Go I.U.!

My college years at Indiana University were idyllic. They truly were. I think back on them and only remember the golden memories of the four years I spent in Bloomington, Indiana, doing a minimum amount of classroom studies and a maximum amount of maturing. With a few bad choices mixed in for good measure.



I was amazed when I heard that my alma mater was going to be in the Rose Bowl this year. During my tenure at I.U., the football team was a joke. The school had high hopes when they hired Lee Corso as the football coach in 1973, but his record was spotty. The modifed poster in my dorm room with the blacked out tooth and zombie eyes says it all (no, that's not me standing next to it). For my freshman year (Corso’s final year), his record was 5-6.



Having been in my high school’s marching band, I decided to audition for the one at I.U., known as The Marching Hundred. In 1927, the band marched in a 10x10 block during the pregame show for the match against Harvard. And there you have it. Below is a shot of the bus trip to the one and only away game (Michigan in Ann Arbor) the band could afford to accompany the football team on.



Posing for the family that kindly hosted us in Michigan during our stint there. We lost, 10-24.



Even back in college, my camera went everywhere with me. I took these shots during a home game. Yes, it was cold.



Below are band directors Wilbur England and Ray Cramer (also his final year as director):



England took over when Cramer left and lasted until 1985. I can still hear the teashing chants of “Wilbuuuuuuuuur” not-so-silently from my fellow band members.



I only did one year in the Marching Hundred. The practices and games really killed my social life and prevented me from making many friends outside of the band until the football season was over. I still went to a few football games afterwards. Some shots of the band from the 1983 season:









In 1985, it was one of those Haley’s Comet moments when I was with my two brothers AND my dad  (the occasion was the IU Homecoming game). Being on the Indiana Memorial Union Board of Directors, we were treated to a tailgate picnic feast before the game.



The last shot I took of the Marching Hundred during my college career appropriately shows them in “I” formation, circa 1985:



While I never marched in the Rose Parade while at I.U., I DID have that honor as a high school student back in 1980.

I’m the alto in the middle.

Not only did I.U. play in the Rose Bowl game this year, they had their best season in program history with a College Football Playoff national championship after a 27-21 victory over Miami on January 19. To quote our Indiana University fight song, “GO! IU! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Indiana, we're all for you!"

See more Indiana University photos at my main website.