William Edward “Pete” Emmons – a Reflection

Those in the know consider Pete Emmons the Leonardo da Vinci of Drum Corps, his opus unmatched. There simply isn’t a single step of drill or a visual concept on the field today that doesn’t carry some of his DNA. Considering his pedigree, this is no surprise.

A Casper Troopers soprano, Drum Major when they won their first national title, instructor for DCI’s eventual first champion, the Anaheim Kingsmen, moving on to an upstart Santa Clara Vanguard as principal visual designer who produced a dynasty, creating iconic effects for them and others (the Bottle Dance, May Pole, Garfield’s controversial Peace Sign, asymmetrical drills wherein planets rotate, orbiting the sun while traveling across the field of vision, claiming the vertical dimension by pioneering the use of platforms with the Freelancers, …and on and on), he worked for more than five decades to upgrade the game of corps from the Long Island Kingsmen to North Star to the mighty Blue Devils. Pete spent several seasons as PBS broadcast host for DCI, sharing the booth with the likes of Gene Rayburn and Jim Peck. And that’s not the half of it.

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