1990 through 1999

Michael Lee - 1993

The 1995 season opened with the Pigskin Classic, a home game for us against Virginia. The game was played on August 26, a very hot day (high nineties) and even hotter on the field (over 100 degrees). The band was wearing the usual layered wool uniforms. Many of us tried to stay as hydrated as we could, but there were a few people that suffered from heat stroke and dehydration. We couldn't wait for the game to be over and get back to Revelli hall to take our uniforms off. When we did finally get them off, their weight had increased due to the sweat. We won the game 17-16.

Later that same year on a cold November day we were playing Purdue. The morning had started out pretty chilly and damp. As we were marching to the stadium it started raining getting our uniforms and gloves wet. We got into the tunnel and patiently waited to start pregame. As we came out of the tunnel we had discovered that the rain had turned to hail pelting us in the face as we were doing entries onto a wet field. As the day progressed, the temperature kept dropping and it started snowing. Since our gloves were still wet from the rain earlier, a lot of the band started getting frost bite. Then it was time to perform halftime. Since it had been precipitating all day and the field didn't have good drainage, the field was practically all mud. Part of the halftime show was marched with lock-step. Needless to say our uniforms were no longer maize and blue, but all brown from the mud being splashed as we marched to the different sets. One of the songs we played was the theme for Dudley Do-Right. During the song the band had formed a train and "Snidely Whiplash" was supposed to pick up one of the flags and tie her to the track. It was so muddy, he slipped and fell. Luckily it was close enough to the right spot, he just went with it. Of course Dudley got there in time and saved the day. Again we were glad to get back to Revelli Hall to take off our now drenched, muddy uniforms. We won that game 5-0.

We received a bid for the Alamo Bowl to end the 1995 season to play Texas A&M. The director at the time (Jeff Grogan) and crew traveled to San Antonio beforehand to check things out. At the bowl meeting early December, Mr. Grogan had informed us that they didn't really like the hotel we were going to stay in, so the Athletic Department fronted the extra money to put us in a "nicer" hotel.

Since the Alamo Bowl is an early game (played on December 28, 1995) the band didn't meet in Ann Arbor to rehearse as in the past. We traveled straight to San Antonio and practiced as much as we could there. Since meeting in Ann Arbor wasn't necessary, those of us that lived in Texas (or neighboring states) decided to meet the band in San Antonio. The day the band arrived we were to play at a pep rally at Fiesta Texas, the amusement park in San Antonio then rehearse later that night after a quick dinner. Those of us that were there already had kept checking on the arrival of the rest of the band, since we had heard that the flight was delayed in Detroit due to mechanical problems. As the evening went on so did the updates of more and more delays. It got to the point that the band was going to be so late, they were going straight to the pep rally. The dozen of us stuck at the hotel now had to figure out how to meet the band at the park. Talking to the hotel staff and Don Shepherd working his magic we had made it to the park just to find out that band wasn't there yet. We waited and waited and finally decided to call the hotel for another update. Apparently, the band had been delayed again and was not going to make it to the pep rally. They were now going to go straight to the hotel, eat dinner, change and head out to rehearsal. Again the dozen of us were stuck. We decided to stay for the pep rally since we knew it would be over before rehearsal started. Even though we didn't have our instruments, we still liked to believe the band did make it to that pep rally.

We were then faced with the challenge of getting back to the hotel. Don Shepherd again worked his magic and got us rides with the Texas A&M band back to their hotel which was walking distance from ours. We had a good time socializing with their band on the way back. Talking to them, we found out that they too didn't have a good hotel at first, but all of a sudden a huge block of rooms had opened up at a "nicer" hotel for them. We didn't tell them that the huge block of rooms had been abandoned by us earlier that month.

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