Mighty Sound of the South
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mighty Sound of the South is the school band that belongs to the University of Memphis in Memphis, TN.
The band performs at Memphis Tigers football games as a marching band and at Tigers basketball games as a pep band.
[edit] History
At the end of the 1962-1963 basketball season, the Tiger team had the distinction of being the only southern team to be invited to play in the National Invitational Tournament in Madison Square Garden. Thomas C. Ferguson, in only his second year as band director, was a big basketball fan, and furnished a pep band for every home game, which was not a given as it is today. He decided that his pep band should go to New York City, and he called the tournament committee for permission. The had to check into it, because a pep band had never before played for a basketball game in the Garden. They were given the green light to become the first.
Nineteen pep band members boarded a bus for New York City. They were determined to make a name for themselves - literally. Using markers and and old bed sheet, the fashioned a makeshift sign with the words "The Mighty Sound of the South" to humorously describe their modestly sized band. The basketball team went on to an impressive showing, and the name "The Mighty Sound of the South" is still used, in a more literal sense, for the 200+ member marching band.
