1990 – Present: What Most of Us Can Still Remember

1990-1991

Conductor: Jim Ungar
Managers: Karl Brophey, Dan Jacobs
Freakout: vs. Brown
Gift: Megaphone (after a very frustrating game due to the officials, with two seconds left after RPI scores on an empty net, 2000 Freakout gifts hit the ice. There is no hand shake after the game and 2 seconds still remained on the clock.)
Stripper: Anne Ferraro- Anne slips and falls on butt during Pep Band on Ice.
Roadtrips: Army (overnight. They were so bad at the time we scored short handed, 3 on 5, twice.)
Princeton
Playoffs: Quarters at Harvard (Joe Juneau high fives the band on his way out)
New Music: Under the Sea
Fun Facts: Pep Band on Ice makes its debut. Joe Juneau graduates. Band performs at Victorian Stroll.

1991-1992

Conductor: Dave Noble
Managers: Glen Maston, Dave Bendrihem
Freakout Gift: punching bag
Stripper: Anne Ferraro
Roadtrips: Union (Union joins ECAC. A fight between a drunk fan and band breaks out. Two band members are kicked out of the game, along with the drunk fan. The infamous oranges are also seen for the first time.)
Playoffs: Preliminaries at Vermont (Vermont scores on themselves after their goalie leaves the net on a delayed penalty.)
Quarters at Harvard (In an attempt to make playoffs easier, one game is played instead of two. RPI upsets number 1 ranked Harvard. Quarters return to 2 games.
Semi vs. SLU at Boston Garden (RPI blows a 5-2 lead. Game starts after 9:00 and doesn’t end till after midnight, double overtime. Hand Jive is shown on NESN.)
New Music: Wild Thing, Born to Be Wild.
Fun Facts: Earlier semifinal was also 2 OT, so RPI game broadcast ends prematurely as NESN shuts off at midnight.

1992-1993

Conductor: Steph Tudor
Managers: Mike Alpert, Chris Schierer
Freakout Gift: Pad
Roadtrip: Clarkson (overnight)- How much longer to Clarkson; 5 more minutes!
SLU (The band hangs out at the St. Lawrence Mall. Buys hockey sticks at the dollar store and plays hockey in the parking lot. At SLU they enforce the 25 instruments only rule.)
Playoffs: Quarters vs. Colgate (RPI loses first game. Second game is canceled due to snow storm.
Semi: vs. Clarkson (eliminated)(Debut in Lake placid. Clarkson and RPI combine from vocal cheers after the game.)

1993-1994

Conductor: Kim Gailey
Managers: Aaron Williams, Eric (Spidy) Lynn
Freakout Gift: rattle
Stripper: Michelle Robinson
Roadtrips: Dartmouth (one night stand). Harvard/Brown
Playoffs: Quarters vs. Union
Semi vs. Clarkson
Final vs. Harvard (eliminated)
Regional vs. UNH at Albany (25 instruments rule is enforced. Still had a good time dancing!)
New Music: Raiders of the Lost Ark (bootlegged), Good Lovin’ (bootlegged), Flinstones (bootlegged), Johnny B. Goode (bootlegged), Dr. Who, Hey Baby.
Fun Facts: Neil Little graduates. Performance for St. Joseph’s House. Brown fan invades band, but is so drunk that can’t even hold the “This Band Sucks” sign right side up. Spinning Tubas and Trombones dance for Joshua.

1994-1995

Conductor: Jim Gross
Managers: Bill Ruhsam, Brian Menyuk
Freakout gift: Bandana
Stripper: none
Roadtrips: Clarkson/SLU (snowed in second night)
Colgate (1 night), University of Wisconsin – to play Minnesota
Playoffs: Quarters at Harvard (tie the second game after winning the first game.)
Semi vs. Colgate (3-2)
Final vs. Princeton (ECAC champs. Mike Tamburro wins MVP).
Regional vs. Minnesota (eliminated).
Fun Facts: stayed in the legendary “White Sled” cabin at Lake Placid.

1995-1996

[C]onductor: Mike Brown
Managers: Bill Ruhsam, Seth Bumpurs
Freakout gift: Megaphone
Stripper: Lauren Seagal
Roadtrips: Colgate and Cornell (played Ultimate Frisbee in the Hamilton parking lot after Pizza Hut).
Playoffs: Preliminary vs. Dartmouth
Quarter Finals at Vermont (eliminated).
New Music: Freeze Frame, Mission Impossible
Fun Facts: Pep Band “shot” glasses appear (for milk of course). Seth disappears for 3 weeks during spring semester. The Big Red Chicken “Redhawk” also makes its debut.

1996-1997

Conductor: Ray Kim “Daddy Ray”
Managers: Jenn Bowie, Kim Sward
Freakout gift: Pompom and hockey puck
Stripper: Tracey DiLascio
Roadtrips: (all one night stands)
Union and Yale
Playoffs: Semi vs. Cornell (eliminated)
Consolations vs. Princeton (win)
Fun Facts: New Pep Band shirts make their debut. Cornell Band members join RPI at Lake Placid (a bigger RED band), even a few Clarkson members. RPI returns the favor in the final. First game RPI vs. Union at the Knick makes its debut.
New Music: Carry on Wayward Son, Final Countdown, ESPN SportsCenter.

1997-1998

Conductor: Jim Cronen
Managers: Chris Farrar, Tim Martin
Freakout vs. Union gift: 2.5 foot foam noodles
Roadtrips: Football to Worchester St. (ECAC champs).
Cornell/Colgate (overnight, Cornell threw one hell of a party!)
Union (day trip, Bass drum and trumpet player hit by oranges) Dartmouth (one night stand).
Unofficial Roadtrip: Princeton (This was the first time the band was allowed back to Princeton in a number of years (don’t know how many, but there are no road trips to Princeton listed in the band history, so you get an idea). It was actually done as part of a New Years’ party at which quite a few band members attended, and we all trucked down to the game to play unannounced.)
Playoffs: Quarter vs. Cornell (eliminated in 3rd game by 1 point).
New Music: Time Warp, Tarantella
Fun Facts: Pep Band almost barred from Field House for Freakout, let in by Pres. Pipes. Editorial appearing in following week’s Poly (written by future manager) about incident causes much agitation for Athletic Department. New Big Red Chicken suit. Pres. Pipes resigns (and there was much rejoicing).

1998-1999: 75th Anniversary

“We’re 75, how did the school get along without us for 100 years?”

“75, we’re almost as old as Ray!”

America’s Pep Band: 75 years of noise

Conductor: Bill Von Achen
Managers: Jason Shapiro, Dave Schroeder
Freakout vs. Dartmouth (what the hell is a dartmouth?)
gift: car flags
strippers: Robin Thomas and Jess Swift
Roadtrips: Vermont (one night stand)
Colgate/Cornell (overnight, and another party!)
Union (one night stand, and we didn’t get any oranges thrown at us!)
ECAC Finals- Lake Placid! (Team lost first round, won consolation against Princeton)
New Music: Mars, Secret Agent Man, Na Na Hey Hey, The Simpsons, Dude Looks Like a Lady
Fun Facts: New hats given to us by Acting Pres. Barton. Managers thrown into snow at Union, took previous years manager with them 🙂

1999-2000

“We’re the last Pep Band of the millennium, you know.”

“Pep Band 2000…your choice for the new millenium (Y2K compliant!).”

Conductor: Sebastian Corbisiero
Managers: Andrea Catenaro, Jennifer Bernfeld
New Music: The Lion Sleeps Tonight, You Really Got Me, Funk 49
Freakout vs. Dartmouth
Gift: Hockey masks with suction cups, and hockey pucks.
Strippers: Jennifer Bernfeld and Amber Master
Roadtrips: Harvard/Brown (overnight)
St. Lawrence (one night stand)
Playoffs: Won Friday against Colgate at Placid
Lost Saturday to St. Lawrence (2-0)
Fun Facts: We got America’s Pep Band T-shirts!!

2000-2001

“Angle AJ, Angle!”

Conductor: James (Tex) Sattler
Managers: Jonathan Stucklen, David Siebecker
New Music: Hang On Sloopy, The Magnificent 7, Superman
Freakout: vs. UVM (2-2 tie…again)
Gift: Foam hockey sticks
Strippers: Jennifer Bernfeld, Andrea Catenaro, and Jake Berry <g>
Roadtrips: Union (one night stand…no oranges still…yay!)
Union [Football] (one night stand)
Vermont/Dartmouth (overnight)
Clarkson/SLU (overnight)
Dartmouth (quarterfinals…overnight)
Quarterfinals: vs. Dartmouth (above) – elminated in 2nd game
Special: Played for a Albany River Rats game at the Pepsi Arena
Played for Fanfest during the Frozen Four in Albany
Fun Facts: We’re movie stars! 🙂 Channel 13 (FOX) recorded the band playing during freakout and aired it on the 10 PM nightly news! I think we hold the record for away trips now too. 🙂

2001-2002

100 Years of Hockey

25th Annual Freakout

“Is there anyone here I didn’t call?”

“Your Mom!”

Conductor: Tim (TIMMAH!) Vanderpoel
Managers: Erica Baer and Mark Matarazzo
New Music: Ghostbusters, Beat It, Jump in the Line, Soul Bossa Nova, Disco Inferno
Freakout: vs. Clarkson, won 4-3 in OT (after trailing 3-0 with 12:00 left in the 3rd!)
Gift: Puckman bean bag dolls!
Strippers: Kathy Laraia and Nick Di Liberto
Roadtrips

Union (one night stand…the oranges got them a penalty…yay!)
Harvard/Brown (overnight, stayed with our hockey team and Union’s…and Nate was in room 311…)
Princeton (one night stand)

Quarterfinals: vs. Princeton – destroyed them in 2 games: 5-3 and 6-0 (black hole cheer!)
Placid: Beat Dartmouth in the Play-in game 2-1 (came from behind again)
Played Cornell in the semifinals and lost 3-0
Played Clarkson in the consolation game and won, again, 4-3, again, from behind, again!
Special: And Clarkson still sucks!
Fun Facts: Had the same bus driver for all the road trips…
Best Freakout…EVER.
Took the shirt company to court! Where’s our money?!
Matt Murley: “Thanks for all the support. We would be nothing without you.”

2002-2003

“We Like Cheez-its!”
Conductor: Victoria Myers
Managers: Kevin Sullivan and Yuri Koester
New Music: ??
Freakout: vs. Brown: Won 4-3 (again) in OT (again) – Winning Goal Scored with 7.1 seconds left in OT!!!
Freakout! unbeaten streak extended to 13 games (9-0-4)!
Gift: Inflatable Hockey Sticks
Strippers: Cheerleaders, joined halfway through by drummer Vidhu Pandey

Roadtrips

Union (Football…one night stand),
Worcester State (Football ECAC Northeast Championship Game) – demolished them 55-29! Damn was it cold!,
Army (took a caravan of cars to West Point) – 3-0 shutout – inspected by armed guards at the gate,
Union (one night stand…the oranges return),
Cornell/Colgate (overnight, stayed in Ithaca, swapped songs and combined with Colgate to play during the second period break),
Dartmouth (one night stand)
ECAC Playoffs – Round 1: vs. Union (at Union) – defeated them in 2 games: 2-1 and 3-2 (you can’t spell SUCKS without UC!),
ECAC Playoffs – Round 2: vs. Cornell (at Cornell) – we lost in 2 games against the 800 pound gorilla 2-3 and 0-4,
Special: Hosted BOTH the Cornell and Colgate bands in Troy on the SAME night! (and only had public safety come by once 🙂
Fun Facts: Finally got the Cheerleaders to realize that our football team is the Engineers – not the Redhawks….They even changed their cheers!!……Still trying to get our shirts! Manager & drummer Kevin Sullivan married cheerleader captain Sara Steinbrenner at the end of the season, a drummer and a cheerleader hitched? Who’d have thunk it!

2003-2004

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2003-2004

2004-2005

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2004-2005

2005-2006

Conductor: Tim “teh slut” Tesluk

Managers: Neil Havlak and AJ Macey

New Music: Stacy’s Mom, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Get Ready For This, Boom Boom, Cleveland Rocks, American Woman, Super Mario Bros. (sax cheer)

Freakout vs. Brown: Won 4-2

Freakout unbeaten streak extended to 16 (12-0-4)!

Gift: Foam goalie masks

Strippers: Banana Slug Muffins (Go Be Red team)

Roadtrips:

Union football (Day trip, drunk man insists on being allowed to play the bass drum, lost 49-42)

Football Playoffs at St. John Fisher for the ECAC Northwest Bowl (Won 26-22)

Colgate/Cornell trip was canceled for football playoffs.

Harvard (one night stand, lost 3-1)

Princeton/Quinnipiac (Tied both games 4-4, taken out for Chinese by the local alumni chapter in Princeton)

Playoffs: Eliminated in 2 games in the first round by Quinnipiac. Dan Fridgen resigns as head coach following the season’s disappointing end.

2006-2007

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2006-2007

2007-2008

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2007-2008

2008-2009

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2008-2009

2009-2010

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2009-2010

2010-2011

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2010-2011

2011-2012

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2011-2012

2012-2013

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2012-2013

2013-2014

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2013-2014

Current: 2014-2015

See http://apbwiki.rpipepbandalumni.org/2014-2015

These Memories Were Dredged Up By:

• Jim Mulder, Class of ’78, Trumpet – Active Pep Band member from ’74-’75 through ’80-81
• Roberta Edelstein (last name now Mulder), Class of ’81, Clarinet – Active Pep Band member from ’77-’78 through ’80-81
• Dave Cole, Class of ’82, Saxophone – Active Pep Band member from ’78-’79 through ’83-’84
• Marie Sayre (last name now Cole), Class of ’84, Clarinet – Active Pep Band member from ’81-’82 through ’83-’84
• Melissa Moncher (last name now Ackerman), Class of ’86, Sousaphone – Active Pep Band Member from ’83-’84 through ’86-’87
• Howie Ackerman, Class of ’83, Percussion – Active Pep Band Member from ’80-’81 through ’86-’87
• Mike Brown, plays everything
• Joe Padua, retired from band in 1998
• Jason Shapiro, Percussion – Active Pep Band Member from 1997-2002
• Johnny Stucklen, Clarinet – Active Pepband member from 1998-2001
• Erica Baer, Clarinet – Active Pepband member from 1999-????
• Mark Matarazzo, Alto Saxophone – Active Pepband member from 2000-????