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The Famous Maroon Band is the name of the marching band at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. The Maroon Band plays at all Mississippi State home football games and sends at least a pep band to a majority of the football away games.[1] The band was formally established in 1902 at what was then called Mississippi A&M College and was a military band, as was the college at the time. This time line makes the Famous Maroon Band the oldest university band in the Southeast United States.[2]
[edit] "Famous" name
The name "Famous Maroon Band" was coined in the 1930s after an incident that led to the 40 members of the band being called the "Famous Forty". At the time of an A&M vs. Alabama football game, the bands participated in a band contest with the winner taking home a trophy. Unbeknownst to the Alabama band, the A&M band had brand new non-military themed uniforms and after the A&M band performed first to thunderous applause the Alabama band refused to play. The band still has the trophy on display in the band room and the forty members of the band were thenceforth nicknamed the "Famous Forty". Later on in the 1930s a sportswriter referred to the band as the "Famous Maroon Band" and the name stuck.[3]
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