Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 23, 1993 TAG: 9307230111
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The band voted Saturday to cut its ties to the university's athletic department.
The vote followed the athletic department's ruling in May that the band would no longer be allowed to use a microphone during its pregame and halftime performances.
Band members are hoping to provide "different forms of performance outside Scott Stadium," Edward Kuo, the band's director, told The Daily Progress newspaper.
Associate athletic director Kim Record said she had hoped the band and the school could reach an agreement on what type of conduct would be acceptable.
"It's not the response that we would like," she said.
Record said the school hopes to form a band to provide musical entertainment in the stands at games. But the school has no plans to form a marching band, she said.
Virtually no visiting team, its fans or its state were immune from often embarrassing jabs during the band's 19-year run at Scott Stadium.
Virginia's president warned the band to shape up or face possible changes after a 1988 halftime skit during the Virginia Tech game that ridiculed the Blacksburg school and Olympic basketball player Bimbo Coles.
Del. Robert Tata, R-Virginia Beach and a former Virginia football player, threatened at the 1991 General Assembly session to introduce a resolution calling for his alma mater to replace the band.
Tata said he was embarrassed by the band's skit at halftime of the 1991 Sugar Bowl against Tennessee. Several members of the band piled on top of an Elvis Presley impersonator, and the band's announcer proudly proclaimed that the famed musician was finally dead.
by CNB