SPOKANE — Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont declared Thursday as University of Idaho Day to honor the school’s marching band, who stepped up to perform on the Yale band’s behalf during the NCAA tournament last week.
The Ivy League band could not make the cross-country trip to support their school in their upset over the Auburn Tigers because the school was on spring break. Spencer Martin, Idaho’s director of athletic bands, was asked if his own band was interested in performing.
The band rehearsed Yale’s fight song (written by Cole Porter, Yale class of 1913) and chants at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow before hopping on a bus to Spokane, a host city of the NCAA men’s tournament.
During the game, the band — dressed in Yale gear — played the Yale tune, as well as Idaho’s own fight song, instead changing the lyrics from “Go Vandals” to “Go Bulldogs.”
The sportsmanship prompted an enormous reaction from people across the U.S.
Lamont posted the proclamation on X Thursday and wrote, “Hey Idaho, Connecticut says thanks!”
The official proclamation states, “The University of Idaho student band, a tribe from the North, brave and bold, bearing banners of Silver and Gold, donned blue and white, tried and true, to subdue all of Yale’s foes,” and “made a significant contribution to the atmosphere and energy of the crowd and enhanced the Yale Bulldogs’ 2024 NCAA Men’s Tournament experience.”
Martin said he received an email from the governor’s office and the provost of UI. The provost said this was “unprecedented.”
“Our entire goal was to perform and cheer the best we could to represent Yale and the state of Connecticut, but also the University of Idaho and the Gem State. We are beyond excited,” Martin said. “I texted (the band) so they can send it to their parents. We are just shocked, but honored.”
Andre Moore, a member of UI’s band, said it was “an honor to have that high of recognition,” and that their sportsmanship has had that much of an impact.
Lamont’s spokesperson Kaitlyn Krasslet — a University of Idaho alumna — said in an email that the governor, a Yale graduate himself, recognized the kindness and generosity of the band.
“Proclaiming a day in the university’s honor is a fun way to show that while our two states may be on opposite sides of the country, acts of good sportsmanship like this can bring us together,” she wrote.
