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Four
months after Dr. Simmons took the helm of the SU Bands, his marchers’
uniforms were fired… literally.
Archbold
Gymnasium burned to the ground on January 12th, 1947, taking all the
band’s uniforms with it. By February, new uniforms were ordered,
including blue ski pants, blue visited hats, orange wool shirts and
orange Eisenhower jackets.
Along
with the new look, the S.U. Bands were welcoming more new faces than
ever, many of them veterans returning from WWII. As the band program
expanded, so did its administration. In September 1947, Howard Kelly
was appointed Assistant Band Director. One of Kelly’s many positive
contributions to the band was adding a featured twirler on horseback.
This made the SU Bands one of the most innovative programs in the country
for many years.
The
new and improved “100 Men & a Girl” first took the
field on September 27th, 1947 at the Syracuse/Niagara game. The “Girl”
was Drum Majorette Jessie Ann (Harp) Griffing. The halftime show even
featured a second female, fire baton twirler Gloria Smith. Adding to
the occasion, The Saltine Warriors of Syracuse beat Niagara, 14-7.
After
Jessie Harp graduated, the tradition of “100 Men & a Girl”
continued on. In 1949, Dr. Simmons recruited a personal acquaintance,
Dorothy “Dottie” Grover to be Syracuse’s second Drum
Majorette. Besides being a state twirling champion in high school (and
a national runner-up), Dottie was also a champion water-skier, a movie/television
actress and, according one news article, “a good looker.”
The
darling of SU’s “120 Men & a Girl” even took
her twirling to the hard-court. In 1952, Dottie (along with Clara Church
and Donna Parkhurst) twirled during halftime at home basketball games
to the sounds of Syracuse’s first ever Basketball Pep Band. This
25-member band (which may have been called “The Orange Peals”)
was created by Band President Kenneth Fredericks.
Dottie
Grover’s farewell performance at SU was also the marching band’s
first postseason appearance—the Orange Bowl on New Year’s
Day, 1953. CBS even carried the game nationwide—the first time
any bowl had ever been televised. For this special occasion, the University
suited the eighty-eight bandsmen that made the trip to Florida in uniforms
“more suitable to tropical weather.” Dress included a blue
blazer over gray trousers, white buck shoes and straw hats. Unfortunately,
Syracuse’s defense gave Alabama 586 yards in SU’s worst
bowl loss to date. Final Score: Alabama 61, Syracuse 6.
The
SU Bands saw several more bowl chances and big changes throughout the
1950s. Assistant Band Director Howard Kelly took 1950-51 off, leaving
his duties to Robert Chenowith. Kelly would return for a few more years
before Marice Stith permanently replaced him in 1954. Stith would later
become Director of Bands at Cornell University.
Also,
in 1954, Dottie Grover handed her baton to SU’s third Drum Majorette,
Alta Burg, who led “106 Men…” (dressed in solid blue
with military caps and orange plumes) onto the field at the 1957 Cotton
Bowl. Again, our football team came up short, losing to TCU 28-27.
SU would also drop its third bowl (the ’59 Orange Bowl) to Oklahoma
by a score of 21-6. Syracuse’s best showing that New Years Week
was “100 Men & a Girl” (the “Girl” was
Drum Majorette Janet K. Smith) performing a show at Walt Disney World.
Smith
and her bandsmen finally saw Syracuse University’s first bowl
win (and a national championship!) one year later, January 1st, 1960
at the Cotton Bowl. SU’s charge was led by star running back
Ernie Davis, who became the NCAA’s first ever black Heismann
Trophy winner.
Under
the marching band’s newest director Donald Schmaus (through 1964),
the ever-changing “Syracuse All-Collegiate Marching Band”
witnessed three more bowl games in five years, including a 15-14 Liberty
Bowl win over Miami in 1962. Judy Delp, that year’s Drum Majorette,
was S.U’s first twirler deemed “The Orange Girl.”
1964
was yet another year for new leaders and looks. Edward Volz became
Assistant Director and marchers suited up in new solid blue uniforms,
this time with a large white and orange “S” on both front
and back. They also got new black shoes with white spats. Under the
leadership of Drum Major Rick Waterfall and Orange Girl Gal Fuchs,
the band performed a halftime show at the 1965 Sugar Bowl that featured
now-legendary clarinetist Pete Fountain.
By
fall of 1966, the days of “a Girl” were over. Females were
now invited to march with the band as instrumentalists. That year alone,
22 joined the ranks.
These
women only had to wait one year before marching in their first bowl
game, the 1967 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. The Band was led
on the field by Drum Majors Ernie Buck and Randall Archibald, and Orange
Girl Collette Daite.
After
almost a quarter-century, the Simmons Years came to an end in June
1968. Dr. Simmons announced his retirement, becoming professor emeritus
and handing the S.U. Band Program to then-marching band director Lyle
Babcock.
The History
of the Syracuse University Band Program
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Alumni
