Installment 1 The People of The Grey Drummers Dr. David L. Walters "Uncle Dave"

Dr. David L. Walters, as Director of The Marching Southerners from 1960 to 1991 and our guiding light for over 30 years, provided the Drumline with the latitude and inspiration to think 'outside the box'. He allowed his young drummers to be creative and nurtured their desire for percussive excellence. He taught students to be leaders by letting them lead. He saw the Southerners Drum Corps's first steps departing from the status quo in collegiate field percussion with young Hoyt LeCroy heading up the line.  By the mid 60's, with the leadership and compositions of Jerry Mitchell, the Southerners Drum Corps was becoming a unique product in field percussion and the foundations for our great tradition of rudimental drumming excellence were firmly in place. Uncle Dave's musical arrangements gave rise to a percussive style and interpretations that could only be found in the Southerners Drumline. With each season, Dr. Walters saw the torch passed from Line to Line. Dennis Henson, Richard McLendon... the list of young leaders is numerous and continues today. The privilege and challenge for the Drumline to uphold that tradition of excellence, striving to take the line's capabilities one step beyond, was each years new blessing. Uncle Dave's gentle guiding way was an inspiration to us when we were marching in the line and his timeless lessons of wisdom continue to guide us today. Thanks, Uncle Dave.

Installment 2 The People of The Grey Drummers Dr. Hoyt F. LeCroy Hoyt LeCroy came to Jacksonville from Summerville, GA where he studied with and performed under the batons of conductors Adies Holliday and James Poolos.  He recalled his first impressions of The Southerners: I first saw The Southerners in the fall of 1958 and was indelibly impressed.  The percussion section played with precision and power, and the drums were carefully tuned.  The red, grey, and white of the uniforms presented a colorful spectacle on the field, and the marching was impeccable.  The red sparkle drums and the placement of the section in front of the band's company front formation completed the visual impact.  The band and the percussion section performed with monumentally more conviction and esprit de corps than I had expreienced.  The memory remains vivid almost 50 years later. Hoyt participated in spring section rehearsals and joined the Southerners Drum Corps in the fall of 1959. In 1961, he became Section Leader and, although the section had already developed a philosophy of the pursuit of excellence during the first five years, this was the point at which The Southerners Drum Corps broke away from the collegiate status quo. The tenor drums had been, prior to that time, carried like small bass drums and played with felt mallets (the norm in well-equipped college field percussion).  The section lowered the tenors using slings and carried them in the same manner as the snare drums. This new modification allowed the tenors to be played much more powerfully, using sticks rather than mallets, and scoring could include more complex rhythms.  The concept also provided versatility in composition of percussion arrangements and created a much stronger visual impact with the drums carried in this uniform manner. 1962 With Hoyt heading up "The Cornerstone Lines" (1961 and 1962), the drummers collaborated and the section began introducing rudiments and more complex syncopation into the cadences and percussion arrangements.  These innovations put The Southerners Drum Corps on the leading edge of collegiate field percussion during the early 60's. Hoyt reflected on the landmark accomplishments of the 1962 section: The 1962 section was a rare group of individuals who would accept a challenge and work relentlessly without complaint in the pursuit of excellence.  I have never, before nor since, been privileged to share my life with a group of that level of dedication. At rehearsals, I came to them with sketches of musical ideas which frequently altered our parameters and left the bounds of musical security.  There was no challenge to which they would not respond.  Creative collaboration was encouraged in the editing of parts, and from it came something in which we all owned a great deal of stock.  It was ours, something which we had created, and, as such, we loved it.  The spirit of the section shed light on our lives, and the more we performed together, the brighter the light became.  That light and spirit from 1962 was reflected to our historic performance and presentation during the First Annual Reunion of The Grey Echelon Drummers in 2007.  It was as if no time had passed, and, accepting the challenge without hesitation, the section performed together for the first time in 45 years. Their light continues to shine, their spirit lives, and they will always be my brothers. The Cornerstone Line at the 2007 Grey Drummers Renion (From left:  Hoyt LeCroy, Tom Camp, Tim Camp(MM), Troy Crumpton, Charles Tucker, Al Berry, Bubber Eldridge) Dr. Hoyt LeCroy and the members of the 1961/1962 section not only upheld the tradition of excellence established in the late 50's, this Cornerstone Line lit the torch of thinking 'outside the box' and illuminated the path toward innovation.  Their work opened the door of the non-traditional approach to field percussion for all the Southerners Drumlines that would follow. Hoyt graduated from Jacksonville State College in 1963.  In 1965, he received the Master of Music Education degree from East Carolina University and earned a PhD in Music Education at The University of Southern Mississippi in 1978.  Post-doctoral research studies were in the Visiting Scholars Program at the University of Michigan in the summer of 1983. Dr. LeCroy has served as a professional music educator, conductor, administrator, and percussion performer since 1963.  His career has encompassed service in universities and public schools and included administration of the instrumental music education program in one of the nation’s largest school districts.  Dr. LeCroy is a researcher with primary interests in the history of instrumental music education and current issues in music education.  He is the author of more than 40 publications in state and national professional journals and has 19 conference presentations to his credit.  He completed a four-year term as a member of the National Editorial Committee for Music Educators Journal, the flagship journal of the Music Educators National Conference.   He is also Past-National Chair of the History Special Research Interest Group of MENC.  As a percussionist, he has performed as a solo recitalist as well as in bands and orchestras, conducted percussion ensembles, taught privately at the public school and university levels, and has written extensively about percussion.   Dr. LeCroy is a member of Phi Beta Mu, national honorary organization for instrumental music conductors, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.   He has served as band/percussion clinician/adjudicator in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.  His conference presentations have been delivered in Alabama, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Ohio.   He has been chosen for inclusion in Dictionary of International Biography, Who’s Who in the South and Southwest, and other honorary listings. Dr. LeCroy is retired and lives in the mountains of North Georgia.  He continues to be available as consultant in the areas of percussion, instrumental music, and music education.

Installment 3 The People of The Grey Drummers By  Dr. H F LeCroy Dr. John T. Finley Dr. John T. Finley was the founding Director of The Southerners and served in that capacity from 1956 through 1960.  Through the Brass Choir and his studio work, he established the trademark brass sound of The Southerners. Dr. Finley also established the percussion section as an integral part of the sound of The Southerners. Block-style arrangements were utilized, and the percussion section employed repeated rhythm patterns, primarily accented 16ths and 16th triplets, to maintain rhythmic interest. Dr. Finley added an all-new complete set of marching percussion instruments which included 4 snare drums, 4 tenor drums (carried upright with bass drum harness), 2 bass drums, and 2 pairs of cymbals.  That instrumentation would have been considered as being the standard for well-equipped marching percussion sections of the era. The company-front marching style was initiated by Dr. Finley and the percussion section was placed in front of the band.  With block-style scoring, the percussion section became an integral part of the sound of The Southerners, and, with the front-and-center placement of the section, it also became an integral part of the visual impact. Under the supervision of Dr. Finley, student leadership was encouraged, and students had considerable input into scoring for the section.  The band parts and the cadences were implemented with great attention to precision in sticking patterns. Dr. Finley’s concept of the function of field percussion provided the foundation for its unique history and success at Jacksonville State University.  His efficient rehearsal strategies, dignified leadership style, emphasis on building a tradition, and emphasis on percussion lit the torch for passing to future generations of Southerners.

Installment 4   The People of The Grey Drummers By  Dr. H F LeCroy Jack Cox   Jack Cox holds a well-deserved distinction which no one else can claim:   The Southerners' First Percussion Section Leader His contributions can be more readily traced as individual contributions than those of any Section Leader who was to follow. He was the most advanced percussionist of his time at Jacksonville, and The Southerners were newly founded.  In that milieu he worked under the direction of Dr John Finley to establish the tradition of excellence which has become the hallmark of the drumlines of The Southerners. Prior to his enrollment at Jacksonville, he participated for two years as one of the primary percussionists in the college band because of his outstanding ability and because there were no college snare drummers available. In 1955, he enrolled as a college student and, with the creation of The Southerners by Dr. John Finley in 1956, he established the long history of student leadership for one of the world's finest marching percussion traditions.  Careful tuning of drums, precise rhythmic figures, uniformity of sticking patterns and a wide range of dynamics were his chosen essentials.  Emphasis on alternating sticking patterns, effective use of accents and use of repeated rhythm patterns as percussion parts for block band arrangements created the signature flavor of the Southerners percussion unit.  All of these ideas, coupled with the first scoring for tenor drums (upright), and the integration of esprit de corps as a major component of the section are legacies of Jack Cox. Jack's musical education began in 1949 at Emma Sansom High School in Gadsden, Alabama, where he was taught by Director of Bands, Boyd McKeown.      McKeown later continued his professional accomplishments to become an icon in Georgia and nationally as a band conductor, music administrator, and music educator. (Ed. Note:  It is, perhaps, significant in the history of the drumlines of The Southerners that McKeown and the creator of The Southerners, Dr John Finley, both of whom were influential in Jack's development, were graduates of George Peabody College for Teachers in Nashville, TN.  Dr. Hoyt LeCroy, section leader for the “Cornerstone Section" of 1962, was first taught by Adies Holiday, who also held a Master’s degree from Peabody.) Jack remembered his early experiences with McKeown:    Mr. McKeown was determined to demonstrate that drummers were musicians and could read music just like the rest of the band. He taught two of us in a separate class and, one day, he brought us into the band rehearsal.  We played a percussion feature which clearly demonstrated to the band that we had to have been reading music in order to play it. For two years prior,  Lee Landers and I learned the rudiments of drumming by completing Haskell Harr Books I and II and assembly, disassembly, and repair of all drums including snare drum, bass drum, and timpani. We were also taught to “tuck" calfskin drum heads for all drums.  We did not play with a band until the ninth grade. Our first band rehearsal selection featured snare drum.  During the reading of the work, the band stopped playing, and, as we continued to play, Lee and I looked at one another.   We assumed that the band had become lost in the music.  We did not realize that we were playing the featured snare drum part!  At the end of the selection, the band gave us a standing ovation. Billy "Rip” Reagan assumed directorship of the Emma Sansom High School Band after Mr. McKeown accepted a teaching position in Georgia. During the summer of 1953 we competed at the VFW National Contest in Philadelphia, PA. It was our first time to experience the sights and sounds of a drum and bugle corps contest. We were influenced by their open and accented style of drumming, and we applied the style to the percussion section of the Emma Sansom High School Band. I was selected as an All-State snare drummer during all four years of high school.  Studies of the Jim Chapin Books on Jazz drumming were influential in my development as a percussionist.  In my senior year, I was offered a scholarship to Louisiana State University by Director of Bands William Swor.  After consideration, I chose to attend college at Jacksonville State. In 1955, Jack's first year of enrollment, the college band was conducted by Dr Eugene Duncan.   Although the band was functional, it existed without being attached to a specific identity and featured few, if any, trademark sounds, musical selections, or marching effects. I was the only snare drummer, and, as Section Leader, I knew that I needed to do some recruiting. Harold Stanford was a student from Lineville, AL who could play but did not read music.   He said that he could repeat anything that I played, and I agreed to teach him by rote.  The 1955 section was small by today's standards:  Harold Stanford and I played snare drum, Bill Waldrop played bass drum, and there was one cymbal player. I created percussion parts to fit the style of the band, and, as often as possible, drum corps influences were included to add interest to the show music.  As the only percussionist in the music department, I had to play in every organization which required a drummer/percussionist. I was always "on the run." I played trombone with the Brass Choir, and violin/percussion with the Northeast Alabama Symphony which was conducted by faculty member Dr. Eugene Barron. (Ed. note:  The Northeast Alabama Symphony was sufficiently prominent that it featured the famous Australian composer Percy Grainger as guest soloist, yet it disappeared in the late 1950s, and the orchestral program at JSU was not to re-emerge for many years.) I also played percussion with the Concert Band, percussion with pit orchestras for musicals and plays, drum set with The Melody Makers (college "dance band"), and percussion with any other ensemble in which I was needed.   As if that weren't enough, I also sang in the college choir. My major applied music study was on trombone because there was not a faculty percussion teacher.  I served as Teaching Assistant for Mr. Finley’s percussion class in the Music Education curriculum. 1956 was the year of creation of The Southerners by Dr. John Finley. There was an excitement that fall about re-organization of the band. There was an emphasis on sound and precision marching and esprit de corps. Size of the section was the same as 1955, but, due to the block arrangements which were programmed, the percussion section used repeated rhythm patterns and played a more integral role in the overall sound of the band. In 1957, new red-sparkle Gretsch drums were purchased and used for the first time. As Section Leader, I had the same personnel from 1956 in addition to new recruits. Harold Stanford and I were the snare drummers, and there were two tenor drummers, two bass drummers, and two cymbal players.  The style of percussion scoring changed considerably more toward the drum and bugle corps style as the year progressed. In purchasing the new percussion equipment, Dr John Finley had envisioned the future and purchased what would have, for its time, been considered to have been “full” instrumentation: 4 snare drums, 4 tenor drums, 2 bass drums, 2 sets cymbals. In 1958, the first year after the foundation work of Jack Cox, every instrument was utilized. Still, not every drum was played by a percussionist. The tenor drums, carried upright in the manner of small bass drums and played with small mallets, were generally played by piano and voice majors during the early years of the section. Their contributions are honored in the history of drumlines of The Southerners. In the 1956 creation of The Southerners, Dr John Finley emphasized the importance of student leadership, and Jack Cox set the standard for Section Leaders to follow. He saw the task at hand and welcomed the challenge. When asked about how he established esprit de corps in the section and why it has remained, for over half a century, as a hallmark of the drumlines of The Southerners, Jack responded:   I was trained by teachers who were passionate about what they were doing, and I didn’t know there was another way to respond to the challenges. I could see that, in 1956, The Southerners were going to be a major factor in marching bands, and I was glad to be a part of it. I can’t say enough about the quality of the personnel of the early drum lines. Harold Stanford never missed a rehearsal, has remained a great friend over the years, and, without him, we would not have been able to move forward. I was enthusiastic, the students in the band and drumline were enthusiastic, Dr. Finley was an inspirational leader, and all of the elements came together to make it an exciting time. I am so pleased to witness that same spirit in the contemporary drumlines of The Southerners.   Jack Cox began his career in music education in 1958 and received the BS Degree in Music Education from Jacksonville State College in January of 1959.   He received the MA Degree in Music Education from The University of Alabama in 1963. He served as Director of Bands for 11 years in the state of Alabama at Pell City High School (1958-1961) and at Scottsboro High School (1961-1969). His Pell City High School Band program enrolled only 24 students in 1958. By 1961, it had grown to 200.    At Scottsboro High School, there were 44 students in the high school band in 1961, and, at the end of his tenure in 1969, 400 students were enrolled in the band program.  Both programs were re-building projects and required special tactics such as composing/arranging all music to fit instrumentation of the marching bands. The prominence of The Scottsboro High School Band is illustrated by its 1966 invitation and performance at the noted Virginia Beach Contest at which Superior ratings were awarded.  In 1967, The Scottsboro High School Band was invited and appeared as a representative of The State of Alabama at The World’s Fair in Montreal, Canada. In 1969, Jack's career expanded into the area of industrial management.  He accepted a position as Supervisor for Assembly with Burlington Industries in Scottsboro, AL and received management training in Greensboro, NC. His business management career continued an upward spiral until his retirement in 1999: 1971-1972:   Automatic Electric, Huntsville, Ala. Manager for Assembly Operations Industrial Engineering Courses, University of Alabama, Huntsville. 1972-1976:   Fairchild Industries, Winston-Salem, N.C. Manager for Assembly Operations, Aircraft Seats. Executive Management Courses, Wake Forrest University, Winston-Salem, NC. 1976-1984:  Fairchild Industries, Hagerstown, MD. Manager for Material Inventories for Aircraft Assemblies. Manufactured and assembled A10- Military Aircraft, 747 Wings, F-14 Tail Sections, new 757 aircraft sections for Boeing. 1984-1986:  Martin-Marietta Corp. NASA, New Orleans, LA. Inventory Manager/Buyer for Space Shuttle external tank. 1986-1999:  Martin Marietta Electronics/Missiles, Orlando, FL. Manager for Inventories/Buyer for Electrical Components for Missiles, F-18 Hornet Multi-Role Fighter aircraft, and Apache Attack Helicopter. During his career as Director of Bands, Jack Cox served as officer/member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Kappa Phi Kappa, Alabama Bandmasters Association, Alabama Music Educators Association, Music Educators National Conference, and Alabama Educators Association.   Jack retired from Lockheed-Martin in 1999 and lives in Oviedo, FL. He also maintains a home in Sylacauga, AL.