http://www.thetandd.com/news/article_585c2f11-f0c0-5a7b-863b-c9cb5cd3e9d8.html Local historian Richard Reid wrote this reflection of the South Carolina State Marching "101" band's trip to the Rose Bowl in 1970. Band members gathered Friday as part of this weekend's Homecoming festivities.
On Jan. 1, 1970, the South Carolina State Marching "101" participated in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif.
To most band directors and band students, it is only a dream to receive an invitation to the Rose Bowl Parade. For the Marching "101," it became a reality.
On July 25, 1969, Clifford Watkins, director of the Garnet and Blue Marching "101" Band, received an invitation from the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association to participate in the 1970 Tournament of Roses Parade. This would be the 81st anniversary of the Tournament of Roses, with the theme "Holiday Around the World."
In August of 1969, the Marching "101" Band began to practice for football season and to prepare for the Rose Bowl Parade in January. Throughout the first semester, we began our practice by running around the practice field five times a day so that we would be in top physical shape to march in the eight-mile parade.
Under the leadership of directors Watkins and Reginald R. Thomasson and drum majors Jerome Noble and Gerald Straw, the "101" pressed harder and harder in our rehearsals as the date drew nearer for us to depart for California.
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