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BAND HISTORY
It’s half-time, and no matter what the score of the football game is, the REAL show is about to begin.
Whether the game is home or away, the crowd is always "blown out of the stands" by one of the most exciting marching bands
in America! With a mix of today’s popular tunes and the sleekest moves, the band always challenges their competition.
The band was started by James Weldon Wilson in 1950, who would remain
director until his retirement in 1990. Wilson was born in Sanford, Florida
, and is a graduate of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. On his first day teaching at Jones, the school principal
told him that the school was to form a band and he was to be the band director.
Wilson started the program with no uniforms and no instruments. Slowly instruments, money, donations, and community
support were beginning to pour in from all over Central Florida. Within
a few months he would have the basic instruments needed to start up a band. Stores, churches, parents, and anonymous
Whites donated in any way they could to the program throughout segregation and into integration.
The first band uniforms were from the old Orlando High School.
Parents and teachers joined together and changed the OHS colors of orange and white to the Jones orange and green. On Armistice Day, November 11th, on two months since its creation, Jones
participated in their first parade. Transportation was a major problem
for black students in segregated Orlando. In a joint effort with the “Quarter-Back Club”, the school’s
football boosters, Wilson made a deal. The football team had a bus to help bring students from all parts of Orange County,
Wilson committed to driving the bus as long as he can transport his band students as well.
The band performed in the 1964 New York World’s Fair and two
United States Bicentennial celebrations. As integration of the schools
began, the Jones band broke boundaries by performing in notably segregated communities to be received with respect. Despite the integration, money was still the major problem for the school and the
extracurricular programs. The band struggled in purchasing new instruments and uniforms. The practice room itself
wasn’t even air conditioned until the 1980’s. Through intense
discipline, dedication, and organization, the “Marching Tiger Band” would build upon the school’s strongest
and most renown organization.
Today the band is under the direction of Rufus Redding, who helps
endure the tradition of success and discipline, as well as entertainment. The band still travels around the state and
country continuing to make crowds swoon. Today the band still receives much acclaim and community support, especially
from it's "deep-rooted" alumni.
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