Good sports

They are hard to miss, in their plush airplane hats and swooshy red track suits. But the Dayton Flyer Pep Band has received a national award for going incognito. 

During a ceremony Nov. 18 in St. Louis, the band received a Stan Musial Award, which recognizes the year’s greatest moments of sportsmanship and those in sports who embody class and character. The event will be nationally broadcast Sunday, Dec. 24, on CBS.

In March, the Flyers were a part of the Fairleigh Dickinson University men’s basketball Cinderella story, as the 16-seeded Knights upset the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers during the first round of the tournament in Columbus, Ohio. FDU does not have a band. Never fear; the Flyer Pep Band was there for FDU, wearing T-shirts with the school’s name and playing the team’s fight song — albeit while wearing ballcaps proclaiming “Flyers.” 

“This group showed great sportsmanship, care and class,” said Willie Morris III, associate professor of saxophone and director of the Flyer Pep Band.

The band gained national attention with coverage from ESPN, CNN and CBS Sports, among other news outlets. USA Today called the band’s actions “the ultimate show of band solidarity.”

This wasn’t the first time Flyer Pep Band members have stepped up for a school in need. Since 2004, Morris and the band have supported other colleges and universities without a band of their own. They also played for Fairleigh Dickinson in 2019 during the tournament’s First Four round in Dayton.