Spring Break
Dads play along with band
OSU's marching band earned recognition during Saturday's OSU-USC game
Jon Hallquist
Issue date: 10/30/06 Section: News
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The marching band began with the Beaver Walk, which for the first time included splitting up into three separate groups and marching to various parts of campus including the tailgater section, the Merritt Truax Indoor Center, and the MU Quad, playing the OSU fight song among other various tunes.
The OSU dance team, cheerleaders and color guards walked around with the marching band as well and were followed closely behind by all the band's visiting dads.
At halftime of the Beavers home football game against USC, the marching band performed "Cumana" and "99 Red Balloons."
The band then played "Macho Man" and "YMCA" as their dads danced around to a choreographed dance taught to them by a dance coach and color guard instructor.
"It's pretty funny to watch (my dad)," Tania Rysko, who plays the mellophone, said. "I think it's more entertaining for the band members."
"This was the third year the dads have danced during halftime," Brad Townsend, director of athletic bands, said. "It's getting more popular every year."
Townsend said that there are 135 students in the band and there were about 100 dads that showed up for the halftime show.
"It's fun, it's a lot of fun," Glen Rysko, who came down from Newberg, said.
This year, the band acquired new uniforms, running at total cost of $65,000.
"Alumni, fans and parents of members of the band helped donate money for the new uniforms," Townsend said.
The uniform tops are black in the back, orange in the front with three black stripes around the mid-section and a white triangular shaped background with the Beavers logo in the middle. All black slacks and black shoes compliment the tops.
After the halftime performance, marching band members and dads were assigned a section of the stadium where they carried hats through the fans in attendance to raise money for the band.
In addition to the weekend's activities, yesterday morning the OSU marching band held a 'Golf With Your Dad Day' at the Golf City par-three course for OSU band dads.
The golf competition is one of many of the weekend events that the OSU band hopes will become a Dad's Weekend tradition.
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