began to travel to football games away from Columbia. 1950: Richard H. Zimmermann served as director through 1955. Membership reached a peak of 82 members. 1955: Donald L. Banschbach succeeded Zimmermann during the first time that Air Force ROTC, Navy ROTC and University bands all operating independently of each other. 1956: Pat Garnett is known most widely for eliminating the majorettes from the band. He suffered a stroke in 1958 and ended his term as director in 1959. 1960s and 1970s The style of the Carolina Band can be traced to the appointment of James D. Pritchard as band director in 1959. Though a regimental marching band, Pritchard brought back the majorettes and feature twirlers, who had been absent from the shows of the preceding few years. Pritchard also acquired a recording studio, more storage & practice areas and created the "Coquettes", the official dance team of the marching band. He also collaborated with then-athletic director and head football coach Paul Dietzel in creating the new school fight song, The Fighting Gamecocks Lead the Way, more commonly known as Step to the Rear. The song is still used today. 1969: Ralph Wahl succeeded Pritchard with a four-year tenure. During this time, Wahl tripled the size of the Carolina Band to 350 members (which was the largest at that time). 1973: Thomas O'Neal, served as director for two years. O'Neal brought the band back under the jurisdiction of the Music Department. The tradition of post-game concerts by the Carolina Band began at this time. Mid 1970s-1990 In 1976, James K. Copenhaver, the longest-serving Director of Bands (now Director of Bands Emeritus), succeeded O'Neal. Copenhaver created the most well-known USC pre-game show (used from his tenure through the 2010 season). He also is responsible for the tradition of always having national or world champion twirlers as a part of the band. The SEC years (1990–present) The Gamecocks were accepted as a member institution of the Southeastern Conference on September 25, 1990. They began to play during the 1992 season. One change included the addition of third band director. Under this organizational structure, the Director of Bands became responsible for administering the entire band program. The various athletic bands in the program were then overseen by an Associate and Assistant Director of Bands. The new Assistant Director of Bands became the Director of Athletic Bands, which included direct oversight and instruction of the