Louisiana State University Tiger Marching Band
| Louisiana State University Tiger Marching Band | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| School | Louisiana State University |
| Location | Baton Rouge, Louisiana |
| Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| Founded | 1893 |
| Director | Dennis Llinas |
| Associate director | Kelvin Jones |
| Members | 325 |
| Fight song | "Fight for LSU" |
| Website | www.bands.lsu.edu |
The Louisiana State University Tiger Marching Band (also called the Golden Band from Tigerland or simply the Tiger Band) is the marching band of Louisiana State University (LSU). The 325-member band performs at all LSU football home games, all bowl games, and select away games.
The LSU Tiger Band began as a military band in 1893, organized by two students: Wylie M. Barrow and Ruffin G. Pleasant. Pleasant, who later became governor of the state of Louisiana, served as director of the eleven-piece cadet band. (Pleasant was also quarterback of the football team and is credited along with football coach Charles E. Coates with changing LSU’s official school colors from blue and white to purple and gold.) The band averaged thirteen members in its early years.
In his written history of the band, former director of bands Frank Wickes describes the band's formative years:
By the turn of the century the Cadet Band also became a marching unit. Tours of the state and appearances at Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans became early traditions. In 1904, the band joined four companies of cadets from LSU for a performance at the St. Louis World Exposition.
The military duties of the band were numerous, and it was not until later when the band's role in athletic events became more prominent. The band marched its first halftime show in 1924.
The band enjoyed some of its greatest growth when infamous Louisiana governor Huey P. Long took a heightened interest in increasing LSU’s national prominence. For Long, the success of the band was inextricably linked to the success of the University. In an oral history about the governor, Mary Hebert addresses Huey Long’s preoccupation with the band:
...improving the university became one of his pet projects. It was not LSU's academic standing, however, that first attracted his attention--it was the band...The governor then demanded that the band be enlarged from twenty-eight to one hundred-twenty-five pieces...His band would be one of the largest in the country.
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