|
|
|
Comparing Notes from the Past Ties to the Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band are so strong that many NUMB Alums from long ago still return to Homecoming to keep in touch with their fellow band members and to reminisce. And do these folks have stories to tell! Carl Dill (EB39) of Lake Bluff, Ill., has not missed a Homecoming since the NUMB Alums were unofficially organized in the early 1970s. In 1999 he was given the Pride and Guts Award for his 60 years of loyalty. Dill recalls playing trumpet in the band when it performed at a Chicago Bears night game in Soldier Field in the late 1930s. "[Band director 'Rusty'] Bainum came up with the idea of illuminating the band," Dill says. "We all had little lights on our caps, and he arranged for spotlights and such. When we marched out to our fanfare, the announcer said, 'Tonight we have a special treat,' and at Bainum's whistle, all the stadium lights went out. The band was illuminated to thunderous applause." In 1948 the band took a cross-country trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Jerome Kochka (S50) remembers the legendary blizzard that stranded the band for three days in Cheyenne, Wyo., on the return trip. "We slept and ate on the train," says Kochka, "and to fill time during the day we would trudge through high drifts of snow to go sit in the lobby of the Plains Hotel. Everyone bought souvenirs like cowboy hats and Western things — we looked like a bunch of marching cowboys." Jacob Frehner (EB32) of Monroe, Wis., still has vivid memories of his freshman band season in 1928 under Bainum. "I carried the front end of the bass drum," he recalls. "Sam Smith [EB30] was strapped to the back end and did the beating. To signal the band to form the next letter, Mr. Bainum, standing on the 50-yard line, would fire a revolver (loaded with blanks, of course). "Sam, the drum and I were positioned directly in front of Mr. Bainum, and I had in my pocket an extra revolver to be tossed to him should he ever need it. As it turned out, he never needed it!" — P.D.S. |