A pep band fixture

By Kurt Wagner

Chris Barry remembers the very first time he walked into pep band rehearsal his freshman year. He was quite surprised to see Zygmunt Wiedemann, a Santa Clara graduate nearly three times Barry's age, holding down the bass line on his sousaphone.

"At first I was like, 'What the hell?'" recalled Barry of his first encounter with Wiedemann. "Who is this guy who's obviously way older than all of us?"

Wiedemann, 60, better known as "Zig" to anyone other than his mother, has been turning heads at Santa Clara ever since he helped graduates Andrew Willingham and Taylor Thorn start up the Bronco Pep Band nearly four years ago. You can see Zig at almost every Bronco home sporting event donning his signature red bowler hat from his days as a member of The Red Hat Band, Santa Clara's original pep band, which was started in the 1950s.

After graduating in 1970, Zig spent three years in Germany as part of Santa Clara's ROTC program. When he returned home, he began working as a consultant in the Silicon Valley, but did not start coming to Bronco basketball games again until 2000.

At that time, the school didn't have any pep band. The Red Hat Band was long gone, and the more recent pep band had petered out after a lack of dedication caused the school to take action.

The school didn't even have a fight song after the music was lost during the band's struggle for survival, he said.

Zig came to the rescue.

Using a Columbia Records recording of the school's fight song from 1937, Zig worked with an arranger to commission the fight song we hear today. After bringing his finished product to Athletic Director Dan Coonan, Zig decided it was time to form a band.

"One day I was talking to them (athletic department officials) and they said there's a couple of freshmen who are looking to start a band," said Zig, who tracked down Willingham and Thorn in the music building a few days later. "I just went and took the music and encouraged them and said, 'Hey, you guys can do this. If you want a band, let's do it.'"

With Zig's encouragement, the Bronco Pep Band was born.

Today, Zig continues to play the sousaphone and serves as the band's most senior, and often most spirited, member.

"He just brings this level of dedication and interest to whatever the sporting event is," said Barry, who has played with Zig for the past three years. "He uses his playing to enhance school spirit, to enhance the energy level within the band. It really just makes the whole experience that much more fun."

His dedication continues outside of the gym, where he helps manage two Bronco fan Web sites, scufans.com and broncohoops.com.

"It's by Santa Clara fans for Santa Clara fans," explained Zig.

All of Zig's dedication has not gone unnoticed. In 2007, he was awarded the Bannan Award by the Santa Clara Alumni Association for giving "distinguished and outstanding service to the Alumni Association and Santa Clara University."

"Santa Clara was very good to me," said Zig. "Everything I have in life pretty much came about because of my association with Santa Clara. There are a lot of people who have worked harder than I have and done more than I have. It's just that I'm more visible."

And visible is the way he shall remain. Zig continues to brainstorm ideas on ways to increase the Bronco pep band's influence at sporting events.

He has an idea to form an alumni band to play over winter break when all the students are on vacation, but the team continues to play. He also dreams of seeing an alumni band play every year at the alumni basketball game.

"I encourage any students who have a dream, get it started because you never know where it's going to go," he said. "If you're serious about it, the fine Jesuit fathers have a way of rewarding serious effort."

In the mean time, Zig will continue to play in the band, "unless the kids throw me out," he said with a laugh.

"He's kind of an inspiration to all the people that are there," said Barry. "I think if you're that dedicated to supporting the school, then you are the No. 1 fan."

Contact Kurt Wagner at jwagner@scu.edu.