This article was originally published at statecollege.com

The Blue Band was founded in 1899, but it only took one year for the organization to realize a Drum Major would be needed to help lead the band.

The Cadet Band, the precursor of the Blue Band, was founded in 1899 and had only six members. Within a year, and with the financial support of Andrew Carnegie, the band grew to 23. Starting in 1900, there has been a Drum Major of the band on and off until 1947, when the position would be filled and continue to be filled up to the present day.

The first Drum Major was student G. W. Dodge in 1900, which was one of the founding members of the Cadet Band. The next Drum Major would be C. C. Wagner in 1903. There would be a Drum Major for the next few years and then a drought until O. B. Gippel in 1912.

During those years, the Cadet Band was completely student run. That would change in 1914 when Wilfred Otto “Tommy” Thompson was hired to conduct the band. During Thompson’s tenure as director, Drum Majors usually served for one or two years.

Hummel Fishburn would become Director of the Blue Band (name changed from the Cadet Band by Thompson in 1923) in 1939 and his Drum Major would be James Leyden, Jr., the son of James Leyden, the writer of two Penn State School Songs: Fight On State and The Nittany Lion. Leyden Jr. would be Drum Major for three years.

The first four-year Drum Major would be Jeff Robertson from 1971 to 1975. Robertson would also be the first Drum Major to perform the flip. Before 1971, the Drum Major could do any special routine he wanted. Most of the time the Drum major twirled a baton or mace, but Robertson was more of an acrobat than a twirler. For the first two games of the 1971 season, Robertson tried to do a baton toss. Both times he was not wearing cleats, so when he tried to stop and throw his baton, he would slide and then fall onto the turf for the first game or then slip and stay on his feet but lose his plum from his Shako (the Drum Major’s hat) for the second game. For the third game, he decided to try something new. He made sure he was wearing cleats, and he performed a back flip. At first the crowd did not know what he did, but afterwards, he was asked by James Dunlop, the current Director of the Blue Band at the time, if he was planning to do the flip from then on. When Robertson answered yes, Dunlop replied, “All right, but don’t screw it up!”

After four years, the aerial move became expected before every game. However, the next Drum Major, Eric Falek would not perform the flip. The flip was not a mandatory part of the audition process at the time, and the thought was that the drum major could go back to doing a special routine for pregame. Falek would often get booed by fans for his two-year tenure for not flipping.

Because of the crowd reaction, it was decided that future Drum Majors must be able to do a flip. Ron Louder, the Drum Major for the 1977, 1978 and 1979 seasons, changed the flip to a front flip. When asked why he changed it, he simply stated “Because I couldn’t do a back flip.”

The next Drum Major, Richard Gorodesky, would add another twist to the Drum Major flip. After doing the flip, Gorodesky would do a split and then salute the crowd in the stands. All Drum Majors since that time have done so as well.

The only Drum Major to hold the position for five years is Greg Stock, however you can make the case that it was only four and a half years. During the 1982 season, Drum Major Tony Petroy broke both his hands while practicing the flip. He could still conduct the band from the stands with casts on, but he was not allowed to perform the flip. So while he healed, freshman Greg Stock filled in, making 1982 the only season the Blue Band had two Drum Majors.

Stock would continue to be the Drum Major for the next four years. After graduation, his dedication to the Blue Band would continue with the Stock Family Drum Major Endowment Fund established in 1997.

In 1990, the Drum Major position would cross the race barrier. Mike “Bull” Harrell would be named the Drum Major and the first Drum Major to be Black. When asked why Harell was selected, the Director of the Blue Band Ned C. Deihl replied, “Mike was selected for that position because of his outstanding leadership skills, athletic ability, and musical talent.”

Harrell himself would downplay being the first Black Drum Major by stating, “I am proud being Black, but I don’t want people to focus on it. I want to be recognized because of my achievements.”

Harell would be Drum Major for the 1990 and 1991 seasons, but due to a small, shattered bone in his right foot, he was cautioned not to perform the flip anymore. So Harrell returned to the baritone rank and another baritone player, Tom Roberts, took the mantle of Drum Major for the 1992 and 1993 seasons.

Harell and Roberts would be responsible for creating a new Blue Band tradition. During his tenure as Drum Major, Harell realized that part of the student section could not see the Drum Major perform the 50-yard line due to the band blocking some of the view. So he added a second flip in the south endzone especially for the students. Roberts would take it a step further and add a small skit with the Nittany Lion Mascot. The drum major typically carries a mace — the ceremonial baton used by drum majors to lead a marching band — though flipping with it can be a challenge. To combat this, the Nittany Lion takes hold of the mace before pregame and presents it to the drum major in the south end zone after the second flip.

For the 2015 and 2016 seasons another first happened. The grandson of a Blue Band member became Drum Major. Jimmy Frisbie is the grandson of Floyd Frisbie, who was a sousaphone player and president of the Blue Band in 1959. Floyd’s sons Mike Frisbie (sousaphone) and Dan Frisbie (saxophone) were also in the Blue Band and Dan would marry Ann Spinelli (clarinet), who was also in the Blue Band. Dan and Ann would be the parents to Jimmy and another son, Jack Frisbie.

For the 2017 season, Jimmy’s brother Jack Frisbie would take over the mantel of Drum Major and then hold the position until the Spring of 2020. For the Frisbie family, the Blue Band was truly a family affair!

In the long history of the Blue Band, there has never been a female drum major. There have been women that have tried out and been finalists, but so far, a woman has not finished first yet, keeping the book to other historic milestones in the band open for the years to come.

This article was originally published at statecollege.com