Every Thanksgiving Day for dang near 100 years from 1915 to 2011….two major college rivalries took place on the gridirons of Texas Memorial Stadium in Autin, Texas and Kyle Field in Bryan College Station, Texas every other year….as the Texas Longhorn football team took on the Texas Aggie football team in the 1st and 2nd halves….and the University of Texas Showband of the Southwest took on The Fightin Aggie Band at halftime of each game….as this rivalry is evidenced by the fact that each school mentions the other in its fight song….with “and it’s goodbye to A&M” in Texas Fight….and the entire second verse of the Aggie War Hymn is about Texas.
The Showband of the Southwest is the marching band of The University of Texas at Austin. The Longhorn Band was founded in 1900 by distinguished professor of chemistry, Dr. Eugene P. Schoch. The band performs at all in-state football games….for various Texas Longhorn Athletics teams….and at special pep rallies and parades throughout the year. The band includes about 375 students….all of whom must register for a year-round course offered by the Butler School of Music.
The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band (also known as the Noble Men of Kyle or just the Aggie Band) is the official marching band of Texas A&M University….which is composed of over 400 men and women from the school’s Corps of Cadets….as it is the largest military marching band in the world….when the band’s complex straight-line marching maneuvers are performed exclusively to traditional marches.
Since its inception in 1894….its members eat together, sleep in the same dormitories….and practice up to forty hours per week on top of a full academic schedule. The Aggie Band performs at all home football games….some away games….and university and Corps functions throughout the year.
When these two band take the field at halftime during the years that this significant college football rivalry was “alive and well”….the competition and level of performance by each of the bands was worth the ticket of admittance to the game all by itself….which makes this video well worth watching.
