It is a student-run organization, with an executive council of thirteen student members and supervised by the Music Department's Director of Bands, Dr. Darin Lewis.

The number 97 is the count of the full marching band, composed of twelve ranks of eight members each, plus one drum major.

"[12][13] The band had been student-run since its inception and would continue to be for its entire lifetime, but established musicians occasionally came in to act as a director and advisor in its early years.

At the beginning of the 1923 football season, the Brown and White Band permanently came under the supervision of a faculty director.

[14][15] That same year, the band performed its earliest recorded specific marching formation: a "monster L" at the annual Lehigh-Lafayette game.

[17] The Lehigh University Band continued to grow, reaching its largest size in history with 152 marchers reporting in the fall of 1939.

Membership dropped drastically; the band fielded thirty or fewer marchers each year, and off-campus performances stopped.

Schempf reorganized the band, reducing its numbers to around seventy marchers and instituting spring concerts to follow the football season.

This name covered three groups acting as one organization, as Lehigh's Music Department had not yet fully separated into its current ensembles.

The maneuver was directly responsible for creating the band's favored system of twelve ranks consisting of eight marchers each.

[31] On October 4, 1964, the Brown and White Band performed a concert at the 1964 New York World's Fair, having successfully applied for the opportunity.

Over 2000 were in attendance at the Tiparillo Pavilion for the performance, at which the band played marches and Lehigh fight songs.

[32][33] On October 11, 1969, the Marching 97 went to Rutgers Stadium along with women from nearby colleges acting as cheerleaders for the first time.

As reported in The New York Times, "A group of girl cheerleaders appearing at their first game for Lehigh, danced and ran along the sidelines in approval and amazement.

[42] The maneuver consists of twelve vertical lines of marchers moving towards the end zone, then countermarching in the other direction to spell out "LEHIGH" on the field.

The concert was directed by Jonathan Elkus and Columbia band director Elias Dann, who had come up with the idea after a football game the previous fall.

Professor Elkus conducted the band in music from Jesus Christ Superstar and his own special composition.

[46][47] On November 22, 2014, the Marching 97 performed during pre-game and halftime of the 150th game against Lafayette held at Yankee Stadium.