Throw the Ball, Junior!
1953 Corps Truck · 1953 Win · 1953 Drum Quartette · Throw the Ball, Junior! · 1953 Roosevelt Stadium · 1953 Nutley, New Jersey · 1953 Dream Results · 1953 Recording
How did this expression originate? According to Al Cohen, it was in the early days of the corps. There were a few neighborhood guys playing basketball near rehearsal. One poor dude was just not getting the ball at all... and, in frustration, he just kept yelling, "Throw the ball, junior..."throw the ball, junior..." and that was picked up by Richie Paul of the color guard. When he came to rehearsals he would just yell out, "Throw the ball, junior!" And that is the story. It was later picked up as an off the line motivator, which the corps yelled out before kicking off (which was permissable in the 60s). At least one Fleetwood recording of the 1967 corps (shown below) documented the corps yelling "Throw the Ball, Junior!" for posterity.
