In an era when it was perceived that many University traditions such as an all-male student body and a coat and tie dress were coming to an end, three men founded an organization they hoped would be a unique new tradition at the University in the early 1970s, the Virginia Pep Band.
Concert bands had existed off and on at the University since the early 1900s, and had reached their highest point between 1934-1940 under the guidance of Chemistry Prof. Robert E. Lutz. However, by the 1960s, numbers dwindled and support waned.
Steve Mershon, Hugh Riley and Franklin Seney were members of a Pep Band that broke from the concert band in 1969. In fall 1973 they wanted to create something unique from within the University to replace the high school and opposition bands that then played on the field at halftime of football games.
Mershon said their job was to form a consensus over what the band should be to create "something that everyone could be proud of and enjoy."
At the time, there was heavy opposition from students, alumni and administrators to the creation of a traditional "Big-10" style marching band, Mershon said.
"We wanted to make sure it was unique to University traditions," he said.
Former University Historian Raymond Bice also said a traditional marching band was looked down upon at the University.
"When I came here in 1948, I was told '[a big marching band] is 'State U' and we're not going to have a marching band -- we have a Pep Band,'" Bice said.
What the committee created was a band similar in style to the bands at the Ivy League schools particularly Yale and Stanford. This is a "scramble band" where members run to positions on the field while participating in skits, jokes and parodies during the show through an announcer, formations on the field or the music played.
"Unlike most marching bands, it is distinctively non-regimented and puts little or no emphasis on military precision. What it does emphasize is entertainment for the fans (especially the student fans) based on good music well played, and humorous, satirical halftime shows of a topical nature," according to the band prospectus presented to the Athletic Department in October 1973.
The following fall the band first took the field to standing ovations, Mershon said.
Over the next few years, the band made several trips to away games as well where they also received very positive feedback, he added.
Scandals Rock the Pep Band
Negative reactions to a Pep Band show, however, are not recent phenomena.
The first instance of controversy over a Pep Band show occurred in 1977 at the University of Maryland. The Pep Band show mocked former Maryland Gov. Marvin Mandel, who recently had been replaced after being indicted on felony charges of racketeering, corruption and mail fraud.
Mershon said that while many thought the show was humorous, the administration and acting Maryland governor were upset at the show and the band was banned from performing on the field in College Park.
He added he thinks the band strayed from his original promise to be funny without being objectionable.
"I was committed to shows that were humorous but did not offend people. We made a big effort to work with Athletic Department, alumni and students so something everyone could enjoy," he said.
The second major controversy over the Pep Band occurred at a 1985 home football game against West Virginia University.
That show's skit featured a parody of the "Family Feud" game show with the "Hatfields" of West Virginia and the "Fenwicks" of Virginia. The category was "something you associate with the state of West Virginia" and contained jokes about lack of indoor plumbing, education and birth control.
The final answer in the skit was "toxic gas," a reference to recent leaks at a Union Carbide plant near Charleston.
After the show, West Virginia State Treasurer A. James Manchin demanded a public apology from then-University President Robert O'Neil.
Like this year's Continental Tire Bowl, the football team in 1985 also defeated West Virginia in a big upset.
"I think the West Virginia fans took out their disappointment at the band," said David Black, who was a pep band member from 1987 through 1991 and served as director and drum major.
In the aftermath of the West Virginia game, a review board was created to review each show the Wednesday before it performed. The board contained representatives from the Athletics Department, Alumni Association, Administration, student government, faculty and the Pep Band.
Black said the board modified or cut some of the band's jokes, but that most offensive jokes were self-censored by the band itself.
"We chose to make it a cooperative relationship," he said.
Current Pep Band Director Adam Lorentson said the purpose of the board was to limit show content and take away the liability for the shows from the Pep Band.
However, the review board did not save the Pep Band from controversy. In 1987 the review board prohibited the band from performing any joke with sexual innuendo.
A bigger controversy came during a show at Virginia Tech in 1988.
The show mocked Virginia Tech basketball player Bimbo Coles, who played for the Olympic team and was honored after the Pep Band's performance. The Pep Band created a mock ceremony for Coles with a punch line of "Once again, Virginia Tech has proven it produces the finest bimbos in the world."
"It was supposed to be good college fun," Black said.
The response to the band was that they were never invited back to Virginia Tech to play on the field (they still play in the stands).
Lorentson said visiting bands playing on field at other stadiums is not commonplace in the ACC anymore.
The Athletics Department also cut half the shows at Scott Stadium for the 1989 season.
The band returned to a full slate of shows in the 1990 season, but controversy came again at the 1990 Sugar Bowl against the University of Tennessee.
The show featured a Pep Band member dressed up as Elvis who other Pep Band members jumped on, "killing" him.
After the band completed their show, the announcer said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the SuperDome custodial staff needs help removing Elvis from the field
are there any volunteers?" referencing Tennessee's mascot.
Two Pep Band members, wearing coon-skin caps, then carried "Elvis" away.
The aftermath of the Sugar Bowl show saw the Athletics Department cut shows from the following year's Pep Band calendar. Virginia Del. and former Cavalier football player Robert Tata also introduced a bill to displace the Pep Band with a marching band, but the bill never reached a vote.
In 1993, the Athletics Department cut all the Pep Band's halftime shows and replaced them with a band assembled by Music Department Instructor Dwight Purvis. Rather than play only in the stands, the Pep Band decided to play on the hill outside Scott Stadium.
"We went on strike for a year," Lorentson said.
"Half time scramble band shows and humor are important to the band's identity," Black added.
The band still performed shows at other sporting events during that year, however, and returned to Scott Stadium the following year. It was several more years before the Pep Band was able to have MC'ed shows within the stadium.
The review board did not return and now the Office of Sports Promotion reviews the band's scripts before performance.
Is this the Worst Controversy?
One might think the most recent controversy might be the worst so far for the Pep Band, but Lorentson does not share that belief. He said the controversy was because of media blowup and the Internet, not anything intrinsic to the show.
Black said he thinks the reaction is very similar, but not the content.
"I don't think the recent West Virginia joke reaches the level of content as the prior shows that caused controversy," he said.
Mershon said constant turnover and lack of institutional memory are why controversies have occurred.
He added the Pep Band's obvious intention was not to offend people by this year's show, but because of the history, it "threw a match into gasoline."
Bice said the Pep Band is about the same now as it has always been.
"When [Frank L.] Hereford was president, he supported and encouraged them, but they had problems like they have now from time to time," Bice said in referring to the late 1970s.
Nor is the Pep Band the only scramble band to experience controversy after one of its shows. Stanford in particular is most notorious because it is the only other university from a major football conference to have a scramble band.
The two most famous incidents involving Stanford's band were a show at Oregon in 1990 where the band parodied the environmentalist vs. logging industry struggle and at Notre Dame in 1997 where the band parodied the Fighting Irish's mascot.
The incidents resulted in suspensions from Stanford, Notre Dame, as well as a prohibition from the then Oregon governor for performing at Oregon.
"Those are the two signal incidents which have drawn the most press, but there are plenty more bumps and bruises to tell of, most all of them cases where people took themselves way too seriously," Stanford Band PR Maestro Moses Pounds said.
Like the Pep Band, the Stanford Band's shows are reviewed and then modified by Stanford Athletic Department officials.
Black said he thinks the controversies erupt because people take the band too seriously and that current controversy would be different in scope had West Virginia won the game.
"The Pep Band gets picked on because it's an easy target," he said.
"I think it's unfortunate that it was taken so seriously," Bice said.
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