SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
College football season is underway, but at Louisiana State University, the biggest story may have nothing to do with the game or BJ Leiderman, who writes our theme music. A 66-year-old has recently made his debut as one of the newest members of the LSU Marching Band. WWNO's Alana Schreiber tells us how he earned his spot in the purple and gold.
ALANA SCHREIBER, BYLINE: Kent Broussard was 11 years old when he went to his first LSU football game.
KENT BROUSSARD: Something caught my attention there at Tiger Stadium, and it was the sound. It was the sound of the band in 1968, 1969, and I never forgot that sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF LSU TIGER MARCHING BAND'S "LSU PREGAME")
SCHREIBER: That's the sound of the iconic first four notes of the LSU fight song.
BROUSSARD: Every Tiger fan, no matter where they are, no matter how old they are or how young they are, they always know those four notes.
SCHREIBER: But Broussard didn't go to LSU. He played sousaphone - a type of tuba - at Southeastern University in Hammond - a much smaller band where they didn't march. So when he retired from a career in accounting, he decided it was time to pursue his dream - try to join the Grammy-nominated Golden Band From Tigerland. He broke the news to his family over dinner.
BROUSSARD: Cheryl, my wife said, hang on, what kind of band are you talking about? Are you talking about they have a senior band? (Laughter) And I said, no, it's not a senior band. I'm talking about the Golden Band From Tigerland. I'm talking about the 325 bandmates. And over that course of that dinner, I think they figured out that I was serious about it.
SCHREIBER: Remember, this isn't just a band. It's a marching band, so he had to get in the best shape possible.
BROUSSARD: I developed a regimen of lifting weights for about six months before the tryout. The second thing I did was, I have been running or jogging since I've been 50, and I run between 20, 25 miles a week. And then, thirdly, I bought a weighted vest that I carried around on my chest for about four months.
(SOUNDBITE OF SOUSAPHONE)
SCHREIBER: And he picked up a sousaphone for the first time in 45 years. He retaught himself how to read music and found a teacher from the LSU music program.
(SOUNDBITE OF SOUSAPHONE)
BROUSSARD: We had lessons practically every week.
(SOUNDBITE OF SOUSAPHONE)
SCHREIBER: To be in the band, you have to be an LSU student. So Broussard enrolled as a nontraditional freshman. After 14 months of preparations, he was ready to submit an audition video. He got invited to tryouts - a grueling five-day process of marching, playing and sight-reading over and over. On the last day, he went into the tuba room and saw his name on the list. Cheers went up.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: (Chanting) Kent, Kent, Kent, Kent, Kent, Kent.
BROUSSARD: They started hollering, you made it. You made it. I started hollering, I made it. I made it. I started jumping up and down.
(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMS PLAYING)
SCHREIBER: On September 6, Broussard made his debut. The 66-year-old freshman lined up with the band on Victory Hill next to the stadium. Together, they blasted LSU's iconic first four notes.
(SOUNDBITE OF LSU TIGER MARCHING BAND'S "LSU PREGAME")
SCHREIBER: And then they literally ran down the hill to the field.
(SOUNDBITE OF LSU TIGER MARCHING BAND'S "LSU PREGAME")
SCHREIBER: Broussard's not one to hog the spotlight, but he's happy to be inspiring older generations.
BROUSSARD: Hey, if you want to try something, try it. You may not succeed, but you got to try it.
(SOUNDBITE OF LSU TIGER MARCHING BAND'S "LSU PREGAME")
SCHREIBER: Broussard will be in the tuba section tonight as the LSU Tigers take on the Florida Gators.
(SOUNDBITE OF LSU TIGER MARCHING BAND'S "LSU PREGAME")
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: (Chanting) LSU. LSU.
SCHREIBER: For NPR News, I'm Alana Schreiber in Baton Rouge.
(SOUNDBITE OF LSU TIGER MARCHING BAND'S "LSU PREGAME") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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