RANDY METCALF/Arizona Daily Wildcat The Pride of Arizona marching band has performed for UA crowds for 99 years, and this year is kicking off its centennial. During the upcoming Homecoming game, the band plans to cover the football field with the biggest crowd of alumni band members performing in UA history.

UA marching band celebrates start of 100th year, 50 years playing "Bear Down Arizona" fight song

The UA marching band that played in the first superbowl and Jimmy Carter's inaguration will take the football field again tomorrow, kicking off their hundredth season and heading toward the 50th birthday for UA's fight song "Bear Down Arizona."

Celebrations for "A Century of Pride" will culminate during Homecoming, when The Pride of Arizona band plans to cover the football field at the Homecoming game with the biggest crowd of alumni band members performing in UA history

At the Nov. 9 game against UCLA, the UA Alumni Band ÷ with as many as 500 members ÷ will join the current band on the field, director of Pride of Arizona Marching Band, Jay Rees, said.

"It seems like everyone is coming," said Rees, who is also the associate director of UA bands.

Even though the band alumni are very active, performing at tailgate parties and some indoor events like basketball games during the winter break, Rees believes the Homecoming performance will be the largest alumni band concert ever at UA.

"Tradition and history is very important with the band, that's one of the things they tried to instill in us from day one," said Andrew Barcellos, Alumni Band Board President, who played the sousaphone. "We are working with the band and school to make the anniversary a special occasion," he said.

The theme of "A Century of Pride" will officially start on Homecoming Weekend on Friday, November 8, when the "Bear Down Bash" will be geared toward the "A Century of Pride" and after the Pep Rally and bonfire there will be a reception for alumni," Rees said.

"Basically we are doing the stuff we do every year just stepped up," said Jessica Mulleneaux, a creative writing sophomore who plays the piccolo.

On Tuesday, Dec. 10, UA will have a 100th anniversary concert, 100 years and a day after the first performance of a UA band. The concert will feature all the UA bands, not just the athletic bands and a retrospective of UA music from through the years, Rees said. The band will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of the "Bear Down Arizona" fight song, written by former UA band director Jack K. Lee.

After interviewing with the UA administration, Lee was flying out of Tucson when he spotted the "Bear Down" written on Bear Down Gym from his plane and wrote almost all of what would later becomes the UA's main fight song.

Under Lee, the band performed at events like Super Bowl I and at the Jimmy Carter Inauguration parade.

"Jack Lee was the band director for almost 30 years and during his tenure the band gained a lot of national recognition," Rees said.

At the pre-game show prior to every home football game, the band also celebrates its history by forming the shape of the continental United States, a practice that dates back to the performance at the first Super Bowl and by forming the "floating ÎA,'" which the band has performed since the '30s and was one of the first college marching bands to form a letter," Rees said.

"The entire pre-game show is all tradition," Mullenberry said.

The pre-game show is steeped in tradition, the halftime show is very contemporary, something that no other university band in the country plays, like Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication this year, Rees said.

"Over the summer I got a call from a guy saying, ÎI'm the new band director at South Florida. I know the Arizona band is the best band in the country, can I pick your brain a little bit?'" Rees said. "I get calls like that all the time," he said.