The UMD Pep Band Celebrates 50 Years of School Spirit
This article was originally published in the November 2025 print edition of The Bark, distributed at the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.
The Pep Band amps up the crowd as UMD Women’s Basketball goes head to head with St. Scholastica on Oct. 29. Photo by Kieley Jacobson
Formed in 1975, the University of Minnesota-Duluth Pep Band has been a staple at sporting events and school gatherings. Pep Band brings energy and smiles to the spectators, and student body alike as a result of hard work and dedication. Behind the scenes, the student-run club has undergone many transformations over the last 50 years, but what has remained constant is their love for music and school spirit?
The UMD Pep Band is an entity of the UMD Athletic Band Department which provides the administrative foundation for the club. Individually however, the UMD Pep Band is governed by section leaders, each of whom have a responsibility to ensure their section's success in performing different takes on popular music to moving heavy instruments along with hard-hitting bass and melody lines. This year, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the organization, all UMD Pep Band members wear jerseys with the number ‘75’ on the back as they appear at hockey, basketball and other sports.
Following the absence of the Pep Band Director in 2022 due to budgeting cuts, the UMD Pep Band has since been a student-run club. This means that the section leaders and student administration organize every aspect of each performance, as well as community outreach and business plans. The Bulldog’s Pep Band are in their fourth year of operating on student-terms which provides a different dynamic, often more flexible to student needs and schedules.
Emma Deve plays the clarinet during UMD Pep Band performance. Photo by Lydia Asmus
Only practicing for two hours a week creates quite a tight squeeze for members to practice as a group to be game-ready, but the minimal schedule allows flexibility for all students to participate in the ever growing organization.
“As a student-run club, we’re able to focus on putting classes first. So if someone has a conflict, leadership is really understanding and is able to meet people where they are,” stated Sam Rohe, a junior majoring in German Studies and Public History with a certificate in Museum Studies. With his busy schedule, Rohe makes time to lead the bari saxophone and sousaphone section in Pep Band. He was first interested in Marching Band and Concert Band in high school and has been active in UMD Athletic Bands since his freshman year as a Bulldog.
Rohe attributed his friend circle to his early start in Pep Band, and has enjoyed attending hockey games each season at AMSOIL Arena. He was able to ask upperclassmen questions about academics, athletics and other concerns he had coming into a new environment.
“I encourage everyone to at least consider Pep Band regardless of your musical ability or schedule. It is possible for a student to join and learn an instrument along the way,” Rohe added.
The UMD Pep Band accepts new members mid-semester and during winter break which allows students to ease their way into the club outside of the first couple of weeks of the semester. Currently, the Pep Band consists of about 100 members, but the organization endorses the saying ‘The more the merrier.’
Outside of practices and game-time appearances, the UMD Pep Band engages with the community through outreach events throughout the year. Recently, the group visited a local elementary school to interact with the students and faculty. They allowed the students to ask questions and see the instruments before putting on a performance for the attendees. The Pep Band also had an opportunity to perform at Black Bear Casino which engaged an older audience, but still garnered more support for the university’s Athletic Bands Department.
“It’s important to continue to spend time in community with the local area because that’s who is attending the sporting events, and if they’re not engaged or interested, then we lose some of our audience and public support,” Rohe said.
The characteristic that all UMD Pep Band members have in common is that they love what they do. “Because we’re student-run, no one is asking us to be at practice or games. We’re there because we want to be. We’re the energy that’s there, we’re the people supporting,” Rohe said.
According to Rohe, the band just wants to play music in the nature of supporting sports teams, to celebrate UMD school spirit, and of course, to have fun.