My sister, Allison, was the first to hit me up: “Will, you gonna march, bro?”
What? Me? March?
Sometimes she’s more on top of news than I am. I watched the video link she sent. To my surprise, parade chairman Louis Young announced to a group of Band members that the krewe welcomes all alumni band members to march in the parade. They won’t replace the current Marching 100. They’ll join the band and more than 30 other bands. “Only the best,” Young told the gathered alums.
Young said his krewe appreciated the St. Aug Marching 100 being a part of Bacchus for 58 years, and they wanted to do something special during the school’s 75th anniversary.
In addition, Bacchus has a special coin with Bacchus on one side and the St. Aug Marching 100 on the other.
That’s really cool. But what has excited all St. Aug alumni, and especially Marching 100 alumni, is the idea of doing what we did again.
The St. Aug Marching 100 heads up Poydras street as Zulu rolls along St. Charles Ave. in the CBD on Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (Staff Photo by David Grunfeld, The Times-Picayune)
STAFF PHOTO BY DAVID GRUNFELD
I was a member of the Marching 100 back in the early 1970s. I was thankful to get into the Marching 100. I was blessed that legendary St. Aug Band Director Edwin “Hamp” Hampton saw something in me. I considered myself an emerging clarinetist with a big heart, a lot of energy and a determination to work as hard as possible to make up for any musical deficiencies.
I wasn’t the best musician. Heck, clarinetist and Original Liberty Jazz Band founder Michael White was my section leader and jazz trumpeter Patches Stewart was in the same band. I couldn’t compete.
Lots of us have fond memories of performing at football games in Tad Gormley Stadium in New Orleans’ City Park and marching in Carnival parades, sometimes too many to count.
During a visit to WBOK’s “Good Morning Show,” St. Aug President and CEO Aulston Taylor told me there might be 4,000 band alumni. There’s no way all of them will return for this special opportunity. Some are deceased. Some have limited mobility. Some are old, gray — and overweight. Some haven’t played their instruments since they left 2600, the number we use to refer to our address, 2600 A.P. Tureaud.
The Marching 100 has a city, regional, statewide and national reputation. In my younger years, when I proudly wore my purple and gold St. Aug. Marching 100 jacket, people would recognize, express appreciation and, when traveling, knew I was from New Orleans. That was some years back. I can put that jacket on now, but I can’t button it. I’m not sure why, but some say that I’m no longer my 17-year-old weight. True, true. I’m carrying at least, oh, 100 pounds more these days.
I’m not alone.
Fellow Purple — that’s what we call ourselves — Maurice Gourrier, Class of 1968, told me he was ecstatic when he got a St. Aug announcement about the opportunity for Marching 100 veterans to parade with Bacchus in February. He was “all in,” excited about getting back to his roots as the band marched in the Bacchus parade for the first time 58 years ago.
Then …
“I’ve reached a realization that I’m not going to be able to march,” sighed Gourrier, 76. “Man, I’m a hundred more pounds.”
St. Aug is known for music that different band members have played for decades. Gourrier recalled playing New Orleans classic “Bourbon Street Parade” and “March Grandioso,” written in 1901. Those are a couple of his favorites, he said. “Mine, too,” I said as we hummed each song.
My New Orleans Association of Black Journalists friend and WGNO anchor LBJ was in the Marching 100. A 1980 graduate, he played the baritone horn in the marching band and the valve trombone in the jazz ensemble. He, too, got excited about an alumni band marching during Carnival, but he wasn’t really thinking about participating.
“My son, my daughters and my wife are encouraging me to do it, so I don’t think I have an option,” he told me. “I’m already looking for a horn … I won’t be ready for homecoming, but I’m aiming for February.”
One band alum has started training, walking the nearly five-mile Bacchus parade route each Sunday.
Times-Picayune meteorologist Damon Singleton was also in the Marching 100. Asked whether he would march next year, he said, “I haven’t picked up my horn in 40 years.” He works out regularly, but the idea of marching is daunting. “Is there a walking option?” he asked. “I might do that.”
Times-Picayune columnist Will Sutton on Thursday, September 12, 2019.
STAFF PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER
Taylor is a diplomatically engaging and straightforward leader. Live on the air, he looked at me and said, “We know you were a proud member of the Marching 100. Why would you miss this opportunity?”
On the air.
I accepted the challenge. With exercise, nutrition and training help, I’ll step up to leave my obese self behind and, as Taylor said, “come as close to excellence as possible.”
Pray for me.