Marching Chiefs of Florida State University

Bill F. Faucett is an arts administrator and fundraiser and a former classical music critic and columnist at the Palm Beach Post and American Record Guide. He is director of development at the University of South Florida’s College of The Arts.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction: FSU vs. East Carolina, September 20, 1980Part I. Marching Chiefs One Time!1. College Town (to 1937)Higher Education in Tallahassee“Femina Perfecta”: The Florida State College for Women (1909)2. Picture and Sound (1938–1946)The Tally TroopersTwo Cellists“Band Pageantry” and WarThe Remarkable Frank SykoraSellers Returns3. Becoming the Chiefs (1947–1953)A Coed University … AgainHalftime HijinksRobert Braunagel (1949–1953)October 1950Football Gets SeriousPart II. Marching Chiefs Two Times!4. Whit (1953–1962)Manley R. Whitcomb“Music, Music, Music”“Hell-Raisers”Small ScandalsDamned GatorsWhit Retires5. The Art of the Marching Band (1963–1970)Charlie Carter“Brownie”“Never lost a ­halftime show”Forging an Art Form“Ghosts of FSCW”The Chiefs Go Bowling6. World Renowned (1971–1976)“With an ­ever present flair”“Anti-Football Views”Syria and Jordan (1974)Dis-Spirited ’76Part III. Marching Chiefs Three Times!7. Football Rising: Bowden, Bernie and delete deleteBentley (1976–1990)Tradition Returns“Where our traditions come from”: FSU at Ohio State, October 3, 1981The VoiceShellahamer Returns“We played the ‘War Chant’ ­non-stop”8. A Marching Band for a New Era (1991 to Today)Dunnagin and Plack“Zero tolerance”Exit CharlieWorld Renowned … StillPost-Game: “Here’s a hymn…”Chapter NotesBibliographyIndex

“Bill Faucett writes about one of the great university band programs with a historian’s care for detail and a band member’s insight and passion. The historical moments come to life, the personalities are critically and sympathetically portrayed, and the band’s music resonates. Most of all, the book tells a significant and engaging story”—Douglass Seaton, Warren D. Allen Professor of Music, Florida State University; “Bill F. Faucett’s superb chronicle of one of the country’s best-known (and best, period) marching bands is written with the concise prose of a journalist, the narrative sweep of a novelist, the thoughtful objectivity of a historian, the deeper-digging obsession of a musicologist, and the Hymn to the Garnet and Gold–singing heart of a Marching Chief. Though Faucett is himself an FSU grad and Marching Chiefs alum (Flush and drum major) who now claims offspring among the Chiefs’ current ranks, this doesn’t skew his vision or keep him from shining his light into a shadowy nook and cranny or two. If anything, it may only fortify his resolve to get the story right. This is a rich and interesting tale, very well told.”—Robert S. Thurston, former Chief Arranger-Composer, United States Air Force Band, Washington D.C.