Bob Prusator’s 1982-83 Tiskilwa Indians made history by becoming the school’s first and only basketball team to reach the state tournament.

The Indians were not the first Tiskilwa group to play at state, however.

In 1976, the Tiskilwa pep band under the direction of Jim Jones was selected as the first high school band to play at the state tournament. The Tiskilwa band was chosen over 60 other schools who auditioned for the honor.

Dressed in formal attire, the 34 members of the award-winning Tiskilwa band came equipped with a 36-song list that included fan favorites like “Proud Mary” as they serenaded fans throughout Friday’s quarterfinal games.

The IHSA is getting the old band back together. Members of that Tiskilwa band will make an encore this week to mark its 50th anniversary of its record-making performance. Twenty-four of the 32 living band members are expected to be in attendance this Thursday in Champaign, which will be 50 years to the day of their state performance.

In addition, the band from Princeton High School, which took in Tiskilwa students in 1996 when it dissolved, will commemorate the anniversary by playing at the state tournament on Thursday.

Jones joked that he “doesn’t know how they did this, and I don’t want to know,” but is thrilled that the Princeton band is playing that day.

“Princeton is doing the actual work, because that’s their age. And our age is to say, ‘Atta boy,’ ” he said.

The Tiskilwa band members will be recognized at halftime of the first 2A semifinal Thursday, approximately at 3:15 p.m. Jones thanked Larry Magnuson of the Tiskilwa Museum for proposing the band’s 50th anniversary celebration to the IHSA.

Phil Kaufmann, who played the clarinet for the Tiskilwa band, said it will be fun to return to state and reminisce.

“At the time, I don’t recall that this was a first time event to have a band there. But leave it to Mr. Jones, who said, ‘Wait a minute, music’s got to be recognized at the state level, too,’ ” he said.

After playing in the tiny Tiskilwa gym, Kaufman remembers how enormous Assembly Hall was.

“I remember walking in there and thinking, ‘Wow, this is a pretty big room. I think I can play as loud as I want. Nobody’s going to complain,’ ” he said. “We could kind of rock the rafters (at Tiskilwa), but the rafters were pretty high down there.”

Kaufmann said part of the reason he wants to go to Champaign is to express appreciation for the music department they had at Tiskilwa.

“Mr. Jones and Mrs. Hamilton worked to make opportunities for us to experience things not everybody got to do in high school,” he said.

Tiskilwa had an enrollment of 166 students in 1976, of which a little more than 20% participated in band.

Other members of the 1976 Tiskilwa band were Curtis Albrecht, Barbara Ary, Sally Ary, Laura Baldwin, David Bitting, Kim Brokaw, Cathy Cain, Sharon Cooper, Chris Cotter, John Cotter, Joe Jamison, Julie Jamison, Monica Jamison, Brian Johnson, Paul Kaufmann, Phyllis Kaufmann, Don Longman, Laurie Miller, Rex Ringenberg, Laurie Rossman, Michelle Rossman, Mark Schultz, Sherrie Sendelbach, Sandra Shepard, Mark Shull, Jennifer Smith, Julie Smith, Sally Snow, Abby Stacker, Muriel Walters, Cindy Walton, Rhonda Workman and David Yepsen.

Jones said that state performance put a lot of pressure on the Tiskilwa band to live up to its reputation.

“It brought a tremendous amount of publicity and good to the school and community,” he said. “Quite frankly, it put some burden on the band’s shoulders to keep the quality of performance progressing and the concerts and performance that the audiences like. We just felt like we had to keep it going.”

As a result of the Tiskilwa band’s commitment to excellence, it won the right to play at state again in 1978 and 1984 (the girls tournament).

Band was introduced at Tiskilwa in 1934 by Fred Weber, a nationally known composer and publisher. The Tiskilwa band won first at the State Music Contest for the two years leading into their 1976 state performance.

Jones, who came to Tiskilwa after graduating from Illinois State University in 1968, was a member of the University of Illinois Rose Bowl band in 1964.

“I was lucky enough to get a job in Tiskilwa that had a long, long history and appreciation of music. And it continues to this day now at Princeton,” he said.