If you've ever stepped foot in the PAC for a basketball game, you know them.  You might not see them at first, but you can't escape their energy, enthusiasm... and their volume. They're the USI Pep Band and in 2010 they are celebrating their 20th raucous year of getting the USI faithful clapping, dancing "I like to think of the band as the longest running open mic night in Evansville," jokes Thom Mace, director of the USIPB for the last 20 years. "Including myself, there are three active members that were at that first rehearsal in 1990. We also have three members at 19 seasons, three at 15, and many in the five-to-10 range."

Along the way musicians have come and gone. They've ranged from education majors to rocket scientists (one student drove up from his work study program at NASA to play at a tournament game last year). They change their work schedules, sacrifice family time, and stay over school breaks just to play. Some come from area high schools, some have played just days before giving birth, some have met and married (three by Mace's count), and others simply grow up with it. "We have one member whose mother has played in the band for 19 seasons," Mace says. "We've watched him grow up at the games...and now it's cool to have him as a playing member of the group."

Mace's favorite "recruiting" story takes him back to a cold December night many seasons past. The band was unloading equipment at the PAC, having just returned from playing at a hockey game at Swonder Ice Arena, when they heard a loud drum beat coming from the student parking lot. Weary, but intrigued band members walked over to investigate and found a dozen guys standing around a drummer rocking out on a monster drum set...in the middle of the student parking lot...in 10 degree weather.

"Turns out he was playing in his room and security was called and told him he had to stop, so he packed up his entire drum set and set it up in the middle of the parking lot, because he just had to play," Mace recounts. "We told him if he wanted a place to play where it was warm, we had a game on Tuesday night and he was welcome to come check it out. He was there that next game and played with the USIPB for the next four or five years. The last we heard, he was in Nashville pursuing a career in music."

Despite the ever-changing face of the USIPB, there is an undeniable sense of unity. The members, who refer to themselves as "bandos," do it simply for their love of playing an instrument in an ensemble. There is no credit, no cash, and no perks (outside of the occasional T-shirt or pizza party). Most of the older bandos treat it like a weekly poker game, hanging around because they crave the opportunity to play and thrive in the camaraderie associated with the group.

The history of the ensemble is just as free and loose as one of their sets on game night. Mace credits Barry Schonberger, then-director of student activities, with helping get the current incarnation of the Pep Band together in the fall of 1990.

"We had pep bands come and go in the '70s and '80s, but we just couldn't get it going," Schonberger, now dean of students, explains. "Then I met Thom and we wanted to put something together that matched the enthusiasm that was growing around the basketball program." Together they devised a plan and secured a budget to buy equipment and uniforms, organize events, and even pay for the occasional instrument. "Some kids came to us saying that they played an instrument, but had rented it from their high school, so we'd buy what they needed," says Schonberger.

They started rehearsing in Forum I. From that moment on, the Pep Band has been a fixture - albeit a very loud and rambunctious fixture - at the PAC.

After all these years, Schonberger's office still oversees the operations of the Pep Band which includes travel to the GLVC tournament and, on two out of the three occasions, to support the team when they've been fortunate enough to make it to the National Championship game.

"Most memorable would have to be the National Championship game in 1995," Mace recalls. "We were on the floor behind the basket with the best seats in the house, and it was just the most amazing game to be any part of." game to be any part of."

As they mark their 20th season without any signs of slowing down, more amazing stories and amazing games are surely on the horizon. The Pep Band celebrated their anniversary in grand style during a home game against the University of Indianapolis on Saturday, February 13.

"Anybody who's ever played with the Pep Band over the years is invited to come down to the PAC with their instrument and join in," he says.