From the Archives: Princeton University Band

The April 11 From the Archives photo, above, was taken no earlier than the fall of 1969, when the Class of 1973 arrived on campus with the first women. While there is not enough to identify the person with the sax on the left, the others in the photo are all Class of ’73: Julien LeBourgeois (glockenspiel), Sue Petty (glock), Lainie Pittenger (clarinet), Lorna Wright (flute), and Carol Silverman (flute). The year before their arrival, the Tiger Band was pretty sophomoric and the humor was pretty much high-school locker room — all guys.

That changed somewhat, thankfully, with the addition of these and the other women who followed. The band was a great place to experience a better balance of men and women than the campus at large, and these women dealt with the craziness of the band’s antics very well. They were great sports. A tip of my band hat to them all for making Princeton and the band a much better place.

Editor’s note: Also writing to identify band members in the photo were Bruce J. Grobe ’73 and Vincent “Vinny” deLuise ’73, the PUB president in 1972–73.

Besides fondly recalling bandmates, my strongest band memories include the sleazy patter that accompanied our football-game appearances, performing at Rutgers for the 100th anniversary of college football, and road-tripping to Cornell, where we caught a few hours of sleep on the floor of the hotel school.

Band members from ’73 can relive these and other fine moments at our 45th reunion this year!

My favorite memory of the band, my favorite extracurricular at Princeton, surrounds the advent of our “new uniform” back in 1952.

In my first three years, we were in quasi-military jackets, but performing weird antics on the field like the band has been doing for many years. We definitely did not stand out in any way, and the other Ivy League schools let us know about it. Our band was ready for a change, just not the drastic change that was coming.

I was president of the band in 1952. My colleagues and I were ready to be “Princeton Charley” through and through. The University administration, for some reason, was ready to give us carte blanche on the design. The blazer was to be a unique plaid, designed by one of our moms, woven by a custom weaver in New England. Complementing that centerpiece would be the straw boater, white shirt, Princeton striped tie, gray flannel trousers, and white buck shoes. Uniformity was expected and readily given.

It is a joy to see the essence of that uniform prevail to this date. I was chided by my friends as we marched onto the field that first game in 1952 that we would get laughed out of the stadium. And here we are, 66 years later, still wearing the distinctive plaid jacket. (That’s two-thirds of the history of the band!)

God has a sense of humor.