Band
“THE WORLD FAMED”
Millions watching Super Bowls and NBA All-Star games have witnessed electrifying and energizing performances. It has been seen and heard in international places such as Liberia, Panama, Korea and Cuba. “It” is none other than the stimulating, exhilarating and invigorating Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band.
It has been hailed as the “Number One Band in the Land” for years, but 1997 was a year that holds many fond memories for the Tiger Marching Band. For that was the year the talented musicians received an invitation to play at Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego and the band started its march to greater heights than ever before.
In what has been labeled as the “Greatest Super Bowl halftime of all-time,” the Tigers electrified the world as they performed with Motown greats such as the Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, The Four Tops, Queen Latifah and Boyz II Men. Performing as the Super Bowls is nothing new for the
Tiger Band and the talented students took care of business like seasoned show veterans.
When the committee for the first Super Bowl wanted a super band and Coca Cola wanted “the real thing” for its commercial, the Marching Tigers got the call. Since that time many years ago, the band has made two other appearances at Super Bowl games, including Super Bowl IX.
The Grambling Band got its first big break in 1964 when it performed at halftime of the American Football League’s championship game in San Diego. Members of the news media covering the event labeled as “The Band that Never Gets Tired.” San Diego Union reports jumped on the bandwagon. One article describing the band read, “The band looked better getting on the bus than most bands do on the field.”
Since that time, the band has also performed halftime shows for several professional teams.
The Tiger Band continues to be one of the most visible recruiting tools at
Grambling State University. Young and old, black and white, foreign and American are all attracted to this band.
Though they work hard on the field, band members work even harder off of the field as they go to various high schools to host workshops as well as to perform. That is in addition to the regular schoolwork they do as they work on their degrees as university students.
Any unit is only as great as its leader. The Tiger Bandmaster is Tiger Band alum, Dr. Larry Pannell. Like his predecessors, he exudes most of the “old school” charisma and mixes it with the current hip-hop tunes which has made the band the unique blend of musical talent it is today. Assisting Pannell are Charles Lacy, lower bass; Lenward Seals, woodwinds; Malcolm Spencer, upper brass and Edwin Thomas, percussion.
More than 30 years after those first national-attention grabbing performances, The Tiger Band is still the most sought after band in the land. In 2001, they performed at the Delchamps Senior Bowl college all-star football game at Ladd Stadium in Mobile, Alabama; the Miami Dolphins’ Monday Night Football game; the Black History Parade in Anaheim, California; Mardi Gras Celebration in Shreveport and a host of other activities.
While the band has the solid cornerstone of a spectacular past, The Tiger Band’s foundation is firmly based in the 21st Century. With the advances being made in technology, the band has computerized its field shows and musical arrangements.
“It’s all about keeping pace with what’s happening in the world,” Pannell
said. “We’re making sure that the Grambling State Band sets the pace in the next millennium.”
Pannell fully understands about keeping pace. He played in the famed Tiger Band over 25 years ago under the late, great bandmaster Conrad Hutchinson.
Through sheer genius, “Hutch” as he was called by thousands, erected, directed and perfected the marching sensation known as The Tiger Band. During the four decades “Hutch” spent at Grambling State, the Grambling State Hall of Famer directed The Tiger Band during performances and appearances that spanned this country and landed them on foreign soil all over the world.
But forget about the sassy, yet classy Orchesis Dance Troupe. What is a band without dancers?
Twenty-two years ago, the Orchesis became an official band auxiliary, mesmerizing audiences around the world. Today, under the tutelage of Mrs. Diane
Grigsby, this group can still “rock the house,” as well as move an audience with their jazzy, classy and upbeat performances.
One thing, though will never change - The Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band will always be the best in the land. Like other greats, it is often imitated but never duplicated. As the hip-hop generation of today would say, “They are rowdy, rowdy and ‘bout’ it, bout’ it.”
