SC State’s Marching 101 ready to electrify national audience at Pepsi Battle of the Bands
ORANGEBURG, S.C. – The pride of South Carolina State University — the renowned Marching 101 Band — will command national attention during Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday festivities in January.
The Marching 101 will join five other HBCU bands in the Pepsi National Battle of the Bands in Boca Raton, Florida, on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026.
“We are thrilled to participate in the Inaugural Pepsi National Battle of the Bands in the Palm Beaches,” said Dr. J. William Nicholas, SC State’s director of bands. “For over a decade, the National Battle of the Bands and Webber Marketing have showcased the best HBCU marching bands in the country, and this year, the Marching 101 has the distinct honor of performing in the very first Palm Beach iteration of the event.”
Alongside the Marching 101, the event at Flagler Credit Union Stadium will feature:
- The Marching Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman University.
- Florida A&M University’s Marching 100.
- The Florida Memorial University ROAR.
- The North Carolina A&T State University Blue & Gold Marching Machine.
- The Southern University Human Jukebox.
Nicholas will lead the SC State band into familiar territory, where he will get to showcase his student-musicians in an event that also features those from his alma mater, Florida A&M.
“I am tremendously grateful for the opportunity to perform on a large national platform in my home state of Florida,” Nicholas said. “This invitation not only provides me an exclusive opportunity to demonstrate my commitment to performance excellence in my first year as Director of Bands, but it also augments the Marching 101’s storied legacy of featured performances for the largest audiences in the nation.
“We are excited about performing for thousands of our fans and supporters in January,” he said.
Tickets start at $20 and are available at www.nationalbattleofthebands.com.
The Marching 101 Band is just one of the excellent musical groups provided by the SC State Department of Visual and Performing Arts, a unit of the College of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences.
For more information about the Marching 101 Band and how to support it, contact Nicholas at jnichol1@scsu.edu.