COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — ‘The Best Damn Band in the Land’ was joined by a few extra members for Ohio State’s halftime show for Saturday night’s game against Western Michigan. More than 600 Ohio State marching band alumni joined current members on the field for Alumni Band Day.
This is the 55th year the alumni will join TBDBITL, with Saturday’s halftime show honoring the 30th anniversary of “Forrest Gump.” Arranged by Ishbah Cox, “Run, Forrest, Run!” will feature songs from the original motion picture soundtrack, beginning with “The Feather Theme” from the film and concluding with the film’s end credit song, “Go Your Own Way.”
The band will also display classic scenes, including stick-figure Forrest sitting on the bench and running to “Runnin’ on Empty” and two people playing ping pong to “Break on Through.” Donning red uniforms, the alumni band joined the current roster, surrounding them as this year’s band built scenes.
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“This feels like home away from home for me,” said Joe Koehne, OSU Marching Band alumnus. The group got to join the band for the pregame and halftime shows with four former sousaphone players “dotting the i” during a quadruple Script Ohio.