Mighty Sound of the South

Mighty Sound of the South
Mighty Sound of the South
School	University of Memphis
Location	Memphis, Tennessee
Conference	AAC
Founded	1940
Director	Albert Nguyen
Associate Director	William Plenk
Assistant Director	Wilker Augusto
Members	185
Fight song	"Go! Tigers! Go!"
Website	www.memphis.edu/mightysound/

The Mighty Sound of the South is the official marching band of the University of Memphis. The band plays at Memphis Tigers football games as a marching band and at Tigers basketball games as a pep band. There are 185 members as of the 2024 season.^{[citation needed]}

History

The Tiger Band was founded in 1940.

At the end of the 1962-1963 basketball season, the Memphis State University basketball team had the distinction of being the only southern team invited to play in the National Invitational Tournament in Madison Square Garden. Thomas C. Ferguson, in only his second year as band director, decided the school's pep band should go to New York City to support these games. A pep band had never before played for a basketball game in the Garden, but they were to become the first.^[1]

Nineteen pep band members boarded a bus for New York City and using markers and an old bed sheet, they fashioned a makeshift sign with the words "The Mighty Sound of the South" and the name is still used for members of the current University of Memphis marching band.^{[citation needed]}

The Mighty Sound of the South is officially charged with preserving the traditions of the Memphis Tigers and for performing “Go! Tigers! Go!” the Tigers’ fight song. The fight song was written by Tom Ferguson, former Director of Bands at Memphis State University during the 1960-1970s.^[2]

Directors

The band is overseen by the director of bands at the University of Memphis, currently Albert Nguyen.^[3]

List of directors / assistant directors

Lawrence "Pat" Cooney (1940–1950)
Gaston Taylor (1950–1952)
Ralph Hale (1953–1956)
Olin Blickensderfer (1957–1959)
Tom Ferguson (1962–1974)
James Richens (1968-1970)
Art Theil (1972–1986)
Sidney McKay (1975–2002)
James "Marty" Courtney (1987–1998)
Geoff Carlton (1999)
Nicholas Holland (2000–2011)
Kraig Williams (2002–2011)
Albert Nguyen (2008–present)
Quintus F. Wrighten, Jr. (2011-2012)
Dan Kalantarian (2011–2016)
Armand V. Hall (2012–2014)
Dan Kalantarian (2014–2016)
William J. Plenk (2017–present)

References

^ Gillespie, Charles (March 15, 1963). "Tigers Not Without Good Support". The Commercial Appeal. p. 22. ProQuest 2655007244. Retrieved November 14, 2025.
^ Moore, Timberly (September 1, 2013). "Composer of U of M's fight song dies". The Commercial Appeal. pp. 5B. ProQuest 2664847519. Retrieved May 20, 2025.
^ "Band Leadership". www.memphis.edu. Retrieved May 21, 2025.

External links

This article on a marching band or pep band is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] Gillespie, Charles (March 15, 1963). "Tigers Not Without Good Support". The Commercial Appeal. p. 22. ProQuest 2655007244. Retrieved November 14, 2025.

[2] Moore, Timberly (September 1, 2013). "Composer of U of M's fight song dies". The Commercial Appeal. pp. 5B. ProQuest 2664847519. Retrieved May 20, 2025.

[3] "Band Leadership". www.memphis.edu. Retrieved May 21, 2025.

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v t e University of Memphis
Located in: Memphis, Tennessee
Academics	University of Memphis University of Memphis, School of Law FedEx Institute of Technology Advanced Distributed Learning Workforce Co-Lab
Athletics	Memphis Tigers Men's basketball Women's basketball Football Men's soccer Track and field Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium List of Memphis athletes FedEx Park Baseball Field, University of Memphis Memphis Soccer & Track Stadium University of Memphis Tennis Complex Elma Roane Fieldhouse
Journals	Southern Journal of Philosophy University of Memphis Law Review
Life	The Daily Helmsman Mighty Sound of the South FedEx Forum Art Museum at the University of Memphis WYXR TOM II TOM III Memphis Pom
Founded: 1912 Students: 20,585 Endowment: 199 million

v t e Memphis Tigers football
Venues	Normal Field (1912–1916) Russwood Park (1912–1915, 1918–1920, 1922–1924) Hodges Field (1917, 1919, 1921–1923, 1926–1929) Memorial Field (1925–1936) Fairgrounds Stadium (1937, 1940) Crump Stadium (1937–1964) Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium (1965–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Arkansas State: Paint Bucket Bowl Cincinnati Louisville Ole Miss Southern Miss: Black and Blue Bowl UAB: Battle for the Bones
Culture & lore	History Pouncer TOM (mascot) "Go Tigers Go" Mighty Sound of the South Miami Beach Brawl
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943–1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

v t e Memphis Tigers men's basketball
Venues	Various locations (1920–1929) Memorial Fieldhouse (1929–1966) Mid-South Coliseum (1966–1991) Pyramid Arena (1991–2004) FedExForum (2004–present)
Rivalries	Cincinnati Louisville UAB
Culture & lore	Newby's TOM (mascot) Mighty Sound of the South
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1942–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

v t e Memphis Tigers women's basketball
Venues	Various locations (1920–1929) Memorial Fieldhouse (1929–1936, 1972–present)
Rivalries	Cincinnati Louisville
Culture & lore	Newby's TOM (mascot) "Go Tigers Go" Mighty Sound of the South
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25