"The Pep Band always made the other teams look bad," said Hunter Smith, whose husband, Carl, class of '51, made the gift to start the marching band. "George Welch [the former football coach] always said we had one strike against us because the other team would come out mad. . . . It's not in our interests for college kids to look down on others and make fun of them."
Meanwhile, as kickoff time approached, the Pep Band was struggling to keep its place in the hearts and minds of its former fans. About two dozen members, in their trademark orange vests and untucked shirts, roamed the stadium parking lot to play upbeat tunes for the tailgate crowd.
Co-drum major Logan Riddick leads University of Virginia's Cavalier Marching Band before the game.
(Photos John Mcdonnell -- The Washington Post)
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But not without a little Pep Band humor, of course. "Did you hear how UNC plays possum?" a megaphone toting bandleader asked a politely non-responding crowd. "They play dead at home and get killed on the road!"
Ba-dum-bum. And then the band launched into a rendition of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer."
But suddenly from down the street came a rumbling -- a drum beat that roiled the asphalt, a blaring of horns that cut through the air. It was "Jungle Boogie"! By the much bigger, much louder Cavalier Marching Band.
"Woooo-hoooo!" said the crowd that immediately surrounded the newcomers as the band marched into the stadium area. The musicians launched into Gary Glitter's stadium anthem "Rock and Roll, Part 2," substituting U! V! A! for the "hey!" chant, and the crowd bounced, clapped, shook fists and chanted along. Audience members gave them the first of many ovations that followed them onto the field and throughout a game in which the Cavaliers triumph over Carolina, 56-24.
And suddenly, it was almost impossible to find anyone in the vicinity who still really missed the old Pep Band, which had graciously stepped away to a quieter corner of the parking lot.
Tim Nieman, a 1992 graduate from Harrisburg, Pa., smiled wryly as he watched the changeover.
"I always found them enjoyable, God bless 'em," he said of the old band. "But sometimes it's time to move on."
