Women were first allowed to march in the band in a limited capacity, as majorettes and percussionists, during World War II. Alvin Edgar first instituted "floating" marching formations in the 1940s, which have become a standard of the band's halftime and pregame performances. Basketball pep bands first made their appearance at Iowa State in 1951, and in 1953 the school hosted its first "Band Day". That same year, Mason City, Iowa native Meredith Willson, composer of "The Music Man", composed "For I, For S", first played at the annual football game against the Kansas State Wildcats. The Cyclones and the marching band made their first appearance at a bowl game at the 1971 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, and appeared the next year at the 1972 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. As a part of a national movement by college bands to open their ranks to female members, women joined the band in 1972.