HISTORY

MARCHING MINERS IN HISTORY

The UTEP band program has a rich history of excellence in performance and achievement that spans almost 90 years. The group was established in 1927 as the College of Mines Band with support from the College Women’s Auxiliary Association, who secured the group’s first instruments. This 15-member ensemble was under the direction of the university’s first director, Mr. Rayo Reyes. 

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In 1930, the Texas College of Mines Band secured its first official band uniform under new director Carlos Rushing. The band played for all the home football games and most of the basketball games that were held in El Paso. 

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In 1940, the band, now known as the Mucker Band, grew in membership to 65. The university also saw its very first female drum major, Ms. Wanda Garren. In 1940 Walter Hunnicutt, composer of “Texas Fight,” the official fight song of the University of Texas at Austin, wrote the march “Texas Miner” for the marching band. In 1949, the university officially changed its name to the Texas Western College of the University of Texas, thus ushering in a new era for the Texas Western College of Mines Band! 

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In 1957 the group, now called the Marching Cavalcade, performed in front of thousands including performances at all home football games and being a consistent top-three finisher at the annual Sun Bowl Parade held over the New Year holiday in El Paso, TX. The university and band program continued to grow in the 1960s, marked by the university officially changing to its current name, the University of Texas at El Paso, in 1967. Under director Harold Hillyer, the band grew to nearly 100 members. Gene Lewis succeeded Hillyer and served as Director of Bands for about a decade, until the mid-1970s.

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The group made an appearance at the Independence Bowl in 1988, where the Miners played their first bowl game in 21 years and their first-ever outside of El Paso. In 1984, Gene Lewis arranged the Marty Robbins hit “El Paso” as the new fight song for the university. In 1993, Dr. Curtis Tredway became director of the Marching Miners, and would lead the group for the longest tenure of any director in the school’s history at 17 years. During this period, the group grew in size from 140 members to 275. The band continued to make national appearances at NCAA bowl games and NFL football exhibitions.

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Prof. T. André Feagin led the marching band for four years beginning in 2010, ushering in a new era of contemporary performance and sounds for the Marching Miner Regiment. The band continued to make appearances at events like the 2010 New Mexico Bowl and the 2011 UIL Texas State Marching Band Championships in San Antonio, a first in the history of both UIL and the university. 2012 marked yet another uniform change displaying the most contemporary design to date and the tallest and brightest plumes in college football! Prof. Kenneth Capshaw served from as interim band director from 2014 -2017. He was assisted by horn professor, Rick Lambrecht, who is an alumnus of the original Alpha Chi chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi here at UTEP. Now under the leadership of Dr. Andrew Hunter, the Marching Miners look forward to carrying on the proud tradition of our University and the community of El Paso as the “Sound of the Southwest” for years to come!

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Picks Up - Go Miners!