Marian University Knights Band Alumni

03/03/2021

If you've never caught the old reel-to-reel videos of the Drum & Bugle Corps that are going around, they're a treat. My favorite part is when the Marian color guard shoots actual long rifles in the middle of a parade and scares the crap out of the spectators. 🥁🎺🥁🎺🥁🎺

06/29/2020

The saddest and yet happiest day of my life as a Marian alum was emailing the band director that I would not be able to announce for the band on football game days this season. Sad because I never feel closer to my mom and dad than when I'm in that booth seeing the Knights march on to the field. Happy because I'm unable to announce only because my son Jack Henry Sweany (named after his grandfather) will be representing Marian on the rugby field. When people see his tree-trunk thighs and rock-hard calves, I tell them, "He has his Grandpa Sweany's marching legs."

March on, Knights! And go, MU Rugby!

Brian Sweany '95

01/06/2020

My father was a musician, drum major, band leader, founder of the Marian College Blue Knights Drum & Bugle Corps back in the 60s, and one heck of a trumpet player. When my friends’ fathers were listening to the Beatles, Stones, and Zeppelin in the 70s, my dad was spinning Chicago, Chuck Mangione, and John Philip Sousa records. Lost Dad in a car accident in 1992 when he was only 46 and for 28 years have been thinking of a way to honor him. My daughter got a small guitar tattoo in a Bradenton Beach, Florida tattoo parlor last week, and it inspired me to get a not-so-small tattoo.

"What's the word?"

--Brian Sweany, '95

09/16/2019

Band Day is less than two weeks away!

Some fun facts as we prepare to welcome band members, new and old, back to Marian's campus on September 28:

🥁 The original Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps was founded in 1964 with donated instruments from American Legion WWII vets.

🎺 The Blue Knights were the first-ever non-military academy collegiate drum and bugle corps.

🥁 Within four years of the Blue Knights founding, the Corps went from six founding members to 100+.

🎺 The Blue Knights color guard used to carry actual long rifles loaded with blanks and would shoot off rounds along Marian's parade routes. (If you ever have a chance to see the restored reel-to-reel videos of this, it's pretty wild.)

🥁 After the Blue Knights folded in the late 1970s, their instruments were obtained by the newly founded Star of Indiana, which grew to become one of the most nationally successful drum and bugle corps of the 1980s.

🎺 September 19, 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the Marian University Marching Knights.

09/13/2019

"In 1964, Marian student John Sweany founded the Marian College Blue Knights, America’s first non-military collegiate drum and bugle corps.

"Today, that reputation for innovation and excellence continues in YOUR Marian University Marching Knights!"

These words never get old. Come out Saturday and cheer the band on for the opening game of the MU football season!

08/29/2019

Spoke with the Band Director at Marian University yesterday. Looks like I'm back in the emcee chair for the 2019 football season! First time I'll be on the mic in front of my son Jack, a freshman and the third generation of Sweanys to attend MU!

Home games are September 14 and 28; October 5, 19, and 26. Go Knights! What's the word?

Brian Sweany '95

04/22/2019

Tough month for the Marian community. Sister Ruth Ann has joined Sister Stella. Whereas Sister Stella was my shining light in college, Sister Ruth Ann was one of the Sisters of St. Francis from my childhood: Sister Vivian Rose's partner in crime, the Robin to her Batman. They were beloved by Mom, Dad, and a generation of Corps members. -Brian Sweany, '95

02/12/2019

In case you missed it, the Marian fight song was just recently posted to YouTube.

♫ We rise and cheer for you dear Marian
and let our voices ring on high (On High!)
we'll loudly sound your name
and proudly spread your fame
raise your glory to the sky
in battle you shall march to victory
while we proclaim your might
your gold and blue will fly
as we forever cry
hail to the Marian knights
K-N-I-G-H-T-S
GO KNIGHTS! ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬

♫ We rise and cheer for you dear Marian and let our voices ring on high (On High!) we'll loudly sound your name and proudly spread your fame raise your glory...

01/20/2019

Came across some great old Corps photos in the Marian ‘67 yearbook.

12/05/2018

The Marian campus in the winter is such a beautiful and serene place to me, and I have the fondest memories of Oldenburg Hall. My father John Sweany (Marian '68) took me there in the 70s when it was still a convent. Students today walk by that empty space behind the railing in the entryway not knowing that it was once a small garden devoted to the Virgin Mary. They take classes in that large windowed room to the right not knowing it was the convent's public reception area. I can still recall running around that reception room as a little kid, hopped up on treats courtesy of the Sisters of St. Francis. Sister Vivian Rose, my dad's surrogate mother, was especially good at spoiling me rotten.

I made even more memories there as a Marian student, when Oldenburg Hall--back then it was called "St. Francis Hall"--was my dormitory for two years in the early 90s. The window barely peeking out in the top right corner of this photo was my dorm room. I often sneak into the hall's small chapel just before kickoff on game days--for a quick prayer, maybe even two, depending on who Marian is playing. The place still smells the same. And if I listen real close, I can almost hear Sister Vivian Rose and my father praying together. "Get out those Rosary beads, Sister," Dad would say. "I need to find some money for new band uniforms."

Merry Christmas to my fellow Knights, especially the Blue Knights Drum & Bugle Corps!

Brian Sweany '95