Entry · catalog no. 4351
fifth quarter
/ /fɪfθ ˈkwɔːrtər/ /fifth KWOR-ter
noun · SWAC schools, Louisiana and Mississippi; HBCUs nationally · 1970s
✓ Verified
1.
The post-game battle between two HBCU marching bands. The football players leave; the bands stay in the stands and trade songs back and forth, escalating, and whichever band walks out first has lost. It can run for hours. Many in the stadium are there for this and not the game.
“Do not leave at the whistle — the fifth quarter is the whole point.”
2.
Paired with the zero quarter, the same trading before kickoff.
“They were already going at it in the zero quarter.”
Origin & Attribution
Black college bands of the SWAC, in Louisiana and Mississippi above all. Band directors trace the practice to the battle after the 1972 Southern University and Alcorn State game, when Southern stayed to rehearse and then refused to leave first. Directors say it took its full form at the 1995 Jackson State and Southern game, when both bands stayed so long that security cut the lights and locked them in; both schools paid fines for missed meals and overtime drivers, and paid them willingly. Limits followed, commonly five songs a band, and the overflow produced the zero quarter at the 1997 JSU and SU matchup.
1972
Southern refuses to leave the stands after playing Alcorn State; directors point here as the beginning
1995
Jackson State and Southern play so long that security cuts the lights and locks the stadium
1997
The zero quarter appears at the JSU and SU matchup
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The South
SWAC schools, Louisiana and Mississippi; HBCUs nationally · 1970s
Spoken by
HBCU band members, alumni and fans
$FIFTHQThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Enduring30 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
58/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1972
in the culture
Mainstream crossover
2002
search interest spikes
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@nolakid
New Orleans, LA
@htxdri
Houston, TX
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Claire Milburn, The Development of Marching Band Traditions at HBCUs, Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, 13 April
2022
■
Claire Milburn, An Oral History of Marching Band Traditions at HBCUs, LSU Master's Thesis 4906
2019
■
+ Cite a sourceYulanda Essoka, Beyond the Fifth Quarter, in Opportunities and Challenges at HBCUs (Palgrave Macmillan)
2014
See also