Spirit of Houston

The Spirit of Houston Cougar Marching Band
The Spirit of Houston Cougar Marching Band
	150px
School	University of Houston
Location	Houston, Texas
Conference	The American
Founded	1947
Director	Marc Martin
Members	300+
Fight song	"Cougar Fight Song"
Uniform	Scarlet red jackets with Albino white trim and navy blue side panels. Jackets feature a white interlocking UH logo on breast and "Houston" on shoulder, reflective crystal buttons, red and white shako hats with a white and silver plume[disambiguation needed], with navy blue or red pants
Website	www.uhbands.com

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The Spirit of Houston is an umbrella term that represents the official spirit groups at the University of Houston. Included in the Spirit of Houston are the Cougar Dolls Dance Team, the UH Cheer teams, and primarily, the Cougar Marching Band. The Spirit of Houston is currently under the direction of Marc Martin. The Cougar Marching Band is widely known for its performances that are given in a wide variety of styles of marching band (corps, military, show, etc.). The CMB is also known for its characteristic tonal quality, following in the tradition pioneered by Bill Moffit and Robert Mayes, two men who led the Spirit of Houston for over three decades between them. The band consists of more than 300 students, about half of which are music majors.

History

File:Spirit of Houston Cougars Marching Band in 1951.jpg

The 1951 Spirit of Houston Cougar Marching Band

From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, the Spirit of Houston was under the direction of Bill Moffit, an innovator in the marching band field. Moffit is credited with creating the Patterns in Motion marching style made famous during his tenure at UH. Patterns in Motion quickly became very popular among many other collegiate and high school marching bands as the style quickly spread across the nation. He is also well known as an arranger of both traditional band tunes and modern popular songs.

Following the departure of Moffitt to Purdue University, Robert Mayes, coming to UH after holding positions at Texas Tech and the University of Wyoming with a reputation for high-energy performances, was named the director of the Cougar Marching Band. Under his direction, the Cougar Marching Band continued to set a standard of music. Mayes led the band to become internationally known.^{[citation needed]} During his tenure, the band traveled to Japan, England, Ireland, France, and Mexico.

In 2000, David Bertman was hired as the director of the Spirit of Houston He was charged with the task of maintaining the tradition that had been so firmly entrenched by the bands of Moffit and Mayes. Under his direction, the Cougar Marching Band continued its musical excellence and led the University of Houston in spirit is support of the Houston Cougars football team. Coupled with the team's success, the Spirit of Houston has contributed greatly to a growing excitement among students and alumni to see the Cougars return to the upper echelon of college football.^{[citation needed]}

Following Bertman's promotion to Director of Bands, Troy Bennefield was hired to become the marching band director in 2011. Bennefield learned his craft with famous marching bands at the University of Alabama and the University of Oklahoma and promised to continue to increase the band's national reputation.

File:Spirit of Houston at Robertson Stadium.jpg

The Spirit of Houston Cougar Marching Band during a pre-game show at Robertson Stadium

In 2004 the Spirit of Houston was featured in the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show.^[1]

Music

The Spirit of Houston's primary repertoire includes the following:

"Cougar Fight Song", the university's official fight song
"Eat 'Em Up", a secondary fight song of the university which was originally written by director Bill Moffit, and subsequently used by most other college marching bands today
"Deep in the Heart of Texas", a Texas folk song
"The Horse"

References

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External links

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[1]

v t e Houston Cougars football
Venues	Robertson Stadium (1946–1950, 1998–2012) Astrodome (1965–1997) Rice Stadium (1951–1964) Reliant Stadium (2013) BBVA Compass Stadium (2013) TDECU Stadium (2014–present)
Bowls and rivalries	Bowl games Rice: Bayou Bucket Classic SMU Tulsa
Culture & lore	Shasta "Cougar Fight Song" Spirit of Houston Frontiersmen The Comeback Victory
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

v t e Houston Cougars men's basketball
Venues	Sam Houston Coliseum (select games; 1937–19??) Jeppesen Gymnasium (1946–1966) Delmar Fieldhouse (1966–1969) Hofheinz Pavilion (1969–present)
Rivalries	Rice
Culture & lore	History Shasta Phi Slama Jama Game of the Century "Cougar Fight Song" Spirit of Houston
People	Head coaches Retired numbers
Seasons	1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

Spirit of Houston

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History

Music

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References

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