Contrary to weekend reports, UW Marching Band Director Mike Leckrone said Sunday he does not plan on retiring this season.
The reports surfaced after the Badger football game against Cal Poly Saturday, where Leckrone and the band celebrated his 40th season as director at the Fifth Quarter. In its performance, the band made a formation that read Mike 40 years.""
""The statement [about the retirement] is not true,"" Leckrone said in an interview. ""I heard a few people express it to me [Sunday], and I had no idea where the idea came from.""
Erica Pape, a UW-Madison senior and Marching Band member, said Leckrone did not say anything to the band about his alleged retirement.
""We figured he would have told us first,"" she said.
According to Pape, not many band members knew about the false report.
""I heard rumors of people talking about it. I don't think it was a widespread thing,"" she said.
Earlier this season, university officials suspended the band due to sexual hazing allegations, but the suspension was lifted Oct. 10.
Leckrone has been the director of the UW Marching Band since 1969 and is a professor in the School of Music.
