COLUMBUS — For those who are in it— it’s about tradition. For those who want to be in it — it’s a challenge.

For those who watch it — it’s The Best Damn Band in the Land.

The Ohio State University Marching Band has become almost as famous at the football team it supports on Saturdays in the fall. With its rich history the band has become a dream for many and the reality has turned out to be even better.

Getting into the band

“When I knew I was going to OSU I really wanted to be part of the band,” said Peggy Blake, 22 of Nashport. “I think it’s the tradition of the marching band that made it so appealing.”

Blake, a 1999 graduate of Tri-Valley, has been a band member for the past four years and this year she’ll try out for her fifth season.

But to be in such a prestigious band, Blake knew she would have to practice.

She said the summer before her freshman year she would go out to Dillon State Park with her mom and practice her marching. She said the extra practice paid off when she tried out that first time and made it.

“There’s no question about it, that it was something I was so excited to be a part of,” Blake said.

Since then there has not been a question that she would not continue to try out.

Tyler King, 19, of Dresden, said there is no comparison between high school and college band. A 2002 Tri-Valley graduate, King had been in the high school band but he soon learned the amount of discipline and commitment involved with being in a band like OSU’s.

Like Blake, he spent the summer before his freshman year to proactive. He also went to the optional practices held prior to the school year. Then the moment came for the tryout.

“It was, without a doubt, the hardest thing I’d ever done,” King said.

Just being in a high school marching band isn’t enough to prepare a person for the experience, according to him.

The level of commitment it takes to be in the band went beyond anything he had ever experienced. With practices throughout the week and game day on Saturdays, Sunday is the only day they have to rest.

“It really has been different. I was in high school I had no idea of the discipline that would be required of me,” King said.

And just because a person gets into the band one year, it doesn’t mean they are guaranteed to get a spot the next year.

That is why King and Blake are not taking their roster spots for granted

Kari Storts, 23, of Crooksville has cherished every minute of her experience. After all, it took her awhile to get there.

“When I saw the band during a pregame as a kid, I got chills and I knew I wanted to do that,” Storts said.

As a freshman, sophomore and junior, Storts who plays the sousaphone, tried out for the band. Each year she was cut.

Then, her senior year, it happened — her dream of being the band came true.

“The first person I called was my mom. She had been waiting by the phone,” Storts said.

In addition to her, there were three others who had tried and not made it so they were all huddled together waiting for the words. Storts said when her name was called she almost didn’t believe it.

She already has her bachelor of science in psychology and is currently doing continuing education at OSU. She is still eligible to be in the band and will try out for her fourth year this year.

Game day

An hour and a half before game time, the band embarks on its Skull Session, a sort of concert/pep rally held in St. John’s Arena. It is not unusual for 10,000 people to show up for the session.

Blake said since Jim Tressel took over as a coach he has made a point of bringing the team into Skull Session and he and one of the starting players will say a few words.

“His support has helped our program grow! We love the new tradition of the team stopping at skull session before the game,” Blake said.

When it is time for them to perform, the band is no nonsense. They work all week for the moment they step out onto the field. They learn new routines, learn the fight songs of the visiting teams, and know the reaction they will get when they play traditional songs like “Hang On Sloopy.”

One common thread among the band members is the clarity at which they remember the first time they stepped out on the field for a game.

“People stand up and started cheering because of what you are doing and it’s just really cool,” Blake said.

She is in X row, which means her row is the last off the ramp, but when the band turns around her row is in front and from there she gets to see the sea of people who have come to cheer the team on.

“I cried the entire morning. People were coming up to me and asking me what was wrong and I was like nothing, I’m fine,” Storts said. “I stepped onto the grass for the first time and the crowd just went crazy.”

She said it is a little overwhelming to be in the stadium in Columbus and have 100,000 people, many who are there to see the band, cheering.

Sometimes it is so hard the band can’t hear their music above the roar.

Storts is hoping to live one of greatest moments a band member can have this year. During the “Script Ohio,” where the band spells out Ohio, a lucky sousaphone player gets to dot the i. This year, if all goes well, Storts said she is supposed to be the one to dot the i at the game against North Carolina State.

King couldn’t have asked for a better freshman year.

He said it was unbelievable to be part of the band as the football team went on its path to a National Championship.

“It was a year of so many surprises, things I never expected,” King said.

As a band member, he said you have to be a football fan. He had always been a football fan, but when you are member of the OSU band he said there is a real sense that you are contributing to the team.

“I think we feed off each other,” King said.

Alumni

Roe ‘Bud’ Hildreth was a freshman at OSU in 1948 and was one of 24 people who was trying out for a spot on the band as a sousaphone player. He didn’t make it, but in 1949 he tried again and did.

It was the year OSU went to the Rose Bowl and defeated the University of California.

“There are lot of stories that can be told, and I can tell quite a few,” Hildreth said.

For instance, one of his most memorable is the “Snow Bowl,” in 1950 against the University of Michigan.

Despite the inches of snow they had to trudge through, he said the band did not fail to meet its commitment for the game.

“By the end of the game we were all freezing,” he said.

Like many band members, Hildreth was not ready to give it up after he left OSU. He has been a member of the OSU Alumni Band since it was started in 1974.

On the opening game of each year, the alumni band meet for a reunion. Hildreth is already looking forward to this Saturday’s reunion. He said there will be close to 800 alumni participating in the pregame and half-time.

Even his son, Robb, made it in the band in the early 1980s.

Talking about it now, he still gets emotional thinking about the times he spent in the band.

“When I got married, I told my wife she was also marrying the band,” Hildreth said. “I love this band.”

The Best Damn Band in the Land

For those who have been in the band, the time takes on a magical quality. There is not one aspect that stands out above the rest or one critical word to be said.

When asked if there has been any part which he loves the most, King couldn’t say one specific thing.

“To be honest there are so many things. There nothing I can say that I hate about what we do. I like everything,” King said.

And to them it is a family.

“It’s like all of a sudden you have 224 brothers and sisters,” Storts said.

As a band member, she feels she is an ambassador for the school. Which is why she doesn’t mind it when the occasional stranger asks to take her picture or for her autograph.

“There are probably so many pictures of me hanging up on people’s walls, people I don’t even know,” Storts said.

Blake said the band is about tradition.

“We started out as an ROTC band and we still carry over some of those traditions,” she said.

For instance, according to her, no band member would be caught smoking or drinking in uniform. No one would dare wear half a uniform or wear a uniform with a shirt not tucked in.

When they become a member, they know they have that tradition they have to carry on, she said and no one wants to disrespect that.

“It’s definitely about the tradition,” she said.

tshipley@nncogannett.com, 450-6767