Once Upon this Sea of RedOver the course of 130 years, “The Pride of All Nebraska” has grown from a small military band to a parading, entertaining, spirited marching band – 290 members strong and every bit as committed to precision as it was in the beginning. |
 |
 |
|
Slideshow: |
|
THE STORY OF UNL's MARCHING BAND is too big for bedtime. It’s packed with people – some here at home and others scattered across the globe – whose hearts pulse in 2/4 time at the first sight of white hats, gold military bars and dramatic red and white capes on the field.
Over the course of 130 years, the Cornhusker Marching Band has grown from a small military band to a parading, entertaining, spirited marching band – 290 members strong and every bit as committed to precision as it was in the beginning. Its past and present membership is a collection of spit-shined instruments, grueling practices, mastered routines and more than a few mischievous pranks and missed planes.
The story of the Marching Red – the drum roll of Husker pride – is a story that’s still being written and a parade that won’t pass us by.
Fans banding together
Doug Harris has a routine. On Nebraska home game days, a good two hours before kick-off, he grabs a quick bite to eat and then heads over to Kimball Recital Hall. After watching the drum line warm up from the edge of his seat, he sits back as the rest of the marching band gathers. He stays for the full band rehearsal and then, as if a band member himself, Harris listens intently to the final instructions from directors Tony Falcone and Doug Bush.
When the Cornhusker Marching Band moves outdoors into the sculpture garden for their traditional pre-game concert (as mandated by the Fire Marshall once attendance began to consistently exceed Kimball Recital Hall’s capacity), Harris is front and center. The path to his seat in Memorial Stadium is spent trailing the band, marching to the 6/8 tempo of “Hail Varsity.”
For Harris, old habits die hard. He grew up in Blair where his father owned Harris Shoes and where he brought up the rear as a drummer for his high school marching band. Today, even as an elementary school principal in Leawood, Kan., Harris finds plenty of good company when it comes to demonstrating his Husker pride.
“You wouldn’t believe where I’ve run into other fans,” he said. His Kansas dentist sports a Nebraska tattoo on one tooth and a 4-by-4 foot picture of Memorial Stadium’s “sea of red” in his waiting room. He and his wife, Patty, found two Husker apparel shops while vacationing in Estes Park, Colo., recently, and he’s not the only one who flies a Husker flag in KU territory during football season.
When Nebraska won the national championship in 1997, his students and teachers at Leawood Elementary School all dressed in red. It was an easy sell, he said. One parent, Neil Johnson, used to play the trumpet for the UNL marching band and is credited with arranging a half-time version of Bill Chase’s “Get it On” – with a wailing trumpet solo, of course.