THE CARDINAL DOUGHERTY HIGH SCHOOL
ALUMNI BAND
BRIEF HISTORY
The Cardinal Dougherty High School Alumni Band was formed in 1991 to play at the 25th reunion party celebrating the High School Band winning the World Music Competition in Kerkrade, Holland in the summer of 1966. A number of the current alumni band members performed throughout Europe that year. Since the reunion the band has stayed together and is now comprised of 35 musicians. The band members range from the graduating class of 1959 through young students. There are a number of husband and wife and father and son/daughter teams in the band. For marching performances, the band was joined by an Alumni Drill Team and Color Guard.
The Alumni Band performs at many city, local and community events through out the year. The Band is a non-profit organization and all the musicians volunteer their time. We do raise money through our performances. The money is used to fund a scholarship program in the school’s music department. To date, we have awarded over $210,000 in scholarships including an annual partial scholarship to a graduating 8th grader who will be a member of the school’s Music Department.
The band is under the musical direction of conductor Peter William Palan, class of ‘67 and specializes in marches, show tunes, light classical, big band and Americana theme pieces. The band practices on Monday evenings at 7:30 PM at Archbishop Ryan High School.
The band stopped doing parades in 2023 and is booking more concerts going forward.
Parties interested in finding out more about the band, drill team or color guard should contact the band’s president, Joe Friend, class of ‘67 at (215) 906-8025 or E-mail: joefriend@msn.com.