ALUMNI REFLECTIONS

Do you remember when....? Here is the place to read stories of past squads and share your own stories!!

Want to share a GD memory? Complete the form below!! Otherwise...read those that have been posted...

First Name only

Years you marched

Share your stories here...

Do you remember when....? Here is the place to read stories of past squads and share your own stories!!

Want to share a GD memory? Complete the form below!! Otherwise...read those that have been posted...

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN...

Anethia Witherspoon aka "Spoon"

My staff was Charlene, Kenny, Stephanie, Rodney, Gwyenn and Annie (1990-1995)

We had tassle parties to make pompoms for the boots we wore.

You practice 4 times a day. Auditions were on Wednesday or Thursday. The advisor and maybe one other person would judge. You had to be loud and Smile as well as twirl. You went in groups of five then by yourself. By 5pm practice you knew who was on the squad. I lost my voice every year for auditions and I was the 2nd alternate the first year I tried out. Came back strong the next year. It was fun. I was one of three new girls. Stephanie was the section leader. We all marched on the same side of the field and in a line to the far left. I always had to bring up the rear(last one in before majorettes started coming in last)but I made the most of it with Anthony Criss giving fans of the Marching Machine a good show.

Joi Lownes

I remember Annie and Charlene would show up to torture us from time to time:-) Kenny helped us out alot that last year i was there in 92.

I also remember the tassle parties and getting the Fashion Fair or Mary Kay make up put on us the day of games. I always fought that one...lol

Bandcamp Bootcamp! You go through that week or 2 weeks and then try out. i can remember Mr. Williams sitting on the bench while we did our tryout routine and can see his head dropping falling asleep..No matter how much you practiced/knew your routine, i can remember being so nervous.

I was a Sophmore when I made the squad. We still had the military looking ole school shorts/jackets/hats with plumes. Because i was a "crab" as we were called we got the left over sizes..i was very small then and got one of the biggest sizes and had to get suspenders, wear shorts underneath, 2 shirts and my hat always fell over my eyes....so when we got our first golden "glitter" outfits I was so excited. We got sized for those but then we had to buy Brown Sugar stockings from Food Lion like 4 at a time...lol

We became the first Golden Delight Girls. i honestly never thought it would continue on that way. I can also remember Dr. Hodge stating that we didnt need dance girls my first year there and it came to be that we twirled and started the dance routines. It was because of Kenny and we did really good to be a group that wasnt necessarily made up of all "dancers" and I can at least speak for myself:-)..

Felicia Mosley-Williams

I definitely remember being scared to death when we knew Annie, Charlene, & Gwen were coming. Charlene would take her vacation just to come harass us! I guess that was a band camp tradition, because they were so nice to us when they came back during the season! During the season, Kenny, and Rodney were there and Charlene would come to some games as well. I marched with Stephanie my freshman year, and after that, she became our advisor.

I remember the tassle parties at Dr. Hodge's house. We had to run hills, death march the parking lots during band camp and we death marched the stairs of the Dudley building after band camp with Gwen and Annie screaming different languages ;-). I remember going to my dorm many nights my freshman year crying. sectionals- we stayed until we got it right, yes, in the dark with car lights! Freshman on the squad couldn't talk unless we were spoken to. I made the squad my freshman year along with Nikki Hodge and Sonja Willingham. Nobody taught us the cadences, we had to "catch it." The old girls would make us catch the cadences (the 3 of us) in front of the cafe, while we marched to the practice field, and people looked at us like we were crazy.

Auditions were very nerve racking! I had to go an extra time because Annie and Gwen were not there. We had auditions in front of the bandroom and our numbers were posted before 5:00 practice. My freshman year, I didn't know about auditions until freshmen reported to campus. My parents were moving my stuff into the dorm and I walked to the bandroom to see when tryouts were. Charlene looked at me with the "Charlene look" told me tryouts had started 3 days ago auditions were that day. I asked her if I could tryout and she gave me "the look" and told me I had to go talk to Dr. Hodge. I was scared to death! I went in the band room in front of all of the instrumentalists and asked Doc if I could try out. With complete silence and in front of the entire band, he grilled me, asked me one thousand questions about why I wanted to tryout and he reiterated the fact that tryouts started 3 days ago. Dr. Johnny B. Hodge didn't play! But Thank God, after all of that humiliation, he let me try out. To my surprise, when I came they all were waiting because they just knew Doc was gonna curse me out! I had no idea what they had set me up for! (Wow!)

I really loved being in the band. Being a GD was a great and rewarding experience for me. It was difficult the first year because I didn't know what to expect. I came from a choral style band, so high stepping and catching cadences were new to me. We had to dance, twirl, and perform dance features with props such as "stools." By the time I graduated, we were doing extended features of dancing and twirling to hit tunes like "I'm Every Woman" and "Deeper Love." I also remember how the old girls were very hard on us. We did a lot of exercise and running. Band camp was a nightmare! We had to stand in a line in front of the band room and do the booty roll... Most of all GD was a sisterhood. Eventually, the old girls started being nice to us. We developed a bond that stayed with us over the years, and we are so excited to see each other at homecoming. We made lifelong friendships and created memories to last a lifetime. I think my most memorable moment was when we officially became known as Golden Delight and starting the new generation of dancing more often and twirling the colorful, non-traditional flags. It is so exciting to see how GD has evolved over the years into the creative, multi-talented squad GD is today! When I think of GD, I think of how GD has evolved--various props, theme shows, numerous uniforms, different genres of dance, and high energy performances---It's such an humbling experience to have been a part of such a great legacy! Hats off to Dr. Hodge, Charlene, Annie, Gwen, Stephanie, Rodney, Dr. Ruff, "Kenny" Tiffany, Tanika and all those that has helped shape GD to what it is today. Who would have thought that Doc's vision and idea of having one squad (GD) would become the trendsetter that it has become today. Keep up the good work ladies

Cheneta Hughey

Back down memory lane -

I joined the squad in '93 with one of my best friends. We both missed the tryout process our freshman year which was '92. We thought it would be easy because we twirled in high school and our high school band was/is similar to A&T's band with marching and dancing. We were oh SO VERY WRONG. Band Camp was NO Joke! We went home in so much pain and really had to roll out of bed and give each other encouragement to go back. There were several times I wanted to quit and take the easy way out. I am so glad I didn't.

The advisors at the time were Gwen, Annie, Charlene, Kenny and Rodney. However several "old heads" would come to advise as well after they got off work - like Steph, Cecelia, Crystal and Tasha (majorette). Later Spoon, Steph(Pankey) and Tasha became advisors as well especially when the flag count got past 3 and other props such as stools and chairs became a part of the routine.

Traditions: Bootcamp=Torture - To be Early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, and to be late is to be early for the next practice. Wardrobe-gold band camp t-shirt, navy short shorts, black socks, and military boots. You had to have your flag at all times and sit with your section during meals. In most cases, we weren't allowed to take breaks with others. High step marching, marching bleachers, some hand movement we did which i think went away in 95, practice from sun up to sun down, had to march to/from field to bandroom and remember chanting the Hill, the hill, the hill, the hill ain't BLEEP because it was tough to get through after practice. Always had to smile and march through the pain. After band camp, the squad had tassel parties, "catch it" had to learn cadence routines on our own, trying to find a uniform that fit, stalkings that matched our skin tone because I believe before GD didn't wear them, ordering boots and stories on who to watch out for in the band and the band parties.

Auditions were nerve racking. We had to perform in front of the advisors the routines we learned and the one we created on our own. I also believe we had to tell them briefly about ourselves.Rookie year was fun for me. Although the very first time performing on the field and marching into the stands and bandroom after the game was scary because on-lookers really focused on the rear because of GD and Cold Steel. Thank Goodness for Spoon and Felecia holding it down so I wouldn't be the very last GD marching it in. Charlene was real hard on the backline because that was her legacy. She made sure we kept the 90 degree angles and smiles on our faces. Shout out to Tammy, GiGi, Felecia and Spoon who were on the backline with me. We of course had to "catch it" the first year, but looked so bad we had tutorials because the new members of the squad outweighed the old members. We did get called out of names a few times, but I knew it was coming from love. :) Being late or missing a game meant you couldn't perform for the next game. Also we started having to try out for each game. If you didn't know the routine, you were out of the lineup. Dr. Hodge would always say we were the icing on the cake and the cake didn't need icing.

We had a real sisterhood and I am so very proud to say I was a part of the squad in the early stages of the transformation. I don't know if I would have made it with the new line up. So - Although I don't know Tiffany she made the squad the year after I graduated, I am proud of what she and others have done with the squad. Great Job also to Tanika who was a majorette when I was on the squad. A few misc. things - different flags, colors started 93-94, even more flags, colors, dancing and props was 94-95, we also debuted a new uniform homecoming 94/95 and doing dance movements/routines in the stands instead of just hand routines. shared the traveling bus with cold steel. we also started getting matching sweat suits,bags and uniforms to wear when traveling. Spoon, Tasha, and Steph coordinated us having juice and snacks available after we marched in before a football game since we had downtime before the game actually started.

GD For LIFE!

Nakia Morris Titus

Well I marched Fall 94 and 95,

Stephanie and Charlene were my advisors

I remember we changed beautiful flags that Kenny's mom made everytime we played a new song.The adutions were packed with alot of drills and creativity, oh lets not forget that Kenny loved to add something diffcult or change a entire routine 1-2 hrs before auditions.