A band was born at Florida Memorial University three years ago. Now, it’s the best
Richard Beckford called his shot.
“We are history in the making,” Beckford said in April 2021, a little more than a year after being hired to build Florida Memorial University’s the ROAR Marching Band. “You have a chance as a student to be a part of the history, a part of that history that will be recorded from the very beginning, from the inception, until we become that great band that everyone will talk about for many years to come.”
And after the ROAR won ESPN’s inaugural HBCU Band of the Year championship in Atlanta, he was right.
“Initially Florida Memorial wanted a band to be a soundtrack for the HBCU experience,” Beckford said after the victory, “but I wasn’t interested in just having a band. I wanted to have a band that was recognized nationally.”
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That’s just what happened when the ROAR bested the Virginia State Trojan Explosion for the title of best band in the land at the Division II/ NAIA level. The fantastic finish closes a year that also saw the ROAR bring HBCU culture to the southwest of Paris, both of which seemed far-fetched back in January 2020 when Beckford began to construct FMU’s first sanctioned marching band amid a global pandemic.
“We started from scratch,” Beckford said. “No instruments. No outfits. No nothing.”
The two schools competed Friday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the ROAR playing a medley that included Rick Ross’ “Here I Am,” Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing,” Earth Wind & Fire’s “Fall in Love With Me” and Quavo’s “Turn Yo Clic Up.” Their choreography drew heavy praise from the crowd, especially when the drum majors reenacted the viral scene from August’s Montgomery Brawl involving a folding chair.
“We just wanted to do something different,” senior drum major Malik Rhodes said with a laugh. The idea came from two of his fellow drum majors , Nathaniel Nowel and Xornel Campbell, who he called “very animated” and “showmen.”
“It was a great idea,” Rhodes added. “There were people in the band waiting for that part to show up because it was hilarious.”
A committee of current and former band directors, alumni and administrators as well as ABC/ESPN staff voted on the winner. The results were announced during Saturday’s Cricket Celebration Bowl, also known as the Black College Football National Championship, with the North Carolina A&T Blue and Gold Marching Machine receiving the Division I equivalent.
“Being able to do what we did in a short amount of time, it’s unreal,” said Rhodes who has been a drum major since the program started with just 48 people. For comparison, NCAT’s band started in 1918. “We really had to grind and actually get our hands dirty to figure it out.”
FMU’s victory cements the decision that President Jaffus Hardrick made to resurrect the football and band programs at South Florida’s sole HBCU. Both elements are an essential part of the HBCU experience and, according to Beckford, will certainly pay dividends down the road.
“I think this is going to draw more interest in FMU,” Beckford said. “The football team and the band has brought a HBCU spirit to South Florida.”
Added Rhodes: “There’s a lot of ways that what we’ve done this past week can really impact how South Florida is going to really move now when it comes to HBCU culture.”
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 6:32 AM.
