The William and Mary pep band members from the class of 2010 during a home football game in the fall of 2009.
Pep band at the College of William & Mary
The William & Mary Pep Band is the scramble band of the College of William and Mary. It is a student-run ensemble[1] that performs at home football games in the fall sports season and basketball games in the winter sports season. Membership is open to anyone currently enrolled at the college.
History
Before 1995
The early history of the William and Mary Marching Band is generally unknown. In 1922 Cyrus Clemons Briggs organized the first band at the College of William and Mary. Throughout the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, there were various efforts to organize a marching band, each of which lasted for a few years at the most, and then collapsed. It wasn't until the early 1950s, with the coming of Charles R. Varner, that a marching band at William and Mary came to be.
Mr. Varner came to the College in the fall of 1953,[2] as the new director of bands, and immediately started a reorganization of the way that the marching band was conceived. Now that it had a stable leader, the band began to flourish. In the '50s, '60s, and '70s, the Summer Band program, staffed by members of the William and Mary Marching band, provided an opportunity for high school students to get better with their instruments and better at marching.
However, when Chuck Varner left the College, the marching band began to hit troubled times. Diagnosed with cancer in the early 1980s, Varner was forced to retire after 33 years of service.[2] A scholarship in his name was established by the Alumni Band Organization at William and Mary in 1989 and is awarded to an outstanding band student from any band ensembles.[3] Varner eventually died in January 2002, after suffering from Alzheimer's.[2]
After Varner retired, the Marching Band was re-created as a free-form "explosion style" band. This proved to be unsatisfactory to the College administration, who hired a new director of bands, Laura Rexroth. In addition to conducting the College's Concert Band and Jazz Ensemble, Rexroth was instructed to start up a traditional marching band once more. Membership rose from 17 the first year to 50 in the following years. Rexroth was able to acquire College support to purchase new marching percussion instruments in 1990, and new marching band uniforms for the 1993 Tercentenary celebration of the founding of the College. Although many at the College were in favor of the idea of a marching band, financial support for the ensemble was continually reduced from 1990 to 1998. Eventually, the administration agreed that a Pep Band would require less financial support and decided to officially change the Marching Band to a non-marching Pep Band that performed from the stands.[4]
1996–present
In the fall of 1996,[5] the history of the William and Mary Pep Band began. It began as a similar institution to the Marching Band, in that it was a one credit class run by the Department of Music. Then, in the fall of 1998, the Athletic department took over the management of the Pep Band.
Under the leadership of Jason Maga, the Pep Band sat down with Athletics, the Student Government, and the Administration to work out a new direction for the Pep Band. With the support of these groups, the Pep Band started a flyering and mailing drive across campus and to all incoming freshmen. In the Fall of 1999, the Pep Band was reformed as fully student-run organization,[6] under the Directorship of Jason Maga.
Former directors
Former Pep Band Directors (L→R): Doug Bunch, Andy Kramer, Jason Maga, Rebecca Nelson, Diana West
Year
Name
Year
Name
1999
Jason Maga
2000
Doug Bunch
2001
Doug Bunch
2002
Carrilynn Greenwood
2003
Diana West
2004
Rebecca Nelson
2005
Andy Kramer
2006
Alex Mills
2007
Kenny Barry
2008
Dustin Glasner
2009
Christina Millson
2010
Christina Millson
2011
Kevin Deisz
2012
Kevin Deisz
2013
Carrie Sheeler
2014
Megan Flansburg
2015
Cody Jones
2016
Matthew McGuinness
2017
Dylan Schuler
2018
Megan Rouch
2019
Davidson Norris
2020
Brendan Switts
2021
Tate Stevens
2022
Wilhelmina Awan
2023
Natalie Bavos-Chen
2024
Allison Thorne
2025
Ethan Shoham*
2026
*Director-elect
Former Drum Captains
Year
Name(s)
2023
Charlotte West
2024
Charlotte West
2025
Josh Seagreaves & Ryan Lindley
Awards
The Charlotte West Percussionist of the Year Award
This award is granted to the most outstanding member of the Tribe Line each year. It is named after the first Drum Captain and first recipient of the award, Charlotte West ('25).
