An Alumnus' Music Man Connection Sparks Hawkeye Marching Band Support

PHOTO: JOHN EMIGH On a fall 2025 visit to campus, John F. Allen (pictured at right) meets with Golden Girl Carissa Wolfe, drum major Brandon Alpers, director Eric Bush, and the rest of the Hawkeye Marching Band.

University of Iowa alumnus John F. Allen (66BBA) watched from the tunnel at Kinnick Stadium as the Hawkeye Marching Band sang “Alma Mater, Iowa” before taking the field to the Iowa Fight Song. Allen was behind-the-scenes with the band that weekend and found their performance "even more inspiring than the football game."

Allen developed a love for the Hawkeyes, music, and The Music Man while growing up in Charles City, Iowa. In high school, he played the sousaphone, trumpet, and tuba, and performed in the North Iowa Band Festival under the direction of The Music Man composer Meredith Willson. He later graduated with a degree in business from Iowa and started his information technology career in San Francisco.

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Allen and Eric Bush (15DMA), director of the Hawkeye Marching Band, spoke weekly, connecting over their shared love of The Music Man. When Allen visited campus in fall 2021, Bush gave him a tour of the facilities and introduced him to the band. “I went to practice and realized how talented they are and how much work goes into their many hours of preparation,” says Allen.

Until three years ago, the band members’ only compensation was one academic credit.

“I couldn’t believe it,” says Allen. “They don’t have to do this. They give their time and talent and energy.”

Watching them rehearse changed how Allen saw the band’s commitment. By this point, he had already helped purchase a new line of game day trumpets—one of the largest gifts in the band’s history—ensuring students no longer had to use their personal instruments for major performances. Later, his gift of bass trombones filled what Bush called “a sonic gap” between the sousaphones and higher brass.

PHOTO: JOHN EMIGH Business alumnus John F. Allen spends time with the Hawkeye Marching Band this past fall during a visit to campus.

“If you’re there, you’re there,” says Allen. “I don’t care if you’re the first or last trumpet player—you’re putting in the time, you’re working hard, and you’re showing up.”

He wanted to do more; he wanted student musicians to know how much the fans appreciate every member of the band.

In 2022, he created the John F. Allen Appreciation Awards, a $100,000 annual gift which provides all members of the band with a monetary award that increases each year they return. In the three years since the first round of awards, Bush says band member retention has increased by about 21%, and turnout for auditions has increased by nearly 50%. That means a stronger, more skilled band, and performances that can truly push the limits of creativity.

“It’s the spirit, the music, the excitement,” says Allen. “When the band shows up, it gives you goosebumps.” Whether it’s game day or the homecoming parade, he says, “it’s all enhanced considerably by the music.”