[2] The founding director, Walter Mestrezat, was a band leader during the Spanish–American War who led the First West Virginia Regiment in Cuba.

The 1950s and 1960s began a new era in the marching band's history where it flourished largely under the direction of Larry Intravaia and Budd Udell.

During the 1975 Peach Bowl, an announcer coined the phrase "The Pride of West Virginia", a term that would eventually become the band's official nickname.

The band forms several iconic images during its pre-game show including the Flying WV, the initials WVU, expanding circles, and an outline of the state of West Virginia.

The band forms the outline of the state of West Virginia during the pregame show of all home Mountaineer football games.

The outline moves down the field during the playing of "Hail West Virginia", and the shape inverts to face the student side of the stadium when the crowd begins the "Let's Go...Mountaineers" chant.

Adding to the difficulty of the performance is the inversion of the formation, the motion of the band members around the border of the state, and the movement of the outline across the field.

After a drum roll the colorguard thrust gold and blue flags into the air, raising and lowering them for emphasis, as the outer circle kneels, creating a two tiers of instruments for maximum sound during the fanfare of the arrangement.

In the past decade alone the band has traveled to the states of Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

In the fall of 2005 the band celebrated Constitution Day with a performance on the National Mall that was attended by Robert C. Byrd, one of West Virginia's two representatives in the US Senate.

Significant national television coverage was provided for the band's pregame and halftime performances during the 2008 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

The band has recently traveled to Atlanta, Georgia for the 2014 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game as the Mountaineers played against the University of Alabama.