2018 World Drum Corps Hall Of Fame Inductees
The World Drum Corps Hall of Fame class of 2018 will include 11 new regular and associate members. The 2018 banquet and induction ceremony will take place in Williamsport, Pennsylvania on Labor Day weekend, one of several special events to be held during the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) championship tournament weekend on September 1, 2 and 3. There is no formal connection between the two organizations although the Hall of Fame induction banquet is traditionally held on the DCA championship weekend.
The Hall of Fame was founded in 1976 by the late Vince Bruni who served as director of two national championship corps in two different eras: the Crusaders and the Empire Statesmen, both of Rochester.
The six regular Hall of Fame inductees are: Gino Cipriani, brass: Danny McBride, visual; Jeff Prosperie, percussion; Jeff Sacktig, visual; Lou Tierno, administration; James Wedge, brass. The five associate member inductees and are: Rich Hammond, Bill Ives, Charles King, Peter Propfe, John Riley.
The new regular Hall of Fame members and their areas of specialization are:
Brass: Gino Cipriani of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Gino Cipriani’s brass sections have performed at the top of the scale for more than 25 years. In the years he has served as brass caption head his corps have won 20 top awards, including seven Drum Corps International (DCI) championships, eight Jim Ott high brass awards and Drum Corps Associates (DCA) world championships with Reading Buccaneers in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2017. His meticulous instruction technique, which demands a high level of performance consistency, has inspired a wide range of drum corps performers. His DCI titles were won with two corps: Blue Devils in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 and the Cadets in 2000, 2005 and 2011. High brass awards came with Blue Devils in 1991, 1994, 1997, 1999 and the Cadets in 2000, 2005 and 2015. His instructing career includes service with Syracuse Brigadiers, Magic of Orlando, Santa Clara Vanguard and Boston Crusaders. Before his instructing years, he played soprano horn with three junior corps: Florida Vanguard, Florida Wave and Blue Devils.
Visual: Danny McBride of Wilmington, Massachusetts
Danny McBride’s exceptional talents in visual design and instruction have made an enormous impact across the drum corps and competitive winter guard spectrum in North America and the United Kingdom. His visual design innovations were first put on display in the early 1980s, when he produced world-class silver and gold medal finalists in Winter Guard International (WGI) competitions. He was designer and instructor in 1984 when Hawthorne Caballeros won the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) world championship to top off an undefeated season. In various years beginning in 1979, he was visual designer and instructor for several other top-level corps: Avant Garde, Garfield Cadets, 27th Lancers, Bayonne Bridgemen and Connecticut Hurricanes. His top achievements include winning five top visual scores in DCA finals. In nine different years, he designed the show of a corps that finished in the DCA top three. He was associated as a designer, instructor or member with corps that were Drum Corps International (DCI) finalists five times. He also designed the memorable 27th Lancers reunion performance for DCA. Over a ten year period beginning in 1968, he played soprano horn with four different corps: Wynanstkill Killmen, Speigletown Speiglearies, Avant Garde and 27th Lancers. He has also judged visual captions with DCA and several regional judging groups.
Percussion: Jeff Prosperie of West Point, New York
Jeff Prosperie is the only drummer to win individual snare championships with Drum Corps International (DCI) and Percussive Arts Society (PAS), both in 1988 as section leader of the Phantom Regiment drum line, and Drum Corps Associates (DCA) in 2007 as percussion section leader of the West Point Hellcats. His score of 98.5 is the highest ever recorded in PAS competition. He was instructor and arranger with the University of North Texas band in 1989 and 1990 when the percussion section won the PAS national championship. He has also taught Phantom Regiment, Louisiana Expressions, Louisiana State University and is currently section leader and principal drummer with West Point Hellcats. His percussion judging experience extends across the Pacific Ocean for participation in Drum Corps Japan events. He has also judged with DCI, Winter Guard International (WGI) and PAS. He has judged 15 DCI world championships and 13 DCI individual championships. He has been a percussion professor at the University of Louisiana, instructor at Baylor University and principal percussionist with Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra, Natchez Opera, Acadia Symphony Orchestra, Garland Symphony Orchestra and extra percussionist with Dallas Symphony Orchestra. His snare drumming experience includes time with Bayonne Bridgemen and Star of Indiana before joining Phantom Regiment.
Visual: Jeff Sacktig of Woodstock, Georgia
Jeff Sacktig has excelled as a performer and instructor with groups in both key North American drum and bugle corps associations: performing on soprano horn with 1983 Drum Corps Associates (DCA) champion Sunrisers then playing soprano when Garfield Cadets won the Drum Corps International (DCI) championship in 1987. As instructor and designer for the Cadets, he has been part of six more DCI world championships and several medalist placements. He was visual designer when Cadets 2 won the DCA championship in 2016. He was part of the design team that led Carolina Crown to a third straight DCI medalist finish. In his first season with Atlanta CV, the corps finished second in DCA finals. He was inducted into the Cadets Hall of Fame in 2008 and the DCI Hall of Fame in 2015. As a performing member of the Cadets he was featured soloist, horn sergeant and the first non-drum major to be named Cadet of the Year. In addition to designing drum corps shows, he has worked extensively with winter guards, indoor percussion groups and marching bands. His drum corps involvement began when he played soprano horn with St. Matthias Blue Max from 1977 to 1982.
Administration: Lou Tierno of Pottstown, Pennsylvania
After performing in the brass section of the Archer Epler Musketeers from 1980 to 1984 Lou Tierno moved to the Reading Buccaneers, still performing as he became a key administrator in the successful campaign to rescue a unit that was almost ready to close the doors. The Buccaneers horn line had dwindled to about 15 members when he and Hall of Fame administrator Jim Gruber began to turn the operation around. He served as business manager initially, with duties including loading and driving the equipment truck and lining the field. He was assistant director when the Buccaneers completed six consecutive Drum Corps Associates (DCA) championship seasons from 2005 to 2010. He has been director of the corps since 2017. He earlier served as DCA assistant treasurer in 2013 and treasurer from 2014 to 2016, converting the hand written bookkeeping method to an updated online system. He was elected to the Buccaneers Hall of Fame in 2005.
Brass: James Wedge of Rowley, Massachusetts
Jim Wedge is widely considered a pioneer in brass arranging. He was a major force from the first years of Drum Corps International (DCI) through his innovative arrangements for 27th Lancers of Revere, Massachusetts. Between 1967 and 1982, his work with 27th Lancers produced such drum corps standards as Crown Imperial, Danny Boy, Shenandoah and Rawhide. During many of those groundbreaking years with Lancers, he was also the arranger and instructor for other prominent Massachusetts corps including Dukes of Marlboro, Pembroke Imperials, Jeanettes of Lynn. In the 1980s, he also worked with Fitchburg Kingsmen and East Coast Jazz. Other drum corps he worked with reached high levels: multiple Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) championships, multiple World Open championships, champions with DCI North, DCI East, DCI Midwest, DCI West. His emphasis on quality of sound, a constant search for musicality and pursuit of new sounds and teaching methods had a major impact on those he taught. Four members of the Dukes of Marlboro horn line, with no training other than their drum corps background, all went on to become music teachers. He is a member of the DCI Hall of Fame and the Massachusetts Hall of Fame. His drum and bugle corps career began when he played baritone horn with St. Rose Scarlet Lancers of Chelsea from 1954 to 1962, alongside Chick Corea, inducted into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame in 2018 for Distinguished Professional Achievement.
The 2018 World Drum Corps Hall of Fame associate member inductees are:
Rich Hammond of Lansdale, Pennsylvania
Rich Hammond has been a percussion caption/coordinator and arranger for many well known Pennsylvania drum and bugle corps for more than a quarter of century. During that period, he served as director of Cadets 2 and Cadets 2 winter percussion. He has also worked with Reading Buccaneers, Glassmen and North Penn Indoor Percussion. From 1989 to 1991 he was percussion tech for both Crossmen and the Westshoremen. During almost a decade of activity in the 1980s, he played snare drum with Crossmen, Reading Buccaneers and Hamilton Knights.
Bill Ives of Media, Pennsylvania
Bill Ives has been a key figure in the movement to preserve the history of drum and bugle corps activity. He has amassed a staggering 16,000 items: memorabilia, souvenirs, programs, newspaper and magazine articles, corps buttons and badges and more than 230 vintage uniforms. For the past 20 years he has displayed many of these items regularly at drum corps events in the United States and Canada. He has also created a detailed computerized listing of drum corps in the USA and Canada. He has served in various committee and management positions with groups including Jersey Surf and Archer Epler Musketeers. He has marched in various color guard positions with the Musketeers. He was named Musketeer of the year in 1982; received the Spirit of the Musketeer award in 1996; was named Drum Corps International (DCI) volunteer of the year in 2011. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Drum Corps Hall of Fame.
Charles (Charlie) King of West Palm Beach, Florida
Charlie King’s years of close involvement with Connecticut Hurricanes began in 1976 when he played baritone in the horn line. He was a corps member when Hurricanes won the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) world championship in 1981. He has worn many hats during his years of involvement, including serving on the board of directors and the advisory board. He has also been president of the Hurricanes alumni association. He ran the corps souvenir table for 15 years and served as a volunteer on the DCA committee, assisting with vendor coordination. He has been a member of the team running the FanFare DCA contest for more than 25 years. He is a charter member of the Connecticut Hurricanes Hall of Fame.
Peter Propfe of New Hartford, Connecticut
Since 1995, Peter Propfe has served as director of the Connecticut Hurricanes and on the board of directors. Prior to this service with Hurricanes, he was director of Connecticut Vagabonds from 1980 to 1988. He began his drum corps activity playing first soprano horn with the Vagabonds in 1967. He then played soprano and mellophone with New York Skyliners, beginning in 1974. Since then, he also played mellophone with Connecticut Hurricanes, Connecticut Alumni and Skyliners alumni.
John Riley of Lansdale, Pennsylvania
John Riley began his long history of percussion activity as a performer, instructor and judge when he started playing snare drum with PAL Cadets in 1979. He has worked as instructor, consultant or caption head with such well known corps as Reilly Raiders alumni, Jersey Surf, Riptide indoor percussion group, Skyliners, Crossmen, Westshoremen, East Coast Jazz, Sunrisers, Archer Epler Junior drum corps. He also served terms as Westshoremen operations director and Westshore Cadets operations director. In earlier years, he played snare drum with Black Watch, Bridgemen and Crossmen.
Regular World Drum Corps Hall of Fame members are honored for their dedication, contributions and achievements over a long period of time in categories including administration, arranging, adjudication, instruction, innovation and design. Associate members have dedicated at least five consecutive years of service to any drum and bugle corps as a performer or in a support role.
The World Drum Corps Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization honoring those individuals who have contributed significantly over many years to the development and continuing excellence of drum and bugle corps activity. The organization also seeks to preserve the history of the drum and bugle corps movement in North America by selecting a noteworthy junior and all age (senior) corps of each decade since the 1940s.
For more information about the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame visit the web site at http://www.worlddrumcorpshof.org
