Whether marching as a musician or being the first male committed to Southwestern Michigan College’s cross-country comeback after a quarter century, Sam Loomis has always been a man in motion.

That hasn’t changed since the Roadrunner traded trails for PAC-12 gridirons as one of 40 alto saxophonists in Washington State University’s Cougar Marching Band.

“I got a free trip to (Los Angeles)” when WSU met the Fresno State Bulldogs of the Mountain West Conference on ABC on Dec. 17, 2022, in the Jimmy Kimmel LA Bowl at SoFi Stadium.

“SoFi Stadium is where the Rams play football,” Loomis said. “We got clobbered (29-6) by Fresno State, but it was one of the coolest moments of my life because we don’t usually travel with the team to away games.”

For home games at Martin Stadium, “It’s a long day,” Loomis said. “We get up at 7 a.m., practice for three hours, have lunch, get our uniforms on. Pregame, the drum line starts, marching onto the field. The band runs on from both sidelines, makes the WSU (formation) and plays the fight song.

“I’m getting goosebumps right now thinking of the first time I ran out of that tunnel to the roar of the crowd. The first game was against the University of Idaho, which is right down the road. Halftime shows are sometimes on television. To my knowledge, I’m one of three out-of-state students in the music school.”

Loomis, who joined the men’s music fraternity, said 75 percent of the 250-member marching band comes from non-music majors and more than 30,000 students.

Not only did he fly back to Pullman Aug. 9 for band camp ahead of his senior year, but with the intention of moving from the saxophone section to cymbals in the drum line.

“I play saxophone in the studio every day. I don’t need to do it in marching band,” he said. “I don’t know quite yet where they’re going to put me. I will audition on cymbals and bass, tenor and snare drums. I have some background in percussion, playing in pits in high school. I did an internship with the middle school director at my school to learn more about percussion.

“I’m going to be a band director in less than three years, so I need to know about drum lines. I’m taking a drum class, too. This coming year I’m taking brass. I already took my woodwind class for bassoon, oboe and clarinet and a violin class for strings.”

“My end goal is to come back to the Midwest,” the music education major said. “To start, anything musical, K-12. Licensed to teach band, choir or orchestra, it might not be band at first, but I will teach band in Michigan at some point.”

At band camp, the Cougars usually learn three halftime shows, but that could change with a new director from Purdue.

The capacity to surprise

Another element of Loomis’s personality besides perpetual motion is his capacity to surprise because he’s always up for anything. That hasn’t changed living in Pullman, 12 minutes from Moscow — Idaho, home of the Vandals.

He had never run cross country before he and Vanessa Crisenb