Beamer teams up with Staley, Rucker to help send USC's band to Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in NYC
The University of South Carolina Marching Band, also known as the Sound of the Southeast, needed help to get to New York City. Shane Beamer, Dawn Staley, and Darius Rucker lent a hand.
In lieu of the band’s trip to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade next Thursday, Beamer, Staley, and Rucker all contributed $25,000 towards the cause, according to a press release detailing the donation.
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“I did give a contribution to the band to be able to go up to New York City for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade,” Beamer said. “I’m so grateful for the band, so grateful for the impact they make on Saturdays in Williams-Brice Stadium. One of the highlights of my year is getting to go talk to them in August … we’re doing preseason camp and they’re here two weeks early before school even starts.”
This marks the first time the Sound of the Southeast has been invited to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Though hundreds of bands apply, only 10 per year are selected.
The Carolina Band is one of four collegiate bands making the trip this year. The three others include the East Tennessee State University Marching Bucs, University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band, and West Virginia University Mountaineer Marching Band.
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Beamer initially got a text from Rucker with the idea to help the band raise enough money to make the trip happen.
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“It was late on a Tuesday night, and I got a text from Darius Rucker,” Beamer said. “And Darius said, ‘Hey, what do you think about this? The band is trying to get up to New York City. What about if me, you, and Dawn put together, we each contribute and help them go?”
The “Wagon Wheel” singer, who attended South Carolina in the 1980s, has been a vocal supporter of the Gamecocks.
“(Rucker) feels about the band like I feel about the band, and everyone else here at Carolina. Grateful for them,” Beamer said. “It took me about five seconds to respond, ‘Heck yeah, just tell me what you need.'”
The parade, which first began in 1924, will take place on Thanksgiving day, Nov. 28. It will air on NBC from 9 a.m. to noon.
