Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Harding County Pep Band Provides Spirited Atmosphere at State Tourney

The South Dakota High School Activities Association hosted State Boys’ Basketball Tournaments over the weekend—one of the most raucous venues every year is the Barnett Center in Aberdeen, site of the annual Class “B” Tournament. It’s already a loud atmosphere, with some communities emptied of most of their residents if their teams qualify. But there’s another element to the State Tournaments that many people enjoy—and miss when it’s not there.

It’s the opening of the Saturday night session at the State Boys Class “B” basketball tournament in Aberdeen. Cheerleaders from most of the participating schools are on the floor of Wachs Arena, getting the nearly full house ready for the final two games of the season. Waiting their turn is the pep band from Harding County—directed for the past 16 years by Laura Johnson.

“You know," Johnson says, "for many of these kids, this is their state tournament. There are so many kids across the state and across the nation that don’t have athletics as a primary activity. So band is another outlet for their creativity, and this is ours.”

The Rancher boys did not qualify for state—so the band is representing South Dakota’s northwest corner. Johnson says since the first time her band appeared in Aberdeen, the numbers have grown.

She says, “This is our third time playing—the first time we came, we came with 12. And the band program has steadily grown, and we have 43 of the 47 here now; we have 49 percent of the student body involved in the band program, so we’re really lucky.”

Jo Auch says, "We’re talking about kids getting an opportunity to play in a state tournament. Some get to participate in many, many levels and it’s a great experience. These kids are really talented in so many ways, and we just appreciate their taking the time to do that.”

Auch is an administrator with the South Dakota High School Activities Association, in charge of the State “B” Tournament this year. Harding County’s band is playing in the final day of the three-day event—pep bands from Sully Buttes and Bowdle entertained the crowds earlier in the week. Auch says finding bands for the “B” Tournament is pretty easy.

She says, “Pep bands add—they add so much to the event, getting the crowd fired up, the music they play—it’s great to have pep bands at all of the sites.”

If the pep bands help to keep the crowd involved—they mean a lot to the players on the court, and those supplying the music. Harding County student Alex Hansen is well aware of her group’s purpose.

Hansen says, “Like in the name—you want to get the pep up. You want to energize the crowd, and we’re like the cheerleaders that we don’t have. So it’s really important to have a pep band, because a lot of schools around us don’t, and they just end up listening to music.”

Hansen says she, and many others, have one special favorite to play—the one that greets the Rancher basketball teams when they enter the court in their home school in Buffalo.

Without hesitation, she answers “Tusk—that’s one of our big ones; not only our percussion loves it, but our saxophones, our trumpets, our clarinets—everybody loves ‘Tusk.’”

Tusk—really? The Fleetwood Mac song with the U-S-C band that was recorded well before any of this year’s Rancher Band members were born?

Yeah—that one. It’s also a favorite of Harding County teacher Cher Messmer—she’s in town taking pictures of the band for her parents’ newspaper, the Nation Center News, based in Harding County. She’s also a big supporter of her daughter, who plays the clarinet her mom played when she was a band student at Harding County. Messmer says it’s one of many things kids in her school excel in.

“They’re able to be involved in so many things," Messmer notes.  "I also coach track, and they can be out for track, they can be out branding, they can be in band—and it doesn’t affect their grades at all. We’re still a Blue-Ribbon School, our kids are just an amazing, amazing group of kids.”

The band’s numbers have grown at Harding County—so have the places to perform. The district built a new school a few years ago, replacing a WPA project from the 19-30’s. Student and flute player Tayle Brink says it's a beautiful facility, and a great showpiece.

Brink says, "Well, we get more people in the gym—we get more people listening to us, we have a really nice band room—yeah, more people to come out and listen to us and give us support and compliments.”

Teacher Cher Messmer says kids in her district are always busy—and she says that’s a good thing for the present time, and down the road.

Messmer says, “The more things kids can be involved in, the more well-rounded person they become. They’re able to be so much more well-rounded when they come into the work force as an adult. When they go off to college they do so much better-music is just—it’s just a wonderful thing.”

It’s roughly 300 miles between Buffalo and Aberdeen—the Harding County kids left their school, in a blizzard, to get to the Barnett Center for the tournament, receiving a plaque at the end of the day for their participation. But that’s not all the Ranchers received—throw in a few more fans, a night in a hotel, and of course, a trip to the State Tournament.