Courtesy of Loren Sullivan
“A football game without a band is just a football game, period. Now, when you come to Southern, a football game is like a day of holy obligation.”
The late Dr. Isaac Greggs sets the scene, via archival footage, for the short film, The Hidden Sport. Greggs was the founder of nationally acclaimed Human Jukebox Marching Band at Southern University, where he served as band director for almost forty years. In a filmed interview, Gracie Perkins, who worked closely with Greggs as the founder of the band’s Fabulous Dancing Dolls, recalls his influence on the early band members, “He had a voice, and he talked to them as though they were already at the top of the echelon.”
Southern’s current director of bands, Dr. Kedric Taylor, says Greggs’s passion for the music of Southern’s athletics helped establish the Jukebox’s influence today—which extends to performances with stars like Beyonce and Lizzo, an appearance at a presidential inauguration, and a Vice Media documentary. “He always thought the Human Jukebox was the show," said Taylor.
The Hidden Sport celebrates the Jukebox through new lenses: as a vital role in Southern’s culture of athletics. The creators—a group of Southern University students—even go so far as to position the band as a force of athletics in itself.
Mass communication students Sydney Cuillier, Ashley Lovelace, and Eric White, Jr. originally came together to work on a project to serve as an entry for a grant offered through Coca-Cola and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (The Emmys), which provides funding that recognizes students enrolled in an HBCU’s journalism program or media production program with a focus on sports broadcasting. The prompt was, “The past, present, or future of sports at your university.”
When they approached Loren Sullivan, a videographer and longtime member of the Human Jukebox Media team, to join them as director—she thought she was stepping in on a group project, “something we could put on Instagram . . . I just wasn’t expecting it to be as big as it got.”
“The band instills so much pride. Music is such a big part of African American culture as a whole, it’s gotten us through a lot. I think the band bringing that energy . . . it puts you in good spirits.” —Loren Sullivan
When the Jukebox got invited to perform at the 2025 Super Bowl (for the tenth time), Sullivan considered how marching bands “drive” HBCU culture. “When I pitched it to the team, they were 100% for it. We didn’t turn back after that,” she said.
From there, she and the team began combing through years of archival footage, shot new footage of the football team and the band, and filmed original interviews with the leaders and members of both entities. They then brought on Verbon Muhammad, a senior computer science major, to help with the tech and camera work.
Building off the long legacy of the band’s impact at Southern, the film illuminates its indispensable influence and hierarchy at the school today. “It transfers [you] from getting ready, to now you’re ready to go,” said Kendrick Rhymes, Southern’s former running back. “Once you hear that band, and the energy that comes with it, that’s Southern right there for you.”
“The band instills so much pride,” said Sullivan. “Music is such a big part of African American culture as a whole, it’s gotten us through a lot. I think the band bringing that energy . . . it puts you in good spirits.”
Inside the intimate world of Southern’s athletics, it’s well-understood that the band works as hard as the football team. “I definitely consider that a sport,” said Rhymes.
[Read about other 2025 documentary films featured in our "Film & Literature" issue.]
Sullivan depicts the physical demands of the bandmembers in an action reel that could double as a Nike commercial, filmed on Southern’s field, alternating between football players and bandmembers in action. “When you think of the band, you don’t necessarily see it as, like, action. You see it as more soft and soulful, but they are putting their bodies through the same effort as an athlete does, and practicing for just as long, if not longer. I really wanted to make sure that was highlighted, how hard they work.”
Last May, the team learned that The Hidden Sport was the winner of the grant, which awarded them $40,000 and recognition on stage at the 46th Annual Sports Emmy Awards in New York. The experience was emotional, following a production process hindered by two devastating losses at Southern—that of the school’s head coach at the time, Sean Wallace, and Human Jukebox bandmember Caleb Wilson.
Sullivan said that they had to stop the filming process at times to allow everyone to process their grief. “By the time we got to the Emmys, I couldn’t do anything but cry,” she said. “It was so surreal.”
The team donated $10,000 of their winnings back to the Human Jukebox and to Southern’s Mass Communication department. The first, Sullivan said, was as a thank you to the band for letting her have such incredible access, and for being such an inspiring influence. “There are a lot of people that cover the Human Jukebox from the outside,” she said. “But to be able to be in those rooms, to hear the speeches. It’s just such an honor to be able to be a part of Jukebox Media.”
Their donation to the Mass Communications department was a gesture to artists of the future, and a call to action to encourage investment in the arts. The entire film, Sullivan pointed out, was made on her own equipment and using their team’s personal resources. “Southern is often noted for its great nursing program, its engineering program, but we wanted to make sure people knew that if you invested in other departments and put resources into them—how many projects could emerge just like ours?”
The Hidden Sport will soon be available to stream on YouTube.
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