53 years ago, the University of Michigan marching band performed at the Super Bowl

ANN ARBOR, MI — This was a different sort of audience in another famous stadium for a familiar group of performers.

The University of Michigan Marching Band made its Super Bowl debut Jan. 14, 1973, when the Miami Dolphins played the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The stadium was full and morale was high for Miami fans as the score was 14-0 by the halftime show. Then, the band appeared on the field and formed a big smiley face.

The theme for the show was “Happiness Is.” Musician Woody Herman and singer Andy Williams joined the Michigan Marching Band on the field.

The band marched into various words and figures, including forming the initials “NFL” and an outline of the continental United States.

The setlist included “Put on a Happy Face,” “Woodchopper’s Ball,” “La Virgen de la Macarena,” “This Land Is Your Land,” “Marmalade, Molasses & Honey” and “People.”

Near the end, white doves and red balloons were released into the sky with the Michigan Marching Band forming the word “LOVE.”

To learn more about that day, Joseph Dobos, historian for the Michigan Marching Band, shared the memoir of former band member Richard Alder, who died in 2023.

Alder wrote about his experiences in Los Angeles leading up and during the Super Bowl.

“We headed off to the Coliseum for a morning rehearsal to finalize details, and meet up with participants that we still hadn’t seen,” Alder wrote. “The routine with Woody Herman was rehearsed, though we had nothing like our Andy Williams interaction with him. He came out, did his thing and was back in the afternoon.”

He remembered sitting at field level during the game and thinking about the halftime performance.

“I don’t recall really paying much attention to the first half of the game during which the Dolphins apparently dominated,” Alder wrote. “The audience was promised a big finale, one that couldn’t be practiced, and it seemed to work.”

The undefeated Dolphins won 14-7.

He also wrote about the halftime show finale, specifically the release of the red balloons, which “worked successfully,” he wrote. Alder recalled not attending classes the following Monday “as we were in no condition to stay awake.”

Leading up to the show in Los Angeles, Alder remembered flying to California on Jan. 11, 1973, and living in a dormitory hall at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“So, with kickoff for Super Bowl VII approaching in about 72 hours, we took the field to start figuring out our formation charts, marching through those and adding music (except for the finale) for the rest of the afternoon and after dinner,” Alder wrote.

He remembered rumors that the Michigan Marching Band would perform at Super Bowl VII when the band went home for winter break in 1972.

“On December 22, it became official — the offer had been made and the necessary permission to participate was received from the university,” Alder wrote. He added that the National Football League would pay for the band’s trip but only for 140 out of 214 members.

“The letter instructed band members to respond immediately via air mail of interest in being selected so it could be determined who would go,” Alder wrote. “Rehearsals would start a few days before the beginning of winter semester, on Jan. 4, just ten days before the Super Bowl.”

A video on Facebook from the Michigan Marching Band shows the 1973 halftime show performance.

The Michigan Marching Band also performed in the pregame performance for the 1982 Super Bowl.

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