Friday, November 22, 2013

FAMU band returns to Florida Classic

TALLAHASSEE, Florida  --  Two years after FAMU's marching band was sidelined, the high-stepping, high-energy Marching 100 will be back to perform at Orlando's Florida Classic on Saturday.

It's the band's first appearance at the Florida Classic since it was suspended after the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion, beaten on a parked bus after the 2011 game.

The love of Florida A&M University's band may never have been more obvious than last year.



Nearly half of Classic fans skipped last year's game, largely because the famous Marching 100 would not be there.

"I have a lot of friends who didn't come last year because the band wasn't performing, and they're coming this year," said Kevin Crum, a 1993 graduate of FAMU who lives in Orlando and was in the marching band. "There is a lot more excitement with the band coming back."

In 2011, 60,218 people filled the Florida Citrus Bowl to see FAMU face off against longtime rival Bethune-Cookman University in what has been the nation's largest football game between two historically black colleges. Last year, 32,317 attended.

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