40 Years — And Counting for the Marching Knights
Fall 2019 | By Nicole Dudenhoefer ’17
What would a football game be without the marching band? If you ask senior Bobby Gillman, the Marching Knights’ sousaphone coordinator, “That’d be like chicken without the spices — and that just shouldn’t happen.”
Thankfully, the Marching Knights have been adding the essential zest to the university’s football games for the past 40 seasons, with the band’s creation just a year after the team’s founding. As one of the largest student organizations at UCF, the Marching Knights are the most visible and vibrant force on campus — and they put in hundreds of hours a semester to uphold that honor and responsibility.
“Being a Marching Knight is a huge test of character, but our bond is what keeps me coming back,” Gillman says. “We’re the hype men for the whole university.”
Tremon Kizer directs the Marching Knights on Driggers Field.
The trumpet section practices playing on a field.
A person playing the drums.
Tremon Kizer speaks to a group of students.
A trombone player plays on a field.
Sousaphone and a drum player perform the March to Victory before a game.
A hooded knight holds a sword while band members holding cymbals stand behind them.
The color guard waves flags inside Spectrum Stadium.
Trumpet players perform on the filed during a football game.
A dancer holds pompoms over her head while she smiles.
The Marching Knights play inside Spectrum Stadium.