Texas Tech Hosts Joint-service Color Guard Performances At Home Games This Season
Texas Tech football games already come with plenty of traditions.
You've got the Masked Rider, the Goin' Band from Raiderland, 60,000-plus Red Raiders and don't forget those flying tortillas!
Now, another tradition is coming to Lubbock, and the guy behind it just happens to be a Texas Tech graduate.
The All-American Color Guard Is Coming to Texas Tech
The All-American Color Guard is a national military volunteer organization founded in 2017 by U.S. Navy veteran and Texas Tech graduate (and my personal friend) Jay Ellis.
The organization brings together active-duty military members, Reservists, members of the National Guard and veterans to present the colors at major sporting events, concerts and patriotic ceremonies around the country.
Under Ellis' direction, the organization says it has coordinated more than 26 major performances over the past nine years, with an estimated combined audience of more than 1.5 million people.
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Now they're bringing that mission home to Lubbock.
Texas Tech has invited the All-American Color Guard to perform at three Red Raider home football games this season, beginning with the September 5th season opener at the new Galaxy Stadium, where more than 61,000 fans are expected.
For Ellis, this one is personal.
“I am really looking forward to putting on the biggest joint-service color guard performances Texas Tech has ever had. I plan on making Texas Tech University the most patriotic university in America.”
Well, that's certainly setting the bar pretty high.
And I'm guessing 60,000 Red Raiders will be more than happy to help.
It's About More Than Carrying the Colors
The organization is also launching its Star-Spangled Performance Program, which allows active military members and veterans with musical talent to audition to perform the National Anthem and other ceremonial music.
Military performers associated with the organization have already appeared at events and concerts alongside some pretty recognizable names, including Rascal Flatts, Eric Church, Riley Green, Stone Temple Pilots, Shinedown, Darius Rucker, Whiskey Myers and the Josh Abbott Band.
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Ellis' goal is essentially to create a one-stop shop for military ceremonial performances, combining joint-service color guards with talented musicians from the military and veteran communities.
There's a New Nonprofit Behind the Mission
There's also a practical side to all of this.
These volunteers aren't magically transported to events. Travel, hotels, meals, transportation and equipment cost money. According to Ellis, a single set of All-American Color Guard ceremonial equipment can cost somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000.
That's why the newly established Carry the Colors Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was created to help cover some of those expenses.
The foundation is currently looking for charitable donations and community partners so military members and veterans aren't forced to personally shoulder the costs of volunteering.
A Texas Tech Homecoming
For Ellis, bringing the organization to his alma mater is about more than putting on an impressive pregame ceremony.
Ellis said,
Our goal is to bring the American military community together, honor our traditions, recognize the service of our military members and veterans, and remind Americans of the importance of patriotism and service
And this fall, a mission that has traveled around the country is coming back to where Ellis once went to school.
Right here at Texas Tech.
GUNS UP!
If you could rename Jones Stadium, what would be the new name?
Gallery Credit: Landon King
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Gallery Credit: Landon King
