Page 24 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2023 - Online Magazine

The
“GOIN’ BAND FROM
RAIDERLAND”:
A HISTORY
By Keith Bearden, Professor Emeritus,
Texas Tech University and Director of the Goin’ Band from 1981-2002
he Texas Tech University
marching band has changed
Tnames through the years,
from the Matador Band to the Red
Raider Band and now—the “Goin’
Band from Raiderland.”
W.H. Waghorne started the band
in 1925 and was director for only
one year.
Harry LeMaire became the
director in 1926 and introduced a
uniform with the “matador look.”
In 1932, LeMaire went on to write
the music to “The Matador Song”
(Tech’s alma mater). He was good
24 Lubbock Senior Link
friends with John Philip Sousa,
who visited Lubbock with the
famous Sousa Band on November
15, 1928. The Lubbock stop was
part of his “Golden Jubilee” tour.
This visit is commemorated by a
plaque near the administration
building. LeMaire remained
through 1934.
Professor D.O. Wiley came to
Texas Tech from Hardin-Simmons
in 1934 and remained director
of bands until 1959. During his
tenure, the marching band grew to
over 100 members and Prof. Wiley
incorporated “picture formations”
in addition to the band’s military
type drills. Under his leadership,
in 1938, Tau Beta Sigma, the
national honorary band sorority
for women was established.
Also in 1938, Col. Earl D. Irons
was a guest director at the Texas
Tech summer band camp. Irons,
Wiley, and ten other directors
began Phi Beta Mu, an honorary
bandmaster’s fraternity. Phi
Beta Mu is now an international
organization!
In 1959, Dean Killion arrived on
the scene and remained as director
of bands until 1981. His bands
grew to over 300, and the matador
uniform was changed to the “Big
10” look, with a breastplate and
garrison cap with plume. The
“Goin’ Band’s” performance in
the 1976 Gator Bowl received
accolades from across the country.
Killion introduced the “stereo
sound” and divided the band into
two halves—Band 1 and Band 2.
This tradition still exists today,
with bandmembers claiming their
band is the best!
Robert Mayes, a graduate of Texas
Tech, became the first Assistant
Director in 1971 and left in 1979