About

Our Philosophy
The Hitchcock Band Program is an organization of students and staff who pride themselves on excellence - excellence in our personal performance, our section's performance, our band's performance, and in the way we represent ourselves and our school. Excellence is a choice people make, just as mediocrity is a choice. Excellence is not a gift you're born with, but something you strive for out of the conviction that being as good as you can be is what life is all about. We know that the road to excellence is not always going to be an easy one, but if we work together, then excellence is an attainable goal. We will have pride in ourselves and others, we will always perform as winners and we will work together to be truly excellent in everything that we do. Excellent bands differ not in what they do, but how they do it.

Our History
The Hitchcock High School Band, also known as the The Pride of Bulldog Land and The Mighty Bulldog Marching Band, began in the mid-1950s at William H. Stewart High School.  The band program at Hitchcock Independent School District’s African–American School, Lorraine Crosby High School, began around the same time under the direction of Mrs. Izola Collins, a graduate of Prairie View A&M and Northwestern University of Evanston, Illinois.  The Band Booster Club formed in 1955 with the goal of establishing the school band program.  On August 4, 1956, Mr. Cone Clark of Dickinson, a graduate of the University of Houston, was hired as band director and music instructor.  The Band Booster sponsored a variety show in the high school gym on August 17 to offset the initial $2000 purchase of some of the larger band instruments.  By October of 1956, an additional $3000 goal was set to acquire band uniforms.  Fundraisers for the uniforms included bake sales, chili suppers, Mexican dinners, meatball suppers, a minstrel show, tickets sold at concerts and donations.

The 1956-57 Bulldog Barks yearbook pictured both a high school and grade school band. The 1957-58 yearbook shows the band, drum major and twirlers in full uniform; featuring drum major Patsy Word and twirlers Patricia Crabtree, Becky Pyle, and Elizabeth Riser. On February 26, 1958, Hitchcock ISD awarded a contract to Scheffe Construction of Houston to construct a band hall on the eastern part of the William H. Stewart High School campus, north of the football field.  Early band performances included the 1958 FFA Livestock Show parade in Crosby, Texas, as well as local concerts and football games.