History of the Marching 100 Alumni Band Association

In 1999, Victor Gaines, former trumpet player (Fall '84) and drum major, started a newsletter for the alumni. At first it was called "Check Up." We had a distribution of 25 to start with, and talked about everything from our weekends, to the other members' children to who was going to go to homecoming. The newsletter was started to facilitate getting the alumni information in an quick manner, and email was definitely the way to go. After a few issues, the name was changed to "The Patch Report." This recognized the history of the old school members and all of the memories we had marching on the practice field we called "The Patch."

After getting a nice attendance at homecoming, the distribution list grew, we had another successful homecoming in 1999, and decided to start an organization that we can be proud of, and that would be there to assist other band members as ourselves, in their endeavors to become successful musicians and citizens. In March, 2000, we had our first meeting, in Atlanta, GA, and worked diligently on our bylaws and purposes. We left that meeting invigorated, and ready to become an organization that the band members would want to be a part of after graduation.

Your being here on this website shows not only the fruits of our labor, but the due diligence and hard work of the Board of Directors, which spans almost 20 years in experience.

Starting out with approximately 60 members, this organization will one day grow to well over 800 financial members who are deeply entrenched in giving the present members a very promising future!

Thanks to you, fellow alumni members, present members, future "Marching 100" members, and fans, for being a part of the making of the history of the "Marching 100 Alumni Band Association" and our website.

This will always be a work in progress, as we are trying to make history every day!

Peace,
Victor R. Gaines aka "Batman"
Editor-In-Chief,"The Patch Report"