The Practice House, the first band hall, was built.
- 1930 - Alfred A. Wickboldt was named director.
- 1931 - Tiger Band size expanded to 250 members.
- 1931 - Tiger Band became known as the "Show Band of the South."
- 1931 - Uniform colors were changed to purple and gold.
- 1934 - Castro Carazo was named director.
- 1934 - Carazo and Huey P. Long wrote "Touchdown for LSU" and "Darling of LSU."
- 1935 - The Tigerettes, a girls dance squad, was organized.
- 1936 - A new band building was built at the rear of the old infirmary.
- 1940 - Arthur M. Culpepper was named director.
- 1942 - J.S. Fisher was named director.
- 1942 - Summer Band Twilight Concerts in front of the Memorial Tower were initiated.
- 1943 - Girls were permited in band for the first time.
- 1944 - William E. Koogler was named director.
- 1945 - L. Bruce Jones was named director.
- 1945 - Band became a department in the School of Music, and Band service award program was initiated.
- 1946 - James N. Geideman was hired as instrument repairman.
- 1948 - Beta Gamma Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi was formed at LSU.
- 1952 - Alpha Lambda Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma was formed at LSU.
- 1958 - The Band Hall burned taking with it all the new uniforms, music, and instruments except the new sousaphones.
- 1959 - Thomas Tyra was named director.
- 1959 - James N. Geideman was named assistant director.
- 1959 - A new band building, the Band Hall, was opened.
- 1959 - The Ballet Corps, a girls dance line, was added to the band.
- 1959 - The Tiger Band became known as "The Golden Band From Tigerland."
- 1964 - William F. Swor was named director.
- 1965 - Ballet Corps' name was changed to the "Golden Girls."
- 1966 - James A. Mackey, the "Golden Voice," became the Tiger Band announcer.
- 1971 - Tiger Band was named "The All American College TV Band."
- 1971 - Tiger Band performed at the Orange Bowl and The East-West Shrine Bowl.
- 1977 - Nicholas M. Rouse was named director.
- 1979 - Roger Wattam was hored as Instrument Technician.
- 1980 - Frank B. Wickes was named director.
- 1983 - Tiger Band first performed for a New Orleans Saints football game.
- 1984 - Tiger Band marched in Bacchus, a Mardi Gras Parade.
- 1985 - Linda R. Moorhouse was named assistant director of bands.
- 1988 - Tiger Band participated in the filming of the Hollywood movie "Everybody's All American."
- 1988 - LSU's chapters of Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi merged.
- 1991 - Tiger Band made the first of a series of spring semester statewide appearances as part of the University's first "Tigerama on Tour."
- 1993 - John P. LaCognata was named assistant director of bands.
- 1995 - Linda R. Moorhouse returned as assistant director of bands.
- 1997 - Tiger Band was unanimously voted the number one marching band in the SEC by SEC Band Directors.
- 1998 - Roy M. King was named interim assistant director of bands.
- 1999 - Linda R. Moorhouse was named associate director of bands.
- 1999 - Roy M. King was named assistant director of bands.
- 1999 - James A. Mackey, The Voice of Tiger Band, retired. Patrick Wright was hired.
© 1999