By TOM RANGE
Special to The Gazette
UNIVERSITY PARK — The Blue Band was founded in 1899, but it only took one year for the organization to realize a drum major would be needed to help lead the band.
The Cadet Band, the precursor of the Blue Band, was founded in 1899 and had only six members. Within a year, and with the financial support of Andrew Carnegie, the band grew to 23. Starting in 1900, the drum major position was filled on and off. However, the position has been consistently filled since 1947.
In 1900, the first drum major was student G. W. Dodge — one of the founding members of the Cadet Band. C. C. Wagner then took on the role in 1903. There would be a drum major for the next few years and then a drought until O. B. Gippel in 1912.
During those years, the Cadet Band was completely student run. That would change in 1914 when Wilfred Otto “Tommy” Thompson was hired to conduct the band. Thompson would later change the name of the band to the Blue Band in 1923. During Thompson’s tenure as director, drum majors usually served for one or two years.
Hummel Fishburn became director of the Blue Band in 1939, and his drum major would be James Leyden Jr., the son of James Leyden, the writer of two Penn State School Songs: Fight On State and The Nittany Lion. Leyden Jr. was drum major for three years.
The first four-year drum major was Jeff Robertson from 1971 to 1975. Robertson was also the first drum major to perform the now infamous drum major flip. Before 1971, the drum major could do any special routine he wanted. Most of the time the drum major twirled a baton or mace, but Robertson was more of an acrobat than a twirler.
For the first two games of the 1971 season, Robertson tried to do a baton toss. Both times he was not wearing cleats, so when he tried to stop and throw his baton, he would slide and then fall onto the turf for the first game or then slip and stay on his feet but lose his plum from his shako (the Drum Major’s hat) for the second game. For the third game, he decided to try something new, and he performed a back flip.
At first the crowd did not know what he did, but afterward, he was asked by James Dunlop, the director of the Blue Band at the time, if he was planning to do the flip from then on. When Robertson answered yes, Dunlop replied, “All right, but don’t screw it up!”
After four years of the flip, the aerial move became expected before every game. However, the next drum major, Eric Falek did not perform the flip. The flip was not a mandatory part of the audition process at the time, and the thought was that the drum major could go back to doing a special routine for pregame. Falek would often get booed by fans for his two-year tenure for not flipping.
Because of the crowd reaction, it was decided that future drum majors must be able to do a flip. Ron Louder, the drum major for the 1977, 1978 and 1979 seasons, changed the flip to a front flip. When asked why he changed it, he simply stated, “Because I couldn’t do a back flip.”
The only drum major to hold the position for five years was Greg Stock, however you can make the case that it was only four and a half years. During the 1982 season, Drum Major Tony Petroy broke both his hands while practicing the flip. He could still conduct the band from the stands with casts on, but he was not allowed to perform the flip. So while he healed, freshman Greg Stock filled in, making 1982 the only season the Blue Band had two drum majors.
Stock would continue to be the drum major for the next four years. After graduation, his dedication to the Blue Band would continue with the Stock Family Drum Major Endowment Fund established in 1997.
In 1990, the drum major position crossed the race barrier with Mike “Bull” Harrell becoming the first Black drum major, though Harrell noted “I am proud being Black, but I don’t want people to focus on it. I want to be recognized because of my achievements.”
Harell would be drum major for the 1990 and 1991 seasons, but due to a small, shattered bone in his right foot, he was cautioned not to perform the flip anymore. So Harrell returned to the baritone rank and another baritone player, Tom Roberts, took the mantle of drum major for the 1992 and 1993 seasons.
Harell and Roberts would be responsible for creating a new Blue Band tradition. During his time in the role, Harell realized that part of the student section could not see the drum major perform the 50-yard line due to the band blocking some of the view. So he added a second flip in the south end zone especially for the students. Roberts would take it a step further and add a small skit with the Nittany Lion mascot. The drum major typically carries a mace — the ceremonial baton used by drum majors to lead a marching band — though flipping with it can be a challenge. To combat this, the Nittany Lion take hold of the mace and presents it to the drum major in the south end zone after the second flip.
In the long history of the Blue Band, there has never been a female drum major. There have been women that have tried out and been finalists, but so far, a woman has not finished first yet, keeping the book to other historic milestones in the band open for the years to come.
