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Membership
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With bowl games and such in flux, I didn’t post after the excellent Bedlam series game in Norman on November 28, when our Sooners finished the season strongly by shutting out #12-ranked OSU, 27-0. As put it at the time, “Oklahoma beat Oklahoma St 27-0, potentially costing the Big 12 $4.5M. The Cowboys have been knocked out of BCS contention. The only chance the league has now of putting a second team in the BCS is if Nebraska beats Texas next week.”
If you watched the game, you know that this literally came within one step of happening. Colt McCoy revealed this week that he did not know that the clock runs on incomplete passes until it hits something out of bounds. Had he scrambled for just one more step, it’s likely the ball he launched would not have hit the ground until time had run out, flushing Texas’s undefeated season, conference championship, BCS Championship game bid, and McCoy’s Heisman hopes right down the Bevo Basin. The Longhorns are extremely lucky that ball didn’t stay in the air for an extra ½ second.
Had it done so, Nebraska would be in the Fiesta Bowl, Texas would be a BCS at-large team, and Oklahoma probably would have been chosen one earlier in the pecking order and be heading to the Alamo Bowl. Instead, with five losses, our Sooners have been invited to play the 8-4 Stanford Cardinal in the Brut Sun Bowl (December 31, 1:00 PM CST on CBS). Cardinal running back Toby Gerhart is one of the five finalists for the 2009 Heisman Trophy, but Stanford’s starting quarterback is injured and will not play in the bowl game. OU can tell them a few thing about losing starters to injuries.
The Cowboy Marching Band played Carry On Wayward Son and Bohemian Rhapsody for their halftime show. The Pride’s seniors voted on their favorite tune from the past four years for the opener, and they selected the theme from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which they had last performed in 2006. (I know it was done once before that, then once in 1993, and maybe before that but I don’t think so. I could be wrong.) The concert number was New Divide from Transfomers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, and that was followed by the (at least) 32 seniors who will join us as Pride Alumni after the Sun Bowl.
That includes outgoing drum major Jason Marshall, who was presented with a Bob Stoops autographed football on the field after the game by assistant athletics director for marketing Charlie Taylor, who himself served as drum major of the Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band and knows first-hand how difficult the job is. The Norman Transcript reported on Jason’s final game, in no small part because his mother was there to see it:
Shirley Marshall wasn’t missing her son’s final strut across Owen Field Saturday, even if she had to be wheeled in on a stretcher.
And for the first time this season, she didn’t.
Wheelchair, yes. Stretcher, no.
I say “at least” 32 new alumni because the number is likely to be higher. Most of you remember that Pride auditions involve enrolling in the class, signing up for audition material, and so forth, so the band department has a strong idea by July 1 how many people are going to audition for each year’s band. This year, there was a significant drop-off from the number of people signed up on July 1 and the number who showed up for pre-camp just six weeks later.
There was some burn-out—with three BCS bowl games in the previous three seasons and a 2007 term that included the Oklahoma Centennial and the Macy’s® Thanksgiving Day Parade, I can certainly sympathize with those now-alumni who felt they got five years’ worth of experience in three seasons. When I had this year’s Macy’s parade on TV, I got tired just thinking about that year. And I didn’t even go!
But most of those folks had made up their minds before July 1. The attrition is largely due to the economy. Students used to piling on work hours in the summer to save for the fall and spring terms found that there were fewer hours available in 2009. Others realized that they needed to keep working during the fall to make ends meet, and that just wouldn’t work with a class schedule and the grueling Pride schedule.
Remember, that means a minimum of six hours per week for road games. For home game weeks, it’s ten hours of rehearsal and six hours of game (from rewarm through post-game concert), and that’s not counting downtime before the game when things like work are impossible. And it also doesn’t count road trips (this year twice to Dallas, for the BYU and Texas games), pep bands, individual practice, or the rest. The minimum committment this season averaged to over 12 hours per week, and that’s without full-band trips to Stillwater, Lincoln, or (sadly) the Big 12 Championship, and does not include the upcoming bowl trip. Add in the extras and most Pride members probably spent around 250 hours on Pride and its related activities during the Fall 2009 semester. Each.
That’s why the new programs that Karen Renfroe mentioned both here and on the mailing list this week. The endowed spots are, I think, a particularly great idea—a way to make sure that every position in The Pride has a uniform, an instrument, and a stipend for the student in perpetuity. All those new Yamaha trombones a couple of years ago were great (and still are), but won’t it be even better when we know that each and every one of them gets replaced every ten years? And the same with everything else?
That alone takes a big headache off the hands of students who play the more expensive instruments. Combine it with a stipend and we’ve really got something. Granted, a stipend can’t financially replace 250 hours of work (a version of “The Pride” that paid minimum wage would look a lot different than the tradition we know—there’d probably be five people auditioning for each spot), but even a few hundred dollars per semester can be incredibly helpful.
I think all any of us want for future Pride generations is a level playing field, so that anyone who wants to be the band and passes the auditions can be in the band—that the time or cost of doing so will not prohibit talented students from being part of this organization. It’s a difficult challenge, more so in an economic downturn, so I hope everyone who has the means to do so will seriously consider the programs Karen has outlined.
As for the Sun Bowl, we already have the game on our Events calendar and will add any more opportunities to see The Pride in El Paso as we learn about them. Maybe later this week I'll post about why a college football playoff is still a horrible idea, but I'll leave you with this hint:
Finals start at OU on Saturday. If the football team were in the BCS top sixteen for a "playoff" system, then the best case scenario is a home game. On Finals Saturday, and again after Finals are over, and again the day after Christmas, and so on. Or worse, a road game on the same timeframe. Or at a "neutral" site with one week's notice. As a Pride member, do you think you could have managed that kind of December schedule? Would you consider it an OU football game with no college trappings except the team itself? Do you think anyone at any of the schools wants this?
(Maybe more later on that.)
Posted by Webmaster on 12/10/09; 3:51:05 AM
from the Alumni sightings, Gameday, Membership, Pride of Oklahoma dept.
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Greetings and blessings during this holiday season. It was great seeing some of you at Homecoming. If you were there, you heard about our two new Pride giving programs (and you can’t stop doing that dance every time you hear the Thriller music)!
We have some exciting news and ways you can continue your legacy with the Pride and help others at the same time.
I hope that you will consider joining the Pride Patrons. The Patrons will be an affinity group designed for anyone who loves The Pride, wants to become more closely involved with its activities and who would like to offer their financial support to support the good works of its members. For those that join in 2009-10, you will be charter members. The yearly dues are $100. More information is available here in PDF format.
I also hope that you will consider endowing a position (or section) in perpetuity in the Pride. Our goal is to endow the entire Pride so that the legacy will continue and ensure that it continues to be the very best organization of its kind in the nation! These sponsorships will cover uniforms, instruments, equipment and a scholarship for each Pride member. For a limited time, a financial match is available. These endowments start at $15,000, and they can be payable in many different ways. A full explanation of the opportunities is on our Web site here, again in PDF format.
Contact me if you have any questions! My days in the Pride were my best memory of OU, and I am grateful every day for that experience. I hope you will join me in helping others have that same kind of experience in the years to come.
Live On University,
Karen
Posted by Karen Renfroe on 12/8/09; 11:57:31 AM
from the Membership, Pride History, Pride of Oklahoma dept.
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 You asked for the schedule, and we have it! It's already on the Events calendar, but here it is as well:
| 10:45 AM |
Marching Rehearsal—Meet at the Everest indoor practice facility southeast of the stadium for Rehearsal with the Pride and Pre-game.
Please be ready to take the field at 10:45 AM. We suggest being there by 10:30 AM. |
| 12:45 PM |
Registration—for those who didn’t attend Friday’s Rehearsal (Beaird Lounge in Student Union). Refreshments served |
| 1:00 PM |
Business Meeting—Beaird Lounge – Second Floor Oklahoma Memorial Union |
| 2:30 PM |
Lunch—served in the Beaird Lounge, Oklahoma Memorial Union, for those who purchased lunch tickets. Serving will stop at 3:30 PM.
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| 3:00 PM |
Homecoming Parade Begins—for those wanting to watch |
| 5:00 PM |
Get instruments—Get into the game (leave plenty of time to get through tickets and security), get your instruments, and head towards the tunnels. |
| 5:45 PM |
Step-off—Pre-game Begins |
| 6:00 PM |
Kick-off—Time to take the Wildcats!! |
Click on the link above for a computer-generated version that you can get in printer-friendly form (and that's combined with The Pride's schedule), or click on the image to download your own version in PDF format.
The only ambivalence in the above schedule is "5:20 PM"—honestly, based on what we know, OUBAA Pre-game step-off is likely to be anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes after that actual time. We'll know more on Friday and will communicate the time and the procedures thoroughly on Saturday morning at rehearsal, but you can't go wrong if you're ready to go at 5:20 PM.
If there are any changes to this schedule, we will alert you through the mailing list so everyone gets it in their inbox, as well as posting it here. So if you haven't signed up for our mailing list yet, this would be a really good time to click this link and do that.
Ask Rita Heath if you have any questions, as this is Homecoming Week! Boomer Sooner!
Posted by Webmaster on 10/28/09; 3:49:59 AM
from the Gameday, Homecoming 2009, Membership, Pride of Oklahoma dept.
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Now that we've invited everyone to join the mailing list, we'll be using bounce information to clean out memberships here attached to dead E-mail addresses. Click here to read the details, if you care. 
Posted by Webmaster on 9/4/09; 3:23:13 AM
from the Membership dept.
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We’re starting to see requests in E-mail for more information about Homecoming 2009 (registration, ticket prices, deadlines, and so forth), so I thought I'd post a quick update:
We don't know yet.
Getting all these things set requires coordination with the Band Deaprtment, the Athletic Department, Alumni Relations (to some extent), and I can’t even imagine what other groups, and classes don’t even start at OU for two more weeks (The Pride holds its pre-camp and auditions next week). We don’t yet know the details.
As soon as we do know, we’ll let you know here and on our mailing list. Joining the mailing list is the fastest way to get important announcements without needing to check the Web site (though feel free to use the site’s RSS feeds in your favorite reader if you’re as into that as I am). I’m told that the traditional paper newsletter is also in the works as soon as they know what numbers and dates to print in it.
(By the way, when you send mail to the mailing list, you’re asking to send it to the several hundred people who have subscribed. We stop that from happening if it’s obvious that’s not what you meant to do, but it comes back as a “rejection,” which can seem kind of harsh. That’s just how the software works. For individual questions, you can send E-mail to the OUBAA President or Secretary.)
Posted by Webmaster on 8/10/09; 4:34:39 PM
from the Homecoming 2009, Membership dept.
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Pride of Oklahoma Golf Tournament — June 18
The Second Annual Pride of Oklahoma Scholarship Golf Tournament will be held at the OU Jimmie Austin Golf Club on Thursday, June 18.
This event provides Pride staff and students the opportunity to interact with band alumni, supporters, and friends, all while raising funds for the band scholarship endowment. A wide array of participation and sponsorship opportunities are available to fit virtually everyone’s interest and availability.
Space is limited so act now to ensure you have a spot for this terrific event. We hope to see you there. Boomer Sooner!
Click here for more information.
Posted by Brian Britt on 5/22/09; 5:55:39 AM
from the Alumni sightings, Membership, Pride of Oklahoma dept.
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Mack Brown demands that the Philadelphia Eagles be voted into the Super Bowl anyway since they're clearly the better team.
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
The actual news isn't as funny but is more important: the OU Foundation has worked with us to provide secure online forms for donations directly to our scholarship funds. Rather than wait for a newsletter, or mail a check, or bring one to homecoming, you can put a few bucks into your favorite scholarship fund any time you're browsing the Web.
These scholarship funds become even more important in slower times, because even a modest scholarship can make the difference between a student who wins a place in The Pride of Oklahoma and can accept it, and one who cannot because he or she can't make time for both work and performance.
Since the OU Alumni Club matches our scholarships with an equal amount of tuition waivers (up to $1000), a little can go a long way. And your employer may match your gift, so it could be doubled in value going into the funds and doubled in value coming out as well!
We've posted a new page with all of the information on donating: how the scholarship funds work, how the money is used (with links to the Foundation's guidelines for using funds), the payout rate, and more. Our other new page for making donations has links to all nine of our scholarship fund (eight named funds and one general scholarship fund), plus Foundation links for both OUBAA and University Band non-scholarship funds, and a link for sending non-scholarship money to OUBAA via PayPal (not tax-deductible).
The donation page has all the details. It's easy to find because it's right there in the left side of the page from now on, right underneath our logo. The URLs for both the donation page and the reasons for donating page are stable and easy to remember, too, so feel free to send them to anyone you know who might want to throw in a few bucks for future generations of Pride.
Even small donations add up quickly, and now anyone can make small donations anytime they want. I hope we'll see those funds grow like never before so the most talented musicians, in Oklahoma and elsewhere, will know they can get assistance if they can earn a spot in The Pride of Oklahoma!
Posted by Webmaster on 1/19/09; 3:31:17 AM
from the Humor, Membership, Pride of Oklahoma dept.
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You can now pay for your Homecoming 2008 registration, football tickets, shirts, and even annual dues online via PayPal. Click here to pay your fees securely, online, instantly!
Posted by Webmaster on 9/29/08; 10:41:29 PM
from the Homecoming 2008, Membership dept.
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We've long needed a better way for everyone to stay connected via E-mail, better than "Let's all pile it on Rita and she'll handle it." Even though she always does, that's not a great strategy.
So now we have a way!
If you normally receive E-mail from Rita, you've already been subscribed to the new OUBAA-List, a real mailing list with real subscription options and digests and user-changeable addresses and all the modern features you would hope for, and probably would have hoped for a few years ago except now they're actually here!
If you weren't automatically subscribed, click here and go sign yourself up. It takes but a moment and is free.
Membership in the Web site does not mean automatic subscription to the mailing list. It should, I know, but they're two entirely different pieces of software, and trying to coordinate them is like trying to coordinate tubas on one goal line and snare drums on the other. It's possible if you work really hard and hold your breath, but it's really best for all involved if you don't attempt it.
If you're not sure if you're signed up, head over to the subscription page and sign up. If you're already signed up, it will tell you and you won't get double messages. (Unless you have multiple E-mail addresses, and we can't really do anything about that—and even if so, you can always unsubscribe from one of them. It's really flexible.)
You can even send mail to the list, and if the moderators approve, it will go out to everyone as if it was from you, meaning all replies will go directly to you and not to Rita! Yay for taking work off Rita's shoulders and putting it on the stupid computers where it belongs!
(If you save up a few extra hours of sleep, bring them to Homecoming and give them to Rita in thanks for all the hours she's donated over the years in keeping everyone connected. Thanks, Rita!)
The sign-up link remains in the left-hand sidebar from now on, and anyone is welcome to sign up for the mailing list. We hope you will and we hope you'll find it useful!
Posted by Webmaster on 9/24/08; 3:00:21 PM
from the Membership dept.
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We recently received the following letter from the four immediate past drum majors of The Pride of Oklahoma:
September 1, 2008
Dear Pride Alumni,
We hope this letter finds you well. It is hard to believe another season of Sooner football is upon us. For most of us, it is well past due! Certainly no season would be complete without the support of the Pride. We are sure you can all remember preparing for our first run out of the tunnel to a roaring crowd of Sooner fans. It’s an experience any Pride alum can never forget. Perhaps what are more memorable are the people with which we ran out of those tunnels. Our relationships with our fellow Pride members are the foundation for all of our fond memories. Fellow alumni, it is time to relive those days.
Once again the time to participate in alumni band is upon us! This is the chance to set aside some time to dust off those old marching shoes, take a walk around our beloved campus, and rekindle old friendships, all while getting the chance to march in front of 87,000 Sooner fans. It’s an opportunity most of us would give anything to relive!
Speaking truthfully though, most of us have not embraced this opportunity. There seems to be a stigma surrounding this experience we just cannot seem to shake. Perhaps we feel we are too old to be marching again. We say to ourselves, “I just graduated and I’ll look bad if I go back!” Our favorite excuse, however, is “there is no one I know going back.” Fellow alumni, this is one tradition we will NOT continue.
We strongly urge you to participate in this year’s Pride alumni band. We, as the Pride’s four immediate past drum majors, have come together as a group to pledge our attendance at the game and perform the famed “Pride of Oklahoma Strut” at this year’s HOMECOMING game on October 18th. Between the four of us, we have attended ZERO alumni events in a total of TEN years of alumni bands, but it only took attending one Pride rehearsal together to realize what we have been missing out on all these years. To stand together and reminisce about our days was something truly meaningful for the four of us. We left the rehearsal all stating: “I wish we were out there doing this again.” We are positive you would feel the same way. Sometimes the smallest reminders can be our largest influences.
It is time to start a new tradition in the Pride’s history: coming together as a large, strong, and supportive group of alumni, young and old, to support an organization we all hold close to our hearts. We strongly urge you to participate in what will truly be the greatest alumni band to date. We promise you, you will not regret it.
Please contact Alumni Band President Gail Richardson or Alumni Band Secretary Rita Heath, to register for the homecoming weekend festivities. We look forward to seeing you on October 18!
Boomer Sooner,
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Clint Williams
2002, 2003 |
Kyle Wiemar
2004, 2005 |
Eric Shannon
2006 |
Chauvin Aaron
2007 |
Immediate Past Drum Majors, Pride of Oklahoma
Maybe we will feel a little more energy stirring in our midst this year!
Have you called your friends from the college years to talk them into joining you at homecoming this year? Don't just think about it - do it.
Thanks!
Posted by Rita Heath on 9/3/08; 12:05:50 AM
from the Alumni sightings, Homecoming 2008, Membership dept.
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It's never pleasant to be the bearer of bad news, but two losses are hurting the Pride of Oklahoma extended family this week.
First, as noted today by the Norman Transcript:
Bernice Thrailkill, 93, of Washington, Ill., died Feb. 25 at Washington Christian Village. Born in Cooper Station, Ill., to Edward and Mae Small Marshall Oct. 8, 1914. She married Paul Thrailkill Oct. 30, 1934 in Washington, he preceded hear in death along with her daugther, Karen McCarty, brothers, Maurice, Orville and Paul Eugene Marshall and sister, Irma Mae Gordon.
[…] Bernice is survived by her son, Gene (Karen) Thrailkill of Norman…
Coach and Karen had returned to Illinois a few times this year as his mom's health began to deteriorate. Since this same site also hosts his Web site, and since the server was down much of Thursday and Friday due to hardware upgrades, he called and let me know they had to go back in a hurry because he had E-mail to send about it, so Gene and Karen were in Illinois at the time.
Those of you who were in The Pride during Coach's final season in 2000 may have met his mother, as she attended the final game. The family's wishes for memorials are in the obituary notice in the Transcript. If you'd like to send Coach a note but don't have his E-mail address, I've enabled the form on his site that lets you send mail to him, so just click here to send him a note. I'm sure that Coach, Karen, and the entire Thrailkill family appreciate our thoughts and prayers at this time.
Second, I am sad to report to you that this past Monday night's concert was postponed because one of the performers died. Mady Byrne, one of the musicians in the Symphony Band and also a mellphone player in the 2007 Pride of Oklahoma, was a 19-year-old music education major from Burtonsville, MD and a Dean's list student. She died Monday morning from liver failure due to a sustained but accidental Tylenol overdose. Mady's death has affected many of the members of the OU marching and concert ensembles, and Brian Britt has met with her family to express everyone's condolences and support.
As noted last week, the Wind Symphony performs at CBDNA in Kansas City on Thursday night, and that conference obviously could not be postponed or rescheduled. A local memorial service for Mady is scheduled for 10:00 AM Saturday morning at Havenbrook Funeral Home in Norman. The Norman Transcript published a death notice for Madalyn Ruth Byrne on Monday.
Madalyn's parents have chosen to speak out about the circumstances of her death, starting with this article in The Oklahoman. They spoke to the media Thursday night in Oklahoma City, and you can read about that in the Norman Transcript, and in coverage from Oklahoma City TV stations KSBI (52) and KOCO (5). about the cause of her death and the attention they hope others pay to the risks of taking too much acetaminophen or any over-the-counter drugs.
I have no information at this time on any official OUBAA involvement or memorial for either of these losses, but thought I should share the information with you.
Posted by Webmaster on 2/27/08; 2:20:16 AM
from the Membership dept.
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You may have noticed advertisements on the home page and discussion pages. While there aren't many expenses involved in running this site, there are some bandwidth and domain expenses, so we decided to try a few industry-standard ad blocks and see what happens.
It's an experiment, but if everything goes really well, this could literally provide tens of dollars per year to offset expenses.
If you're not seeing any ads, don't worry—we've configured them so that they only show up on pages if you are not logged into the site.
You are not logged in right now, so you'll need either to log in, or join the site by registering (it's free) if you don't want to see the ads.
Oh, and for now, there are no ads in the RSS feeds, since no one has to login to read them and they take a lot less bandwidth. Let us know if you have questions.
Posted by Webmaster on 9/11/07; 12:52:49 AM
from the Membership dept.
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OU Alumni Band
Friday Night Schedule:
6:30 pm: Meet at Catlett for early registration and to check out borrowed instruments and music.
7:00 pm: Down Beat for Rehearsal
8:30 pm: Rehearsal ends/Reception for ALL Alumni Band members hosted by TBS & KKY
After rehearsal please help clear Catlett of all Alumni Band needs and items. We will need to load large instruments, boxes of music, flags, etc on to our Equipment Truck to have it ready for use on Saturday at the Stadium.
Saturday Schedule:
11:15 am: Meet on practice field south of the stadium for Rehearsal with the Pride and Pre-game
1:15 pm: Registration for those who didn't attend Friday's Rehearsal (Beaird Lounge - North East corner of 2nd Floor in Student Union) Refreshments served
1:45 pm: Business Meeting (Beaird Lounge)
3:00 pm: Parade Starts for those wanting to watch
3:30 pm (ish): Lunch served on the South Oval for those who purchased lunch tickets
5:15 pm: Meet in North End Zone for Pre-game (be sure to give yourself enough time to get through security!)
6:01 pm: Buffalo Roast Begins!!
Posted by Rita Heath on 10/19/06; 2:27:27 AM
from the Homecoming 2006, Membership, Pride of Oklahoma dept.
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Oh boy, this was harder to judge than we'd expected! If you didn't read all the great stories about Pride experiences, click here and read them now - you missed out!
I loved the stories about the Halloween shows and the one about trying to use string as yardlines for practice (ouch!), but the contest description clearly said that we were looking for (emphasis added):
…the best stories about their first OU game as members of the Pride of Oklahoma.
As much fun as those stories were, they weren't "first game" stories and we had to pass them by - but you have our thanks for sharing them!
And the winner - OK, I can't decide, winners - are:
John Hudson for "I'm glad Coach didn't see me pick up my slide that I dropped" (and by the way, John, Coach wants to see you in his office next week about that&hellip)
Jay 'Jamie' Jones for "I told Coach I picked up my mouthpiece and he said 'Next time, just leave it'"
Terri for "He's not supposed to do that with the pylon, is he?" (No. No, he's not.)
Congratulations to all three, and thanks to everyone who entered. This was so much fun that we're going to do it again shortly, but this time for current Pride "Rah-Rah" CDs, so watch the site for the next contest announcement!
Posted by Webmaster on 9/4/06; 1:20:29 PM
from the Membership, Merchandise, Pride History dept.
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Keep up-to-date with OUBAA events in iCal, Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, or even Windows Vista Calendar (if you're living in The Future). Read the story for more details, or just click on this link to subscribe if you already use shared calendars or are running Mac OS X 10.2 or later.
Posted by Webmaster on 8/25/06; 1:10:36 PM
from the Gameday, Membership dept.
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Greetings Alumni and Friends,
In a few weeks The Pride will be running out of the tunnels to start the 2006 Football Season. How fortunate we are to have been able to participate in such an awesome program. It is our duty to help Continue the Tradition. We can do this in several ways. Our OUBAA dues help support the activities that we provide for The Pride. Last year we provided the disc jockey for the swimming party, hosted the pizza dinner after the first full rehearsal of the new block, and supplied goodie bags for the bus trips to Texas and the Holiday Bowl. We plan on continuing these activities and increasing our involvement with The Pride. The pizza dinner this year will be Sunday, August 20th in the Orchestra room at Catlett. We would enjoy having any of you that would like to come and hand out pizza and drinks and talk about the good ole days to the new block after their marching rehearsal before the first day of class. They really do enjoy hearing any stories of prior bowl trips, Texas trips, and how hot our WOOL uniforms were as we were lying on the 120 degree artificial turf.
In the past, The Pride has been using money from their budget to help cover the homecoming tickets for the Alumni Band. Our organization is about supporting The Pride, not them supporting us. Homecoming game tickets are $67 each. This year the Homecoming registration fee is $25.00 plus another $40 for each member that wishes to sit in the Alumni Band section. Guest tickets will cost the full $67.00 as usual. Hopefully, this will allow The Pride to use their money to provide extra frills for the students. We have reserved 200 tickets for this season's Homecoming game, which is October 21 versus the Colorado Buffaloes. Please respond with your registration early.
At our last business meeting, one of the discussion items was how a member could become a lifetime member of our organization. This was sent back to the advisory board to generate ideas. After researching how other organizations attained the status of lifetime member, the advisory board came up with two ways. One is a donation of $600 to one of the Band Alumni scholarship accounts. This would be the equivalent to paying the annual $15 dues for 40 years. The other is to reserve the right to the advisory board to grant lifetime membership based on outstanding service to the organization and The Pride.
Hosting a golf tournament as a fundraiser for The Pride was another point of discussion. We are working on setting a date for spring 2007, either late April or early May. We would like to have volunteers to chair the following positions: Hole Sponsorships, Prize Committee, and Food Committee. Mr. Brian Britt has volunteered to be the Tournament Chairman. If you are interested in any of these, please contact me via email at oubapres@cox.net. If you play golf, please plan to participate and bring your own foursome. We will have more information at this year's business meeting, at Homecoming on October 21.
As I was traveling to a conference with a colleague, whose brother was a starting football player last season and whose husband is RufNek alum, we started talking about OU football, The Pride and Homecoming. She went on and on how Homecoming was her favorite game and how she loved the Alumni Band and how they exemplify Sooner Spirit. Then, I told her I was a member and she continued for at least 30 more minutes on how much fun it must be to have played in The Pride and still get to march at Homecoming with the Alumni Band. She could only imagine it, but you can relive it! I invite you to come to Homecoming, October 21 and "March down the field with our heads held high" and join in all of the fun and give our fans what they have been waiting for all year.
Boomer Sooner!
Gail Warmath-Richardson
OUBAA President
Flute 81-84
Posted by Gail Warmath-Richardson on 8/15/06; 12:27:30 AM
from the Homecoming 2006, Membership dept.
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It's too quiet around here! Football season starts in five weeks, and the 2006 Pride of Oklahoma arrives in less than three weeks (see previous item). It's time to get revved up, so wake up and hear the Boomers.
You can literally wake up and hear Boomer Sooner with your very own copy of the 2005 Pride of Oklahoma CD. This 17-track piece of plastic, recorded in both stereo and hi-fi (oooooh!), contains all nine of Dr. Roland Barrett's arrangements from the 2005 season:
- The Movie Show
- James Bond Medley
- The Incredibles
- I Need A Hero
- The Latin Music Show
- El Toro Caliente
- Tico Tico
- A Night In Tunisia
- The Rock Show
- Hush
- Smoke on the Water
- Respect
Plus eight full tracks of newly recorded rah-rahs and spirit songs!
- Fanfare and Oklahoma
- Fight for OKU
- Boomer Sooner
- Oklahoma Blues
- OU Chant (both instrumental and a capella
- 9 and Swing drum cadence
- Stoops Stomp drum cadence
We're giving away a few of these to the people who post the best stories about their first OU game as members of the Pride of Oklahoma. What was your story? Was it 1985, when the first performance was at Texas? Did something happen to you that seemed like disaster at the time but is funnier how, like uniform failure or losing your mouthpiece on the field? Was it boiling hot, or raining, or so windy your plumes wouldn't stay on?
Whatever it is, post it here in reply to this message. Read How to post comments if you've never done it before, but it's easy and free. We'll choose the winners and contact them via E-mail to mail them their CDs. We could judge at any time, so share your stories today!
Posted by Webmaster on 7/29/06; 9:47:41 AM
from the Membership, Merchandise dept.
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Contributions made to our scholarship funds with the OU Foundation are tax deductible. Please note preferred scholarship account number on your check.
General Fund-30005
Lloyd Curtis-40282
Oscar Lehrer-40283
William Wehrend-40284
Leonard Haug-40285
Gene Braught-40286
Eugene Springer-40596
Myra Jo Moon--40955
Gene Thrailkill-41135
University of Oklahoma Foundation, Inc.
100 Timberdell Road
Norman, OK 73019-0685
405-321-1174
405-325-6478
Fax 405-321-1180
Posted by Rita Heath on 1/28/06; 10:00:20 PM
from the Membership dept.
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Born January 22, 2006, to proud parents Brian Britt and Alicia Britt!
Avery arrived a little bit early and, at a petite 4 pounds, 2 ounces, is in the ICU for special care, but we're assured that both mother and daughter are doing fine. We'll add more information here as we get it.
Use this message as a guestbook - post a comment to pass your messages along to the Britts and we'll make sure they get them. Congratulations to the newly-extended family of the director of the Pride of Oklahoma! (Isn't it exciting?)
Posted by Webmaster on 1/23/06; 3:56:24 PM
from the Membership dept.
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I'd love to hear from the Sooner Showmen about their appearance at the basketball games last month.
Would any of you care to give us a play by play and your reflections??
I heard you on TV - sounded great!
Rita
Posted by Rita Heath on 1/9/06; 9:49:02 AM
from the Membership dept.
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...is Robyn Hilger!
Hilger teaches 6th through 8th graders and Belle Isle Enterprise Middle School. She was named teacher of the year Tuesday by state Superintendent Sandy Garrett during a ceremony at the Oklahoma State Fair. Hilger will represent Oklahoma in the National Teacher of the Year competition. As Oklahoma Teacher of the Year she receives numerous prizes and awards, including cash prices, gasoline and use of a car for a year.
Although Robyn is an OCU alumna, her husband is David Hilger - director of bands at Purcell High School, and an OU Band alumnus! (In fact, he used to be the Webmaster for The Pride!) Congratulations!
Posted by Webmaster on 9/20/05; 7:28:15 PM
from the Membership dept.
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The Spring 2005 edition of our newsletter is being mailed this week. Please e-mail secretary@oubandalumni.org if you don't receive yours soon. In the e-mail, confirm your mailing address.
I'll be getting the newsletter visible here on the website this week, also.
Thanks!
Rita
Posted by Rita Heath on 4/23/05; 2:12:54 PM
from the Membership dept.
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Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi Fundraiser
Attention Pride Alumni:
If you live in the Norman or Oklahoma City Area, please come out to Marie Callender's on March 8th to help support Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi. This April we are hosting our District Convention and chapters from all across the area will be on campus for two days to visit Catlett, the newly renovated Holmberg Hall and the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History. Please help us make this the best district convention OU has hosted in many years.
If you would like to support Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi, please download and print this flyer and bring it to Marie Callendar's in Norman and present it to your server. You need Adobe Acrobat to open the attachment. All proceeds will help us with convention costs.
In case someone else wants to just make a contribution instead of only 10% of the check going to the kids - and they, too, want to save a few calories:
Cindy said the check can be made to Tau Beta Sigma. Mail it to:
Tau Beta Sigma, OU Bands
Catlett Music Center 500 West Boyd
Norman, OK 73019
Thank you for your support,
Boomer Sooner,
Lindsey McClure,
Tau Beta Sigma Treasurer 2004-2005
and
Matt Bavona
Kappa Kappa Psi Treasurer 2004-2005
Posted by Rita Heath on 3/5/05; 1:58:00 AM
from the Membership dept.
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If you follow our RSS feed, or look at the discussion group in chronological view, you've probably noticed that we've been hit lately by a bunch of comment spam. Automated programs sign up as members to the site and post messages full of ads on older posts, hoping that search engines will find them and increase their page rank. (The more pages link to a site, the more important the search engines think that site is.)
We don't yet have a great solution for this, but in an attempt to slow it down for now, we've done a couple of things. First, we've turned on a new attribute in all links on comments and discussion group messages so the search engines will ignore them.
They may still continue to do it, though, so for the moment, we've turned off membership. That means if you haven't already registered on the site, then for now, you can't - you need to contact me or Rita in E-mail and ask us to add you, and we'll be happy to do that. This will stop the bots from joining as new members so they can post their ads. Hopefully, after a few weeks, they'll give up and we'll turn it back on - or have a better solution.
Sorry for any inconvenience, but we don't want ads for little blue pills or online gambling tournaments stealing our site's reputation!
Update: We think we have it licked for the moment, but it required turning off the pop-up comments window. The discussion group is still there, as are all the comments, but they won't appear in a pop-up window for now. If you have any problems, let us know.
Posted by Webmaster on 1/24/05; 10:56:29 PM
from the Membership dept.
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Began in 1954.
We became part of the OU Alumni Association in 2004.
2009-2010 Officers:
- Susan Grossman, President
- Jamie Evans, Vice President
- Ann Darnold, Treasurer
- Rita Heath, Secretary
- Penny Sledge, Historian
- Dwight Rinner, Equipment Manager
- Gail Richardson, Past President
Mailing address:
OU Band Alumni Association
P.O. Box 297
Norman, OK 73070-0297
E-mail our secretary, Rita, anytime by clicking here
Posted by Rita Heath on 11/17/04; 9:29:15 AM
from the Membership dept.
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The Candy Basket in Norman, OK, owned by Maurice and Gyan Galoob, still has a few (about 20) of the OU music boxes. They sell for $50.00 and the offer still stands that $10 for every box sold goes to the scholarship fund of your choice.
You can see a picture of one by clicking OU Music Boxes above.
E-mail The Candy Basket at thecandybasket@sbcglobal.net if you're interested.
Posted by Rita Heath on 10/25/04; 11:29:42 PM
from the Membership dept.
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- Pride Pillow
- Pride Centennial History Book
- Centennial Celebration DVD/VHS
- Rah-Rah CD
- OU Marching Band Music Boxes
I'm on vacation from my 'real job' so my goal is to have information for all these items posted here to answer all your questions.
E-mail me anytime with any questions you may have.
Thanks.
BOOMER SOONER!
Rita - secretary@oubandalumni.org
Posted by Webmaster on 10/14/04; 11:26:08 AM
from the Membership dept.
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I know, I was shocked too. Read all about Gene and Karen's tour through the Northwest this summer, how things are going with friends and family, and [brace yourself] see a picture of him with a beard!
Posted by Webmaster on 9/10/04; 12:03:24 AM
from the Membership dept.
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We sent an e-mail to our membership late August 25th.
Did you receive it? If not, please e-mail me at secretary@oubandalumni.org ASAP.
Thanks, Rita
OU Band Alumni Secretary
Posted by Rita Heath on 8/26/04; 7:42:44 AM
from the Membership dept.
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We only get one centennial!
Our Celebration will begin Friday night, October 22nd.
Homecoming 2004, celebrating the Pride of Oklahoma Centennial, comes on October 23, 2004, as the Sooners take on the Kansas Jayhawks. This will be the biggest OU Band Alumni homecoming ever, so mark your calendars now.
The first OU marching band took the field in 1904, and 2004 is a year of celebration for the Pride and all alumni! Watch this page for more details as they become available, but trust us, you'll want to be there.
NOTE: On the Homecoming Registration form (have you gotten yours yet?) - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write what instrument you will be playing. AND Also let us know if you will need to borrow one (only large brass and percussion please).
FYI: When you receive your homecoming newsletter, you'll see the sizes for the shirts as S, M, L, XL, and 2XL. The actual sizes are as follows:
S 36-38, M 38-40, L 40-42, XL 42-44, 2X 44-46.
E-mail our secretary at secretary@oubandalumni.org anytime. Especially to make sure you're on the e-mail and snail mail lists.
Thanks!!!!!
Posted by Rita Heath on 5/17/04; 6:54:14 PM
from the Membership dept.
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You may have noticed a few changes to the site tonight. Instead of a monolithic site, we've changed to a more weblog-like format that allows for individual news items. The first few items are just what used to be on the home page. (You can still read the old home page if you want, but it won't get updated anymore.) If you just read the home page, you won't notice much difference, except that items are more easily separated. If you're a Web pro, though, you can now get this site in RSS format by clicking this icon  ...in the navigation links on the left. That means you can read anything posted in your favorite RSS news reader, such as NewsGator for Outlook on Windows, or NetNewsWire for Mac OS X. Any new items will then show up automatically in your news reader - a very cool technology, IMHO. If you have any questions, let me know, or post comments here. We have a discussion board awaiting your wisdom.
Posted by Webmaster on 5/16/04; 1:38:47 AM
from the Membership dept.
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The following people were elected to OU Band Alumni Association offices at Homecoming 2003, and serve until the next vote at Homecoming 2004:
- Terri Cooter, President
- Gail Richardson, Vice President
- Cindy Creger, Treasurer
- Rita Heath, Secretary
- Karen Wagner, Historian
Posted by Rita Heath on 5/16/04; 1:07:12 AM
from the Membership dept.
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This Page was last updated: Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 3:51:05 AM
This page was originally posted: 2/25/10; 12:38:28 PM
Copyright 2010 OU Band Alumni Association
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