The alumni band return for homecoming and will partake in the parade, halftime show, and post-game performance.
It’s one thing to dance, march and twirl instruments along the parade route to Baker University Center as a Marching 110 student, it’s another task completely to do
“I get just as nervous now as I did back then, it’s pretty intimidating when you have thousands of cheering fans up there and you don’t want to mess up a dance,” said alumnus Bradley Neavin, former field commander and trombonist.“The difference is I hurt for more days afterward.”
Tradition will continue on Saturday as the Alumni Band joins the Marching 110 on the bricks for the parade and on the field for the homecoming halftime show and post-game show. For the first time, the Alumni Band will have the opportunity to play and dance to a famous hit of the ’80s – “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne.
Traditionally homecoming is a time for the Marching 110 to play songs from the past. The Marching 110 is performing an all Meatloaf show, similar to a show in 1993, prior to the alumni band joining the field. The songs include “I’d Do Anything for Love,” “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” and “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.”
Alumni return from all generations, said Josh Boyer, assistant director of the Marching 110. On average there are 350 alumni that return to play with the band, which includes recently graduated students, siblings, parents of current 110 members and even alumni from the ’70s.
“It really pulls at your heart strings to get back (in Athens),” Neavin said. “Homecoming, for us, is like part of the holiday season.”
Neavin has performed as part of the alumni band in several years since graduating in 1985. The return to Athens is always as exciting as it is for any student, Neavin said.
The reunion is especially memorable for students who play alongside siblings. Katie Fry, a senior studying exercise physiology and a mellophone player in the 110, will take the field alongside her older brother, a former bass drum player, for the fourth year, Fry said.
“It’s always great to just be on the field together and be able to play with him,” Fry said. “It is a really good bond we share. We’re always excited when this time comes around.”
The homecoming is more than a connection between the past and present. The Marching 110 is determined to impress those who return and show alumni the band still has the same traditions and ambitions, Fry said.
“A lot of what we do is because of what they did,” Boyer said. “There are things we embrace as traditions in this band that were established years and years ago, and it can be as small as standing there and not moving.”
Boyer said bridging the gap between alumni and student allows both to understand, the traditions in the past and how the band has developed over time.
“The important thing is that the core of what the organization is, is still there — the uniform, the style, the dancing, the music we play,” Boyer said. “It’s still there after all these years.”
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