Hall of Fame member Bill Boerner, charter member of Skyliners, passes at age 91

Bill Boerner, a World Drum Corps Hall of Fame member who first played snare drum at age 10 in 1936, passed away during his sleep on October 4, 2017 at age 91. After serving in the United States Navy in the Pacific Theatre during World War II, he became a charter member of the New York Skyliners drum and bugle corps in 1946, later serving two terms as corps director. He was inducted into the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame in 1996.

Visitation will be held at Weigand Brothers Funeral Home, 49 Hillside Avenue, Williston Park, New York, on Monday, October 9 from 2 to 4 pm and from 7 to 9 pm. Funeral Mass will take place at St. Aidan’s Church, 505 Willis Avenue, Williston Park, New York on Tuesday, October 10, at 10 am. Interment will follow at St. Charles Cemetery, Pinelawn, New York.

Bill Boerner’s drum and bugle corps career began in 1936 and spanned more than five decades, during which time he was a snare drummer and drum instructor for a number of junior and senior corps. Between 1936 and 1943, he drummed with Bill Brown American Legion (AL) Post drum and bugle corps, American Patrol Naval Cadets, Charles W. Heisser AL Post fife drum and bugle corps, Grand Street Boys and Phoebe Apperson Hearst AL Post. After serving in the United States Navy, he became a charter member of New York Skyliners in 1946.

He was the drum instructor for eleven junior corps and three senior corps, including Skyliners, in locations across New York and New Jersey for almost twenty years, from the late 1940s to the late 1960s. His activities in the 1990s included marching with several fife and drum corps: the Sons of Liberty, the Minutemen, the Blue and Grey and the Whiskey Rebellion. He also participated in the Skyliners chorus, and belonged to the Skyliners Alumni Association.

During World War II, he was one of the first Americans in Japan after the dropping of the atomic bomb. During his business days, he worked as a sales representative in the leather industry, based in midtown Manhattan. He is predeceased by his wife Julie and granddaughter Courtney Elizabeth Lettieri, and survived by five children and six grandchildren.

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.

From President Rich Templin:

 

“The Good – The Bad – The Ugly”

As we close another year, I would like to give all of our membership an overview of your organization. Our organization is alive and doing well; not only were we successful at accomplishing many goals, many other areas are experiencing revitalization.

The Banquet was again a huge success thanks to the efforts of Judy Miller, Pat Zarfoss, Gail Langan, Frank Dorrittie and Bill McGrath. From the opening reception to the induction of the Class of 2017, through the closing remarks, everyone in attendance had a wonderful evening, one filled with renewing relationships and  reliving memories with old friends, to developing new friends as well.  It was a night to remember.

 

“The Good”

• Induction Class of 2017 – Rick Morey and his committee once again did a wonderful job at presenting another great class of inductees.  This task is never easy and as members, you should be proud that you take great pride in the voting process, with a response of 87% of our members voting.
  • A special thanks to Larry Hershman and Dan Rippon for their efforts to reestablish the electronic voting process.
• Associate Membership – It’s with great pride that I thank both Bob Findley and Bob Bradley for their efforts to not only reconstruct the Associate Program with the induction of the class of 2017, the Associate Membership is now over 100 members.  Based on the efforts of these individuals and your support the Scholarship Program can once again be available to the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame.
  
• Website – We finally made it after many years of struggles.  If you have not yet visited the site I encourage you to take the time to see what has been developed (www.wdchof.org). To preserve the continuance of this program we have engaged the services of an outside organization (Penny Lane) to support and enhance the project.  Many hours of work and effort by Dan Rippon, Bob Zarfoss and the third-party vendor made the site what it is today.
  • Although Phase 1 of our website has been completed we have already started plans for Phase II Development and implementation.
• Cruise – Bob Cardaneo has reported the cruise for 2018 has 50 people enrolled.  This is an increase over the past couple years.  However, out of the 50 people only 8 people are members of the Hall of Fame.  This program is a major financial contributor to the Hall of Fame – so if you are considering a vacation in the future I encourage you to consider this as an option.  Great times – good friendship and wonderful locations.
• Officers Term Limit – The program has been formalized and the officer rotation process will begin in 2018.  This process will ensure new ideas, new energy and continued growth of the organization.
• Corporate Partners – This was the first time that our organization received financial support by corporate organizations for the induction of our members for the class of 2017.  This effort would not have happened without the efforts of Frank Dorrittie and Ed Telecky.

 

“The Bad”

• Scholarship Program – Took too long to reestablish.  Although some contributions and associate membership fees were made, we had to rebuild the funds to support this program.  To make sure this program is solid for the future a portion of the funds will be held in reserve and only monies/interest above this threshold will be awarded for scholarships.  Only you, the membership, control the fate and success of this effort.  Associate membership understand your yearly contributions go directly to the scholarship fund and are not used for the Hall of Fame operating budget.
• Pay Pal Account – For some time we discussed this process as an option for payment of yearly contributions, banquet, cruise and other obligations.  Finally, a test program was initiated at the 2017 banquet.  The full program will be rolled out in 2018. 

 

“The Ugly”

• The ability to convince both the associates and regular members to financially support the efforts of the Hall of Fame.
• All that has been and will be accomplished can only be done with your help – we all know it takes money to make necessary changes.  Be helpful, do what you can, everything helps.
• Communication – with the help of the new website hopefully information will be more readily available to you, the membership.

 

In closing – it’s been a great year.  Help us continue this process.  I thank all the board members for their support and efforts to make our organization one that you can be proud to be in its membership.

 

One member and his perseverance and effort to attend the Hall of Fame events stands out. WDCHOF member Larry Darch attended the Hall of Fame banquet after missing several years because of illness.  Larry has been hospitalized for over 2 years.  He said “it was great to see so many friends in attendance.” 

 

We celebrate Larry’s improved health, and his making it to Rochester after two very difficult years. Let’s all not only be happy for Larry, happy to have seen him, but let’s use Larry as an example. Getting to our event should be every member’s goal. 

NEWS RELEASE: for immediate release
September 14, 2017

Canadian drum corps leader Maurice Legault passes away in Ottawa

Maurice Legault, a World Drum Corps Hall of Fame member since 1999 and one of the leading figures in the Canadian drum and bugle corps movement for more than five decades, passed away in his 84th year at St. Patrick’s Home in Ottawa, Ontario on September 12, surrounded by his family.

Friends and relatives were able to pay their respects to the family at a service in his memory held at St. Ignatius Martyr Church in Ottawa at 10 am on September 15. Condolences and tributes may be directed to Hulse, Playfair & McGarry Funeral and Cremation Services, at www.hpmcgarry.ca

He first became interested in drum corps activity in the Ottawa area in 1948. He marched in front of La Salle Cadets of Ottawa as drum major from 1962 to 1968 then served as drum major for virtually all of the province of Quebec’s top-rated corps over the next 25 years, including Campagnons d’Embrun, Les Troubadours de Hull, Les Diplomates de Quebec, L’Odyssee de Montreal and Les Dynamiques de Buckingham. He also marched in front of Kingston Grenadiers, Rochester Crusaders and Syracuse Brigadiers in the 1980s and 1990s.

For six year, he taught horns, drums, and drill to La Salle Cadets. Over the years, he performed every function: music arranger, horn instructor, drill writer and marching instructor, drum major, corps director, business manager, show organizer, fundraiser. He even drove the corps bus from time to time.

He was the recipient of the Ontario Award of Merit in recognition of his service to the drum corps movement in Canada. He was inducted into the Temple de la Renommee (Quebec drum corps hall of fame) in September, 1993. In 1990, he received a province of Ontario award of excellence in recognition of 15 years of youth work.

He and his wife Shirley (nee Mentzel), married for 58 years, had five children: Paul (France), Susan, Lynne (Gilles), Marc and Gilles (Laura) and 12 grandchildren. He is survived by his sister Pauline Amyot. He was predeceased by three brothers and three sisters.

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.

The 2017 World Drum Corps Hall of Fame banquet group photo can be attained through John A. Zinter, owner of ”Picture This Photography”.  You can contact John at 585-727-3673 or through his on line website: www.PTPhotography2000.com.

NEWS RELEASE: for immediate release

August 20, 2017

Funeral service for brass innovator John Sasso held in Montauk, New York

John Sasso, a member of the world Drum Corps Hall of Fame since his induction in 1996, died of an unexpected heart attack at his home in Montauk, New York on Sunday August 13 at age 76. He was one of the most influential brass arrangers of the 1960s, whose students produced championship calibre drum and bugle corps from coast to coast. He once won two championships in one day when St. Lucy’s Cadets and Long Island Sunrisers both won American Legion national titles in New Orleans in 1968, each topping the second place corps by about 20 full points.

Reverend Tom Murray conducted the funeral Mass at St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church in Montauk on Friday, August 18. The family suggested memorial donations go to the Montauk Community Food Pantry, care of St. Therese of Lisieux Catholic Church, 67 South Essex Street, Montauk 11954.

He is considered the first drum and bugle corps arranger and teacher to set professional level standards for brass players, applying the techniques he learned while studying with Joe Singer, Principal Horn of the New York Philharmonic in the 1960s. He was highly regarded as a music arranger, teacher and instructor for many other corps from 1961 to 1975. He had a long time affiliation with the Eastern States Judging Association, adjudicating in all brass captions. He was also a member of the Buglers Hall of Fame.

His long involvement in drum and bugle corps activity began in 1952, when he was a French horn player with St. Catherine’s of Sienna Queensmen junior drum and bugle corps on Long Island. For the 10 years from 1962 to 1972, he performed with Long Island Sunrisers on soprano, French horn or mellophone. He was also Sunrisers’ drum major during this time and corps director from 1962 to 1966.

He grew up in Brooklyn and Queens, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Hofstra University. He was an executive at the Hazeltine Corporation then became founder and chief executive officer of Esprit Systems, a commercial computer products company. He was also the president of Fire Burglary Instruments, a division of the Ademco Corporation.

He remained active as a business consultant and as a member of a business coaching advisory board after moving to Montauk 12 years ago.

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:
Roy Wilson, Burlington, ON, Canada
phone: (905) 634-5919
email: rwilson4@cogeco.ca

Preparations are underway for the 41st Annual World Drum Corp Hall of Fame Induction Banquet for the Class of 2017. This year’s event will be held on September 1 in Ballroom 2 & 3 of the Holiday Inn at 70 State Street, Rochester, NY. Call the hotel directly for reservations. Their local number is 585-546-3450.

We have a room block of 35 rooms at the Holiday Inn that will be reserved on a first come basis. You will make your own hotel reservations by calling the hotel and giving the three digit code “HFI”. The room rate is $108/night, plus 14% tax. That rate will be honored two days prior to and two days following the banquet. These room blocks will be held until July 28 and thereafter released to the public so please make sure to reserve your room early.

Tickets for this year’s banquet are $55. No tickets will be mailed to you. Doors open for registration and table assignments at 4:30 at the registration desk outside the ballroom. There is a social hour with cash bar from 5:30-6:30 inside one of the ballrooms. Festivities will begin promptly at 6:30 with a buffet dinner to follow. The WDCHOF photo will be taken after the event. Dress code: Business attire with jackets requested for men.

As in the past your request for table assignments will be honored if possible. Your R.S.V.P. by August 10 will aid in accomplishing that task. Open seating only following that date.

Also, note that the general membership meeting will be Saturday, September 2, at 11:00 a.m. in the Holiday Inn. Check for specific location.

Please complete the attached request form and mail it along with your check.

Thank you.

World Drum Corp Hall of Fame
Class of 2017 Induction Banquet
September 1, 2017

R.S.V.P. by August 10

Name:_______________________________________________________________
Address:_____________________________________________________________
City, State, Zip:_______________________________________________________
Phone:______________________________________________________________

To our Canadian friends, please send a U.S. Certified check (all monies should equal US Currency).

I AM ORDERING _________Buffet Tickets @ $55.00
TOTAL: $____________
No tickets will be mailed to you.

I would like to reserve a table for the following:

** Please provide full names**

__________________________________
_______________________________
__________________________________
_______________________________
__________________________________
_______________________________
__________________________________
_______________________________
__________________________________
_______________________________

I have no preference for seating___________

Your check should be made payable to Judith Miller and mailed to:

Judith Miller
2056 Wyntre Brooke Drive
York, PA 17403
(717-371-0179)

An ancillary question: Have you made your annual donation to the WDCHOF this year? If you wish to contribute, please send a check to WDCHOF Treasurer Bob Neuhoff at 1184 Ocean Ave., Unit A-2, Sea Bright NJ 07760

Induction Banquet for the Class of 2017

Will be held on September 1 in Ballroom 2 & 3
Holiday Inn at 70 State Street, Rochester, NY
Call the hotel directly for reservations at 585-546-3450

We have a room block of 35 rooms at the Holiday Inn that will be reserved on a first come basis.
You will make your own hotel reservations by calling the hotel and giving the three digit code “HFI”.
The room rate is $108 per night plus 14% tax. That rate will be honored two days prior to and two days following the banquet.
These room blocks will be held until July 28 and thereafter released to the public so please make sure to reserve your room early.

• Tickets for this year’s banquet are $55. No tickets will be mailed to you.
• Doors open for registration and table assignments at 4:30 at the registration desk outside the ballroom.
• There is a social hour with cash bar from 5:30-6:30 inside one of the ballrooms.
• Festivities will begin promptly at 6:30 with a buffet dinner to follow.
• The WDCHOF photo will be taken after the event.
• Dress code: Business attire with jackets requested for men.

As in the past your request for table assignments will be honored if possible.
Please RSVP by August 10 to aid in accomplishing that task with open seating following that date.

NOTE: The general membership meeting will be on Saturday, September 2, at 11:00 AM in the Holiday Inn – Check for specific location.

Hall of Fame’s Distinguished Professional Achievement inductee Billy Cobham applied rudimental drumming approach to jazz/fusion

Billy Cobham is the 2017 World Drum Corps Hall of Fame Distinguished Professional Achievement inductee, a pioneer in jazz fusion music blending elements of jazz, rock and funk. His early drumming days included marching with St. Catherine’s Queensmen of St. Albans, Queens in 1961 and 1962 and Long Island Sunrisers from 1963 to 1966. In a career spanning five decades since then he has become known around the world not only as a percussionist but composer, producer, educator and clinician, a constant musical explorer regularly expanding his personal creative expression.

When he marched with St. Catherine’s Queensmen, Cobham was a student of World Drum Corps Hall of Fame member Bobby Thompson and mentored by Orus Cavnor, whose traditional rudimental approach to drumming Cobham incorporated into the jazz, Latin, fusion and pop idioms, establishing a unique style that brought him many accolades for enriching those musical forms.

His drum corps performances can still be heard on recordings such as Fleetwood’s “Brass By Night” and “World Open.” His Gene Krupa-style solo on the latter in “Sing, Sing, Sing” with the Sunrisers is considered a classic.

During his long career he has performed and recorded with Miles Davis, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the Brecker Brothers, George Benson, the Grateful Dead, Deodato and others.

Hall of Fame Professional Achievement Inductees are drum and bugle corps alumni who have gone on to achieve notable distinction in their professional lives, reflecting and acknowledging the values instilled by their performing experience in the activity. Billy Cobham’s formal induction will take place during the Hall of Fame’s annual banquet taking place this year in Rochester, New York 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. The ceremony includes the induction of six new regular and nine new associate members.

Billy Cobham was born in Panama on May 16, 1944. His family relocated to New York City in 1947, living first in Harlem and then in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. His first paid performance was at age 8, courtesy of his pianist father. He attended New York’s famous High School of Music and Art, where he studied music theory and drum technique.

While on a European tour with Horace Silver’s Band in 1968 he became one of the first percussionists to use the electronic drum controller made by the Meazzi Drum Company in Milan. In 1969 Cobham branched out into jazz fusion when he co-founded the fusion group Dreams. A year later he was invited to join Miles Davis’s group and contributed to four landmark recordings, including Bitches Brew and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. Cobham and others formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971, releasing three acclaimed albums before the band dissolved and he launched his solo career with Spectrum, one of the definitive albums of the jazz-rock era.

He is the central figure in Sonic Mirror, a 90-minute documentary film portrait of his life and times, focusing on how rhythm and music function as a means of communication and universal language.

The film, released in April 2007, takes place in Switzerland, New York, Salvador da Bahia (Brazil), and Helsinki (Finland). It has been shown at film festivals in Munich and Cologne, Germany; Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil; Pusan, South Korea; Gijon, Spain; Adelaide, Australia; Guadalajara, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina.

During the 1970s and 1980s, he recorded steadily for Atlantic, CBS, Elektra, and GRP, collaborating with artists ranging from George Duke, John Scofield, and Tony Williams to Jack Bruce and the Grateful Dead, both on stage and in the studio.

In 1992, the United National International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) engaged Cobham in a musical project to work with autistic outpatients and street children in Santos, near Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1993 he performed, recorded, and produced at the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) the start of an association with WOMAD that still continues. He has conducted sessions in performance techniques at the University of Bath Spa in England, and is an official patron of WOMAD in Bath.

Other activities in the 1990s included touring and recording with Jazz Is Dead, Paradox, Nordic, the London Jazz Orchestra and development of the Conundrum book series, which allows participants to play along on their specific instruments: drum set, piano, brass, woodwinds, bass, and guitar.

In early 2014, he released Tales from the Skeleton Coast, the third instalment of four recordings produced as a commemoration and celebration of his mother and father, both of whom were musicians.

More recently, he has continued to develop his Extended Works series, a musical exploration in collaboration with local jazz orchestras around the world bringing his critically acclaimed, widely appreciated material to the orchestral jazz stage, sharing his vast musical history with diverse audiences globally.

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 founded in 1976 by the late Vince Bruni, who served as director of national championship corps in two different eras: the Rochester Crusaders and the Empire Statesmen of Rochester.

The Hall of Fame honors 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.

President Rich Templin, with the assistance of Rick Morey and Larry Hershman, is proud to announce the new inductees to the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame:

2017 Members

• Alan Katz
• John “Corky” Whitlock
• Tom Aungst
• Ralph Hardimon
• Charles A. Poole
• Michael J. Cesario

WORLD DRUM CORPS HALL OF FAME CRUISE, JANUARY 27, 2018

Drum Corps fans and family are invited to join in the fun on the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame Cruise.

Cruise departs Port Canaveral, FL on January 27, 2018 and returns on February 3, 2018.

This 7 night Easten Caribbean cruise will visit the ports of Amber Cove, St. Thomas, Grand Turks and San Juan.

For more information: 2018 HOF Cruise Info