CONTACT: Clara Mae Marcotte

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JALISCO AT FOOTBALL GAMES STARTED AFTER WAR

KINGSVILLE (October 8, 1998) -- The trumpet starts and the rest of the band follows: "Ay! Jalisco, Jalisco, Jalisco tu tienes tu novia que es Guadalajara." For years this song has been associated with the Texas A&M University-Kingsville's fighting Javelinas.

Back in 1949 after World War II, Bryce Taylor of Alice and a friend, Rheinhold Hunger, both trumpet players in the Javelina band, were tired of playing military marches all the time.

"We'd been playing conjunto music in groups in the Valley and thought perhaps a different kind of music would fit the area better," Taylor said.

"At the football game, we started playing Mexican music including 'Jalisco' with the two trumpets. A couple of games later, we were asked to play again and more band members joined in. It didn't take long for the rest of the band to learn how to play the music," Taylor said. "Our band director at that time, Ervin Ernst, disapproved at the beginning but later liked it."

Dr. Joseph Bellamah, Texas A&I band director from 1961-1979 and the namesake of the music building, later published an arrangement of "Jalisco" for the band. To hear the arrangement click here

The Journal of South Texas 1997 shows that the Texas A&I University student council voted "Jalisco" an official fight song in December 1969, and the Texas A&I Board of Directors declared it an official fight song along with the "Javelina Fight Song" in 1971.

Taylor, a retired high school band director with over 45 years of teaching experience, is conductor of the Corpus Christi Wind Symphony, President-Elect of American Bandmasters Association, and lecturer in the Texas A&M-Kingsville music department.

-TAMUK-