WESLACO — The Weslaco High School Panther Corps marked its centennial celebration with a reunion performance by alumni from over 100 years of band on Friday.
The evening was filled with smiles, tears and many hugs as bandmates reunited on the field.
Over 200 Weslaco High School band alumni from 1976 to 2020 marched onto the field at the Bobby Lackey Stadium on Friday to play their fight song, alma mater and the famed “Rocky” theme song “Gonna Fly Now” alongside current students.
The idea for a grand reunion came to be when Gina Isadore Randolph, from the class of 1989 Weslaco band and daughter of former band director David Isadore, wanted to unite the bands from throughout the years to experience the adrenaline rush of performing under the Friday night lights one more time.
“It’s such a special time when we have to grow these bonds as a band,” Isadore Randolph said. “It’s like a family because we go through so many things together, from successes to being yelled at, to sweating and, you know, we go through the trenches together and become a family. There’s so many fond memories and I just wanted to be able to bring everybody back and experience that again.”
The former woodwind player for Weslaco High said her favorite memory from her high school band days was during marching season when she and her band were standing at attention and ratings were being announced.
While they could not move, she said she had tears rolling down her cheeks because she was so proud of her band for placing first.
“And as soon as they released us we all jumped up and down and hugged and cried,” Isadore Randolph said. “That still brings me goosebumps.”
David Isadore, former band director for the Weslaco Panther Corps from 1984-2002, served the longest tenure in Weslaco history and is a legend among the band community.
Isadore had a reputation for being “hard-nosed” as he described himself back then because he wanted the best for his students.
However, it was difficult to picture that man Friday night when the one standing on the field had tears of joy running down his face paired with a smile.
“It’s neat to come back because when you have a job like a coach or a band director you have to make difficult calls and, you know, the kids don’t understand them,” Isadore said. “It’s amazing how many ex-students said to me, ‘I really understand what you were doing in pushing us, because you knew what potential we had and we weren’t using our potential and you pushed us.’ The fact that they understood that made me feel really good.”
The alumni and Isadore went out the night before the game to catch up and relive old memories over sandwiches in downtown Weslaco. Isadore said he loved every minute of it and appreciated seeing how many lives he touched.
He said the current Weslaco band director Rodrigo Leal is doing a great job with the kids and was happy to see how he is running things.
The two directors got a chance to collaborate as they prepared the alumni and current students for the performance.
Just a day before the performance, Leal had a rehearsal with the alumni that were in the Rio Grande Valley. Then Isadore had a separate rehearsal with the alumni from out of town and the night before they put it all together.
Some alumni brought their high school instruments out from retirement to participate in the band, while others rented one from local music shops.
“It was the greatest experience for me,” Isadore said.
While the former band director had a reputation for being strict with his students, it appeared that his efforts were not in vain, as many alumni went on to pursue their musical careers after their time at Weslaco High.
Letty Jasso Vallejo, a trumpet player from the class of 1993 said she has grown to appreciate Isadore’s tough love and said he pushed her to be her best.
The love for music that was nurtured at Weslaco high stuck with Jasso Vallejo who was a member of the Texas State marching band and mariachi in the late 1990s.
She now teaches the only elementary mariachi in Weslaco.
Jasso Vallejo and Michelle Noriega, who also played trumpet for the class of 1993, have been best friends since kindergarten and said it was because of Isadore that their senior class made it to state.
“It was because he challenged us to be our best,” Noriega said.
The two said they enjoyed reliving their high school days and said it was fun to see the new traditions that the bands are starting.
“It totally reminded me of us when we were that age,” Noriega said. “You go from being serious to being silly in like a split second and then back to it.”
Jasso Vallejo said it was great to see the different generation on the field all at once and that it reminded her that the friendships and memories she made in the band were some of her favorites.
“The friendships that we’ve built over the years, they’re true, they’ve lasted,” she said. “But just being around other people from different generations, it’s the same feeling. There’s a camaraderie even with the other generations that you didn’t go to school with. It’s a band thing.”
View Monitor photojournalist Joel Martinez’s full photo gallery below, which includes photos of the reunion performance and from band practice:
Photo Gallery: Panther Corps marks 100 years of Weslaco band in one night
