The Tiger Marching Band from Olivet Nazarene University will perform in the inaugural parade Jan. 20 after President-elect Donald Trump takes office, it was announced Friday.
The Illinois school was among 40 organizations on an initial list of parade participants named by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Olivet Nazarene, located in Bourbonnais about 50 miles south of Chicago’s Loop, is a Christian, liberal arts university theologically grounded in the Wesleyan tradition.
Sports fans know its campus as the home of the Chicago Bears summer training camp — but the school’s mascot is a tiger.
The university’s president, John Bowling, and his wife have purchased two pricey condos in the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago in recent years, Cook County records show. She has donated to Trump’s campaign.
John Bowling, responding to Tribune questions, said Friday by email that he has never met Trump or any of his relatives and that he “made no contact regarding the invitation” given to his university’s band.
“I learned that we had been invited, after the fact, from the dean of our school of music,” said Bowling, who declined to talk about the condo purchases.
Matthew Stratton, university director of athletic bands, said Friday in a telephone interview about 140 band members will perform in the inauguration day parade.
He said his musicians comprise one of the country’s largest Christian marching bands. The band uses hashtags #family and #fortheLord in social media to reflect its values, Stratton said.
“God has been taking us places and so we’re going and performing,” he said.
A year ago, the Tiger Marching Band was the leadoff musical group in the 2016 New Year’s Day Parade in London, Stratton said.
Its signature parade tune is “Chicago Tribune March,” he said.
In 2009, Bowling and his wife, Jill, purchased a Trump Tower condo for more than $1 million, according to the Cook County recorder of deeds, and put the property in a trust in 2015. In March 2015, the Bowlings bought a more expensive Trump Tower condo, a 46th floor unit purchased for $2 million, county records show.
Jill Bowling gave $800 to Trump’s campaign last September, Federal Election Commission records show. In 2015 and 2016 she gave a total of $2,100 to GOP presidential hopeful Ben Carson, now Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, records show.
John Bowling gave $250 to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008, FEC records show. He said Friday in the email exchange that the university “takes no political stand and does not endorse any candidate or party.”
“Thus, from our point of view the inauguration is not a political event but a civil ceremony celebrating the transfer of power. I am pleased our students will have the opportunity to participate in a historic event,” he said.
Illinoisans decidedly favored Democrat Hillary Clinton over Trump last Nov. 8 as she captured 55.8 percent of the state vote to his 38.8 percent, according to figures from the state Board of Elections.
Stratton, 39, preferred not to identify the White House candidate for whom he voted. He said, though, that he was “encouraged by what’s happening” with the incoming administration.
He said he sent in an application for his band to take part in the inauguration and learned about two weeks ago that it had landed a spot. “We’re honored to be part of this tradition and the students are very excited about it,” Stratton said.
Overall, there will be more than 8,000 individual participants in the parade, representing high school and university marching bands, equestrian corps, first responders and veterans’ groups, the inaugural committee said.
kskiba@chicagotribune.com
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