The Lynx Way
Cornhusker Marching Band
makes its 2025 debut
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s 300-member Cornhusker Marching Band made its 2025 football season debut Sept. 6 at Memorial Stadium with pregame and halftime performances during Nebraska’s home opener against Akron.
This year’s band includes representatives from nearly every region of the country, with 79 percent hailing from Nebraska communities. Twenty-three percent of the members are students in the Glenn Korff School of Music, while the remainder represent more than 70 other academic programs across the university. Each student completed two auditions to earn a spot in the band.
Five members of the Cornhusker Marching Band are Brandon Valley alums: Will McCarthy, tuba, freshman computer engineering major and Anna Tews, piccolo, senior biochemistry major, both of Brandon; Aaron Burchill, percussion senior emerging media arts; andEthan Rohr, baritone, junior music major, both of Sioux Falls; and Dante Tooley, trombone, freshman music major from Valley Springs.
The Cornhusker Marching Band, which resides in the Korff School, was founded in 1879 as an ROTC unit and is one of the oldest marching bands in the nation. The band has received many honors throughout its 146-year history, including a Distinguished Recognition Trophy presented by John Philip Sousa in 1927 and the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Trophy in 1996. The Sudler Trophy is the highest honor given to collegiate bands.
The “Pride of All Nebraska” has been seen by millions of viewers on television. The band was the first collegiate ensemble to perform at all the major football bowl games: Rose, Orange, Fiesta, Sugar and Cotton.
