Retired Accountant Fulfills Lifelong Dream of Joining the LSU Marching Band

Retired Accountant Fulfills Lifelong Dream of Joining the LSU Marching Band Ver esta publicación en Instagram Una publicación compartida por 225 Magazine (@225batonrouge) It’s never too late to pursue your dreams; not even if you’re retired. For Kent Broussard, retirement was actually the best time to fulfill his lifelong wish. The 66-year-old man had fallen in love with the Louisiana State University (LSU) marching […] READ: Retired Accountant Fulfills Lifelong Dream of Joining the LSU Marching Band

Art Sep 24, 2025 0 13 Add to Reading List

Retired Accountant Fulfills Lifelong Dream of Joining the LSU Marching Band

Ver esta publicación en Instagram

Una publicación compartida por 225 Magazine (@225batonrouge)

It’s never too late to pursue your dreams; not even if you’re retired. For Kent Broussard, retirement was actually the best time to fulfill his lifelong wish. The 66-year-old man had fallen in love with the Louisiana State University (LSU) marching band since attending his first football game at age 11. Hoping to one day join them as a sousaphone player, he never really let go of that dream, even as decades went by. Now, following a strenuous year-long training period, Broussard has made it.

“As you get older, you start thinking about the future,” Broussard told the LSU blog. “My wife calls it the fourth quarter of life. I didn’t want to just sit at home and watch Netflix. I needed to do something I always wanted to do, and what kept coming back to me was LSU and Tiger Band.”

Broussard had learned the sousaphone—a type of tuba—in his youth, and played at Southeastern University when he first got his degree. However, they were a much smaller band that didn't march, as opposed to the 325 members of LSU that parade down the hill before each football game. The man had dropped the sousaphone since becoming a full-time accountant four decades ago. This meant he had relearn how to play the instrument and how to read music for the tryouts. He practiced for 14 months, often until midnight. And since being in a marching band requires great physical condition, he also got in shape.

“I developed a regimen of lifting weights for about six months before the tryout,” he told NPR. “The second thing I did was, I have been running or jogging since I’ve been 50, and I run between 20, 25 miles a week. And then, thirdly, I bought a weighted vest that I carried around on my chest for about four months.”

To audition for the LSU band he also had to be enrolled in the university. So, the retiree became a student, introducing homework, studying, and tests to the entire equation.

His story touched his fellow applicants and returning members of the band, who cheered for him when his name was on the list of those who had been selected. Broussard made his debut on September 6, when he marched before the game and joined the half-time performance, where he played songs from The Wizard of Oz, The Wiz, and Wicked. In the spectacular performance, he and his bandmates accompanied the music with precise stepping choreography to form words and images that can only be seen by the fans in the stands.

While his story has caught the eye of many and even landed him on the jumbotron, Broussard says he just wants to be one of the group. “I stress about it: it’s not about me, it’s about us. All about team. We’re all one unit,” he says.

Even so, he’s using his time in the spotlight to send a very important message: “If you have a dream, don’t just put it in the bottom drawer and never pull it out. The only failure is not trying. And for young people, if you have an idea, take a shot. You’re never going to know until you try.”