History

1923-1975: Pre-History

Prior to the 1973-1974 school year, the RPI Pep Band was run by a salaried manager rather than by student managers. The one and only non-student manager was A. Olin Niles, the arranger of the "Hail, Dear Old Rensselaer" chart that the Pep Band still plays.

From a 12/2/81 issue of The Polytechnic:

"At its founding in the early 1920s, the band had eight members and often had to hire professionals to complete an orchestra. Today, the band fields 76 pieces including 38 woodwinds, 32 brass, and 6 percussion instruments. The roots of the band can actually be traced back to 1923, when a local musician named A. Olin Niles organized the school's second musical group (the Glee Club had been formed about 45 years earlier.) Mr. Niles had been performing in the pit of the American Theatre in the days of silent films. The President of the Union asked him to start a music program at the Institute, and Mr. Niles complied. As the talkies (modern movies) came into being, orchestras such as the one at the American became less popular and Niles was able to devote more time to the Engineer ensemble. In the early days, the band not only played at athletic events, but also gave concerts and played at dances. The group performed for the lacrosse, hockey, basketball and football teams, and would play not only the RPI school song, but also the alma mater of the opposing squad. In 1954, when the hockey team won the NCAA championship, the band took two busses and greeted them at the airport. Membership grew and through the years players broke off to form other musical groups. Niles, who was a big fan of the marches of Sousa, Goldman, and others, retired in 1973 after 50 years of service. Now 88 and living in Troy, he remains an avid fan of RPI sports."

1960s

Forward, March!

During the 1960s, RPI's band was a marching band, in addition to being a pep band. Of course, it didn't do any marching during hockey season, but it performed halftime marching routines at every home football game and participated in an occasional parade.

Fight Song

Hail, Dear Old Rensselaer was the fight song in the 1960s, and it consisted, as it does today, of an introductory fanfare, an eight line refrain, a four line interlude, and a repeat of the eight line refrain. However, there were some differences in how it was performed.

The fight song used to be played at a noticeably slower tempo than it is today. Basically, the marching band of the '60's played the fight song at the same speed as that at which they marched. They would have worn out pretty quickly if they had tried to march at the tempo at which the fight song is played today.

In the 1960s, the band would play the fanfare and the eight line refrain, as it does today, but would then sing the four line interlude, rather than playing it instrumentally. The only band members who played their instruments during that interlude were the drummers, who rattled through a drum solo during the line "Hear the rat-tat-tat of drums that beat." After singing "Hear that might shout of", the band members would bring their horns back up and play the refrain for the second and final time.

After Olin Niles' retirement, there was a period of a year or two when the interlude was dropped entirely, so that the fight song consisted of the opening fanfare followed by the refrain being played twice straight through. Eventually, the interlude was restored as an instrumental version, and it has remained that way since.

It was customary during that time, as it is today, for the band to play the fight song to salute the hockey team's arrival on the ice at the start of the period, or the football team's arrival on the field for the start of a half. While that was going on, it was also customary for all RPI fans to stand up and clap along in time with the music.

Football

The marching band's halftime routine varied from game to game, but the ending was always the same. At the conclusion of the routine, the band would form an "R" and play the alma mater from that formation.

Hockey

At one time it was customary for the band to play the alma maters of both schools prior to the start of the third period of hockey games. (At least, they did so when they could get their hands on the sheet music for the other school's alma mater.) This was done only partially as a gesture of goodwill toward the opponents. There was another underlying reason for this custom, which eventually resulted in an NCAA rule change.

RPI's hockey coach of the 1950s and early 1960s was Ned Harkness, after whom the field to the north of the Houston Field House is named.

Harkness always put competitive teams on the ice, but for some reason he always seemed to have a problem recruiting a full roster for his teams. RPI usually dressed four or five players fewer than the rules allowed, which led to fatigue problems for the players late in games. Harkness was known for doing anything he could to offset this disadvantage.

During Harkness' era, the third period would begin in the following manner. The band would salute RPI's return to the ice with the traditional playing of the fight song. As is customary at all hockey games everywhere, the teams would skate a couple laps around the ice to warm up and then gather around to tap their goalies on the pads for luck. Then those players who were not starting the period would go to their benches, while the starters moved toward center ice for the face-off. Finally, just before the referee got ready to drop the puck, the Field House P.A. announcer would intone, "And now, the (name of the opponents) alma mater," whereupon the band would play the visitor' alma mater, followed by our own.

Eventually, opposing coaches figured out that, while this practice had the symbolic effect of showing respect for the visitors, it also had the very practical effect of giving Harkness' chronically undermanned skaters several extra minutes of badly needed rest before starting the third period. After that, an NCAA rule was passed requiring that, if anybody's band wants to play an alma mater, it has to do so before the teams return to the ice.

1975 - 1990: What Was It Like Back Then Before VCRs?

Sometime before '74-'75, the Pep Band wore very heavy red wool jackets. By '74-'75, newer lighter- weight (but still heavy) red jackets were being used. Both styles of jackets had the RPI seal on the front breast pocket.

In addition to playing for football and hockey games, the RPI Pep Band played at men's basketball games (up through '79-'80). The basketball band was quite a bit smaller than the bands for football and hockey games. Hail was played when the team came out and if they won, the usual cheers were played during time-outs, and 5 special short cheers were arranged for when RPI made a basket.

1975-1976

Senior Band Manager: Beth Montalone, Class of '76, Flute
Assistant Band Manager: Steve (a.k.a. "Derb") Derby, Class of '76, Euphonium

At a regional meeting of A&P grocery store managers in an auditorium in Albany, A&P kicked-off their new "Price and Pride" ad campaign and the Pep Band was paid to come and play the new A&P jingle. A&P wanted a band with red jackets and they had asked a couple of local high school bands who declined because it wasn't dignified. The Pep Band was paid $400 for this.

Band Manager Steve Derby later became a mechanical engineering professor at RPI.

1980-1981

Senior Band Manager: Dave Cole, Class of '82, Saxophone
Assistant Band Manager: Neal Lassinger, Class of '82, Trombone
Freakout opponent: Boston College (lost 1-4)
Gift: New Year's Eve-type noisemakers

The hockey team's slogan this year was "Come Watch Us Hustle" and the coach asked that they play "The Hustle" (famous 70's disco tune) during warm-ups. Dave Cole and Jim Koch arranged "The Hustle" for the Pep Band from memory and by calling a radio station and having them play it. Years later it was discovered in the music archives that the Pep Band had already owned an arrangement of "The Hustle" from years past.

During the second intermission of this Freakout, nine of the female Pep Band Members lined up at the front of the stage and, while the Pep Band played The Stripper, proceeded to remove their pants and other outerwear revealing long, white t-shirts which spelled out "LETS GO RED".

This year (or maybe the next) was the first year that the RPI cheerleaders attended hockey games.

1983-1984: America's Pep Band

The Houston Field House was renovated before the start of this hockey season. The roof was raised, made flat and coated with soundproofing material to improve acoustics along with a new sound system. The stage area was enlarged (the rink was enlarged and moved to the west several feet). The ice surface was lowered several feet to make viewing better and the height of the glass was raised. This last change made it harder for opposing teams to shoot pucks straight into the band - in the past, the back row of the band was in danger of direct hits.

To go along with the renovations, the Field House people wanted to move the Pep Band off of the stage and into the stands at the far northeast corner. At the first home game, they sat in the stands and had a terrible night. Here's a quote from the "Not In The Box Score" column by Mike Hurle in the Poly sports section that following week: "Need I comment on the Pep Band during Friday night's contest. Being a musician myself for over a decade, and as the conductor of the RPI Jazz Ensemble, I know the problems associated with performing. However, there is no excuse for not being able to start the national anthem on the first try. Not only did they embarrass themselves, but they shamed the entire RPI community. Their lack of interest during the latter part of the game only furthers my condemnation of the group. When the fans are not totally excited in what is going on, it is the job of the Pep Band to get things going. That's what the word pep is doing before band. Perhaps the entire group just had a bad night. I can only hope that the situation improves as the season continues." As a result of that night, the position of Conductor was created and Brad Amidon became the first to assume the position. Also, by the next home game, Meri successfully negotiated the band back onto the stage. In the following issue of the Poly, "Not In The Box Score" said "Let me be the first to congratulate on the improvement of the Pep Band at the Olympic exhibition game recently. It was good to hear the sounds of old. Keep up the good work!"

During the regular hockey season, the Pep Band traveled up each of the two days to the two-night Empire Cup Tournament held in Glens Falls. The Pep Band also traveled to the University of Maine (Friday) and the University of New Hampshire (Saturday) and stayed overnight outside of Boston. At UNH, the UNH team fired several pucks into the band during warm-ups (very low glass barrier).

For the semifinals and finals of the ECAC hockey playoffs, the Pep Band traveled to Boston for two nights of playoff games at Boston Garden and stayed overnight in downtown Boston. RPI beat Clarkson and Boston University to win the ECAC Championship. During the second night, there was a brouhaha when Boston Garden officials made the Pep Band move from their ice-level seats to upper-level, obstructed-view seats right before the start of RPI's championship game.

At the home NCAA quarterfinal playoff games against North Dakota, where RPI lost both games, the giveaway was big, red foam #1 hands.

It was during this season when Sports Illustrated ran a short article on the band and called them "America's Pep Band" - in the issue after RPI won the ECAC championship.

1984-1985: "We're Number One!"

Sometime during hockey season (after the shipment arrived), the Pep Band starting wearing red and white-striped rugby shirts with an "America's Pep Band" logo on the upper left chest, each band member purchasing their own shirt.

At the home ECAC quarterfinal playoff games against Princeton University, where RPI won both games, the Pep Band was given RPI engineer hats by the RPI Alumni Association.

For the semifinals and finals of the NCAA Division I Hockey Championships, the Pep Band traveled to Detroit for two nights of playoff games and stayed overnight outside of Detroit. RPI beat University of Minnesota-Duluth and Providence to win the National Championship. In the semifinals, RPI scored with less than two minutes left in regulation to tie the game, which then went into three overtime periods before RPI scored to win. At the end of the game, the band played "Hallelujah Chorus" at the suggestion of Beth Wilkinson (last name now Flanagan), Class of '86.

April 8, 1985 issue of Sports Illustrated states, "On Friday, RPI faced Minnesota-Duluth in the other semi, and both clubs must have taken their game plan from the Engineer band, which played "Rock Around the Clock" more times than Bill Haley and the Comets ever did."

1990-Present: What Most of Us Can Still Remember

1998-1999

Conductor: Bill von Achen
Managers: Jason Shapiro, Dave Schroeder
Freakout opponent: Dartmouth (Won 8-3)
Gift: Car flags

1999-2000

Conductor: Sebastian Corbisiero
Managers: Andrea Catenaro, Jennifer Bernfeld
Freakout opponent: Dartmouth (Won 2-0)
Gift: Hockey masks with suction cups, and hockey pucks.

2000-2001

Conductor: James (Tex) Sattler
Managers: Jonathan Stucklen, David Siebecker
Freakout opponent: UVM (Tie 2-2)
Gift: Foam hockey sticks

2001-2002

Conductor: Tim (TIMMAH!) Vanderpoel
Managers: Erica Baer and Mark Matarazzo
Freakout opponent: Clarkson (Won 4-3 in OT after trailing 3-0 with 12:00 left in the 3rd!)
Gift: Puckman bean bag dolls!

Road Trips

• Union hockey (Lost 4-5). The oranges got them a penalty though...

• One night stand to Princeton (Won 5-3)

• Overnight to Harvard (Won 5-1)and Brown (Lost 1-2). Stayed in the same hotel as our hockey team and Union's...

Playoffs

• ECAC Quarterfinals vs. Princeton: Destroyed them in 2 games: 5-3, 6-0 (black hole cheer!)
• ECAC Tournament @ Lake Placid:
  • Play-in game vs. Dartmouth: Won 2-1 (came from behind again)
  • Semifinal vs. Cornell: Lost 0-3
  • Consolation game vs. Clarkson: Won 4-3, again, from behind, again!

Other

• Had the same bus driver for all the road trips...
• The company from whom we ordered shirts was unable to provide them, but also had a relucance/inability to give us our money back, so we took them to court.
  

2002-2003

Conductor: Victoria Myers
Managers: Yuri Koester, Kevin Sullivan
Freakout opponent: Brown (Won 4-3 (again) in OT (again) - Winning Goal Scored with 7.1 seconds left in OT!!!)
Gift: Inflatable Hockey Sticks

Road Trips

• Union football (Lost 32-14).

• Carpooled to Army (Won 3-0). We were inspected by armed guards at the gate. Stayed overnight at the near by home of one of the members of the band.

• Union hockey (Tie 3-3) (the oranges return).

• One night stand to Dartmouth (Lost 1-7).

• Overnight to Cornell (Lost 0-5) and Colgate (Lost 3-4). Stayed in Ithaca, swapped songs and combined with Colgate to play during the second period break).

Playoffs

Football

• ECAC Northeast Championship Game @ Worcester State: Demolished them 55-29! Damn was it cold!

Hockey

• ECAC Playoffs - Round 1: @ Union: Won in 2 games: 2-1, 3-2 (you can't spell SUCKS without UC!). Won the second game on two short handed goals (on the same penalty) by Ben Barr.

• ECAC Playoffs - Round 2: @ Cornell: Lost in 2 games against the 800 pound gorilla: 2-3, 0-4. Due to a lack of available hotels in and around Ithaca, the band had to stay in Syracuse and take a bus about an hour each way to the games.

Other

• Hosted BOTH the Cornell and Colgate bands in Troy on the SAME night! (and only had public safety come by once :)

• Finally got the Cheerleaders to realize that our football team is the Engineers - not the Redhawks....They even changed their cheers!!
  

2003-2004

Conductor: Charlie Scaringello
Managers: Yuri Koester, Ben Strauss
Freakout opponent: Clarkson (Won 4-2, scoring 3 goals in the third period to come back from behind)
Gift: Felt Pennant

Road Trips

• Union hockey (Won 3-1).

• Overnight to Harvard (Won 3-2) and Brown (Won 4-0).

• One Night Stand to Yale (Won 6-0).

Playoffs

Football

• NCAA first round: vs. Curry: Won 34-20. Despite being the lower seed, the game was played on '86 Field because Curry's field wasn't suitable for an NCAA game. Also, the game was RPI's first ever NCAA win.

• NCAA second round: @ Springfield: Won 40-34. The game was the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so the band didn't go.

• NCAA Regional final: vs. Ithaca: Won 21-16. The Blizzard Bowl. The band was reduced to drums and vocal cheers due to the blizzard conditions which the game was played in.

• NCAA semifinals: @ St. John's (MN): Lost 10-38. The game was played in the middle of exams, in Minnesota, so the band didn't go.

Hockey

• ECAC Playoffs - Round 1: vs. Princeton: Won in 2 games, 5-4, 3-2(OT)

• ECAC Playoffs - Round 2: @ Dartmouth: Lost in 3 games, 3-2, 0-6, 0-1

Other

• Finally got a new supply of shirts at the beginning of the school year (only two years and one court battle later than anticipated).

2004-2005

Conductor: Sarah Toner
Managers: Andrew Bickford, Erin Chapman
Freakout opponent: Brown (Won 4-3, netting the game winner with 8.3 seconds left in regulation)
Gift: Foam Hand

Road Trips

• Army hockey (Won 5-1).

• Union hockey (Lost 2-3). Played three games against Union in two days (two hockey, one football), lost all three.

• Overnight to SLU(t) (Won 3-2) and Clarkson (Won 4-3). First sweep of the North Country in 20 years, and we got to travel back to Troy in a blizzard!!

• One night stand to Vermont (Lost 2-3). The band made what was in all likelihood its last trip to Gutterson Field House (UVM left the ECAC in favor of the greener pasures of Hockey East after the 04-05 season).

Playoffs

Hockey

• ECAC Playoffs - Round 1: @ Brown: Lost in two games, 4-7, 3-4(OT)
  

2005-2006

Conductor: Tim Tesluk
Managers: AJ Macey, Neil Havlak
Freakout opponent: Brown (won 4-2)
Gift: Foam Goalie Mask

Road Trips

• The band carpooled to North Troy to participate in their first Uncle Sam Day Parade, where a "First Place, Adult Division" trophy was acquired after an excellent performance.

• Carpooled to Union for the football team's Liberty League Championship deciding game. They lost the shoes 49-42 and had to settle for an ECAC Bowl berth.

• One night stand to Harvard (Lost 3-1). Many of the attending members ate at Uno's in Harvard Square before the game, while several of the elder members snuck off to a nearby bar instead. Wandered the campus for a while and lost track of the bus, which had moved about 1/4 mile across campus from where we left it.

• Carpooled to Union to support the men's team, where they lost 3-2.

• Overnight trip to Princeton (Tie 4-4) and Quinnipiac (at Yale's Ingalls Rink) (Tie 4-4). On Friday night the NJ Alumni Chapter invited the band out to dinner at a Chinese Buffet after the game, which we accepted, and they paid half the price of our meals. Stayed at a Howard Johnson in beautiful New Brunswick, NJ. Saturday the band ate dinner at a small pizza joint in New Haven, and got to enjoy the game at Yale's rink, since Quinnipiac didn't have one that could accommodate a D-I men's game.

Playoffs

Football

• ECAC Northwest Championship Game @ St. John Fisher: Won 26-22, running the football team's record in ECAC bowl games to 6-0.

Hockey

• ECAC Playoffs - Round 1: v. Quinnipiac: Lost in two games, 1-2, 2-4
  

2006-2007

Conductor: Dan Schwarting
Managers: Chris Behrens, Gary Russinko
Freakout opponent: SLU (tied 3-3, kept the streak going at 12-0-5)
Gift: Red beanie

Road Trips

• The band carpooled to North Troy to march in the Uncle Sam Day Parade for the second year.

• The band carpooled 45 members to the Pepsi Arena in Albany (now the Times Union Center) on October 28th and 29th for the first annual Governor's Cup tournament. RPI advanced to the championship game after winning over Union in a shootout, and then beat Colgate 2-1 the next night to win the first Governor's Cup.

• Took a coach bus over to Quinnipiac (Northford) on 11/10/2006 for women's hockey. The team won 5-1 for their first ECAC win ever, and the team was very appreciative, saying that it felt like a home game.

• Carpooled over to Union on 12/9/2006 for women's hockey. The team won 5-1 to complete their first ECAC weekend sweep, and we got invited to a hockey party after the game.

• Carpooled over to Union on 1/13/2007 before classes started for men's hockey. The team won 3-2, and told us that it felt like a home game.

• Took a coach bus over to Brown for a day trip on 1/27/2007 for men's hockey. The team won 4-3, bringing us to 5-0-1 on away games that the pep band's played at this season.

• Overnight trip for men's hockey was to Dartmouth and Harvard where the team lost 5-2 and 3-1 respectively. The games were much closer than the scores indicated (especially since there was an ENG in each). Lost much of the respect we had for the Red Army when they became completely unresponsive to our attempts to start cheers in the 3rd period at Harvard, then proceeded to sit on their nice warm bus for 20 minutes while we stood 10 feet away cheering for the team after the game.

Playoffs

Football

• ECAC Northeast Championship Game @ Cortland State: Won 26-7. The band was unable to go to the game due to a lack of available buses.

Other

• Hosted the Clarkson band on January 19, 2007.
• Hosted the Colgate band on February 9, 2007. With the permission of the administration, we put them up for the night in the Union.
• Hosted the Cornell band on February 10, 2007.