By Matt SpectorThe Daily Northwestern
By the end of his senior year, Samir Mayekar, Weinberg ’06, was a football fan.
Regular practices, drills and performances at Ryan Field during his four years with the Northwestern University Wildcat Marching Band had made his connection to NU so strong that he couldn’t help but love football.
The highs and lows he shared with the band members and the relationships he formed as a result compelled him to join NUMBALUMS, the NU marching band’s alumni association.
The alumni association has existed for more than two decades but was formally established with a charter in 1999. The group was created by band alumni who realized there was a base of former band members without any organization tying them together.
“There were all these people who marched in the band, and we didn’t do anything for them,” said Bill Tempelmeyer, McCormick ’64, president of NUMBALUMS.
The 2,000-member group was founded to bring together band members with shared experiences – good and bad.
Tempelmeyer said he and fellow alumni suffered through drills three times a week and woke up before dawn on Saturday mornings to get ready for NU football games, marching in “rain, snow and beastly hot weather.”
Pete Friedmann, Communication ’79 and the Wildcat Marching Band announcer for more than 26 years, sits on the organization’s board of directors. He said band alumni are among the most dedicated NU fans.
“A lot of things change from year to year and generation to generation, but there are some essential elements that don’t change,” Friedmann said. “That type of shared experience spans the generations.”
Each year, the organization marches in the Homecoming parade, then appears at the half-time show of the homecoming football game.
“(Marching in the parade) felt really great,” said Mayekar, now the group’s secretary. “You get to do something you did all the time at college. You kind of miss it and it’s nice to come back and reach into those roots.”
The group’s membership ranges from recent graduates like Mayekar to nonagenarians such as Carl Dill, who graduated in 1939 and still gives inspirational speeches to the band during Homecoming weekend.
Friedmann said that for the band alumni, marching again drives home how hard it is to be in the band and stay in shape.
“Most of us are exhausted by the time we get through less than half of the parade route,” he said. “We know the members of the band could still march circles around us by the time they get to the end.”
Since its formal establishment, NUMBALUMS has expanded its role and the number of activities it offers. Members attend a basketball game to play with NUMB at the end of February, take in the final dress rehearsal of the Waa-Mu variety show during Spring Quarter and hold a high school band day in the fall that brings bands from local high schools to Ryan Field to perform during one of NU’s games.
One of the group’s goals is to bring together alumni and students to provide a band for away football games that current band members cannot attend, Mayekar said.
Tempelmeyer said he is always looking for ways to get NU students excited about and interested in the band.
“Go to football games, applaud, cheer and during halftime shows don’t go under the bleachers to get a hot dog,” he said.
Reach Matt Spector at [email protected].
