Rockdale,TX Class of 1965
What is already shaping up to be a giant-sized reunion of former Rockdale High School Big Blue Band members, featuring three legendary former directors, is planned for Saturday, Aug. 14, in Rockdale.
Bill Grusendorf, Don Thoede and Jim Perry, directors between 1958 and 1985, have all confirmed they will be at The Ranch for the event, which is scheduled for 2 to 6 p.m.
“This all started on a Facebook page where many of the former Big Blue Band members started talking,” Perry told The Reporter.
“It just took off by itself. Enthusiasm is very high among many former members,” he said. “It would be nice if people would bring their photos and recordings of the bands, especially from the Grusendorf era,” Perry said. “I have everything pretty much from mine and Don’s years.”
At 6 p.m., after the reunion, Gaylen Strelsky Hromcik has arranged for a tour of the new high school band hall for those former band members who have not seen the new facility.
“Everyone is on their own for dinner, and I assume people will be going out together in groups or eating there at The Ranch, then we will go back there and mix with the general public for the rest of the evening,” Perry said.
“I want to emphasize this event is not exclusive to those who were in the program from 1958-85,” Perry said. “It’s for all former RHS band members, and well wishers, from any era.”
Grusendorf directed the Big Blue Band from 1958-72, Thoede from 1972-81 and Perry from 1981-85.
Thoede was an assistant director under Grusendorf and Perry was an assistant director under Thoede.
The three presided over what is considered the “golden age” of the Big Blue Band program. Grusendorf fielded RHS’ first 100-piece marching band.
It grew to more than 140 during the 1958-72 era and produced UIL contest awards consistently, including the UIL’s coveted “Sweepstakes” award which covers marching, solo and ensemble and concert competitions.
Band directors due for reunion
August 14, 2010
August 14, 2010
W. C. 'Bill' Grusendorf
James Perry
Don Theode
Rockdale Reporter, August 12, 2010
Big Blue Band reunion this Saturday at The Ranch
Anyone who has ever been a part of the tradition-laden Big Blue Band is invited to make an “Exodus” to The Ranch on Saturday.
“We will meet from 2-6 p.m., renew old friendships and memories, watch marching videos, listen to concert music, generally have a great time,” said former Big Blue Band Director Jim Perry. “We will be touring the new high school band hall at 6 p.m., then everyone is on their own for dinner, after which we can gather again at 7 p.m. back at The Ranch.”
Attendees are invited to bring photos to share.
Perry and former directors Bill Grusendorf and Don Thoede are expected to attend, along with more than 200 former band students.
The Ranch is located at 415 W. US 79. Bluesadillo, featuring more former RHS band alumni, will perform from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Still Big Blue
Band reunion draws hundreds to relive program’s ‘glory days’
By MIKE BROWN
Reporter Editor
Rockdale Reporter, October 19, 2010
“BAND!” barked former Big Blue Band director Jim Perry through a public address system once again on Saturday.
“HEY!” was the immediate, ingrained response from about 350 former RHS band members, rattling the roof of The Ranch, in an event that proved there’s still plenty of “Big” in “Big Blue.”
Perry and former directors Bill Grusendorf and Don Thoede, along with some special guests, were on hand for a giant gathering fueled by equal parts of memories, energy and love.
“It just grew,” Perry marvelled. “The prospect of a band reunion got mentioned on Facebook this spring and it took on a life of its own.”
“And this happened,” he said, waving his arm at a wall-to-wall sea of familiar faces.
Organizers are estimating total attendance between 350 and 450 combined for afternoon and evening events.
“We think as many as 350 were there during the day,” Perry said. “We had more than 100 that night. I’m sure that some of them were the same folks, but not all.”
‘Right place, right time’
Grusendorf, who started the band’s uninterrupted 30-year march of excellence, drew “rock star” treatment during the event.
The retired San Saba ISD superintendent— who continues to serve as priest at San Saba’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Church—was mobbed by former students as he entered the building and the adoration never let up.
Grusendorf and wife, Pat, spend the next several hours posing for photos, getting and giving hugs and becoming reacquainted with former students and subsequent generations.
During a brief, informal program which ended the afternoon session, an emotional “Mr. G” expressed the depths of what the Rockdale experience still means to him and his family.
“I distinctly remember driving into Rockdale in 1957 for the first time with my wife and daughters,” he said. “This was sure the right place at the right time.”
By 1972, Grusendorf had built the band, which often reached the 140 to 150 membership range, into one of the most successful, and respected, music programs in the state.
He left in 1972 to enter school administration. “That decision had nothing to do with the band,” he said. “I loved directing, I loved Rockdale and I loved this band.”
“The last time I got up on the podium in the band hall in 1972, I could see the faces of every student who passed through the band program in those 15 years,” he said.
‘30 years of Bill’
That success continued, uninterrupted, under Thoede and Perry.
“Bill was my mentor,” Thoede said. “He trained me. Then Jim came in and we worked together and then Jim took over.”
“So that’s why this band was so successful,” Thoede said. “You really had 30 years of the same guy. You had 30 years of Bill.”
“This is one of the most wonderful days of my life,” Thoede said.
Thoede directed the band from 1972 to 1981 and Perry from 1981 to 1985.
Fear factor
Perry confessed to another motivator during his tenure.
“Pure fear,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t just let it go downhill after what Bill and Don had done.”
Perry praised Rockdale’s band students, noting they added the extra dimension of dedication and willingness to work that lifted the bands of that era from “good” to “great.”
He recalled a hot summer practice early in his tenure where, dissatisfied with the band’s effort, Perry left the football field parking lot and returned to the band hall, discouraged.
“I had been in my office when the door opened and one of the band members came in and started screaming at me, ‘Mr. Perry you can’t do this to us.’ And she kept it up several minutes, over and over, before I realized what had actually happened.”
Perry returned to the parking lot. “The band was still there. All of it. Melissa Wolf, who was the drum major, had kept them standing at attention, for 20 minutes, waiting for me to come back,” he said.
“Wow,” Perry said. “I thought ‘let’s get back to work’.”
‘I’m here to collect’
There were many highlights but none drew louder laughs than when Grusendorf praised accompanist Gerry Selden-Janik for her many years of volunteer work with the band’s spring solo-ensemble entries.
“She did all this, for all these years, and never asked for a penny,” Grusendorf said.
That prompted Selden-Janik, standing in the wings, to fly to the stage, grab the microphone and proclaim “I’m here to collect!”
Other highlights:
• Band members toured the new RHS band hall, located inside the remodeled-expanded high school. The old band hall was razed.
• Lee “Sparky” Thomason, RHS Class of 1981, composed and presented a musical selection, incorporating several familiar band themes.
• Several former band members took the stage with the Bluesadillos, who played on The Ranch stage during the evening.
• Cliff Simms, a member of the first RHS band in 1939, was recognized during the evening session. Simms said four members from that 1939 band survive.
• Films and audio of past Big Blue Band performances, and the band’s 1980 trip to Mexico City, ran continuously onstage during the afternoon session.
• Band members from each era were called to the stage for group photos with Grusendorf, Thoede and Perry.
• Mayor Pro Tem Allan Miller and Lee Jenkins, Rockdale ISD school board president, teamed up to observe the special day by proclamation.
• Grusendorf, who started the tradition of playing “Exodus” at football games, was presented a rare original soundtrack of the movie.
‘Let’s do it again’
The get-together grew as a “grass roots” effort and those roots were still growing over the weekend.
“The next day (Sunday), I heard from so many people who said they weren’t able to attend, missed it for one reason or another and wanted to know when the next one was so they could attend,” Perry said.
“What I’ve heard is ‘let’s do it again’,” he said. “I think we need to do just that. We’ll try to set a date and let everyone know.”
Band reunion draws hundreds to relive program’s ‘glory days’
By MIKE BROWN
Reporter Editor
Rockdale Reporter, October 19, 2010
“BAND!” barked former Big Blue Band director Jim Perry through a public address system once again on Saturday.
“HEY!” was the immediate, ingrained response from about 350 former RHS band members, rattling the roof of The Ranch, in an event that proved there’s still plenty of “Big” in “Big Blue.”
Perry and former directors Bill Grusendorf and Don Thoede, along with some special guests, were on hand for a giant gathering fueled by equal parts of memories, energy and love.
“It just grew,” Perry marvelled. “The prospect of a band reunion got mentioned on Facebook this spring and it took on a life of its own.”
“And this happened,” he said, waving his arm at a wall-to-wall sea of familiar faces.
Organizers are estimating total attendance between 350 and 450 combined for afternoon and evening events.
“We think as many as 350 were there during the day,” Perry said. “We had more than 100 that night. I’m sure that some of them were the same folks, but not all.”
‘Right place, right time’
Grusendorf, who started the band’s uninterrupted 30-year march of excellence, drew “rock star” treatment during the event.
The retired San Saba ISD superintendent— who continues to serve as priest at San Saba’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Church—was mobbed by former students as he entered the building and the adoration never let up.
Grusendorf and wife, Pat, spend the next several hours posing for photos, getting and giving hugs and becoming reacquainted with former students and subsequent generations.
During a brief, informal program which ended the afternoon session, an emotional “Mr. G” expressed the depths of what the Rockdale experience still means to him and his family.
“I distinctly remember driving into Rockdale in 1957 for the first time with my wife and daughters,” he said. “This was sure the right place at the right time.”
By 1972, Grusendorf had built the band, which often reached the 140 to 150 membership range, into one of the most successful, and respected, music programs in the state.
He left in 1972 to enter school administration. “That decision had nothing to do with the band,” he said. “I loved directing, I loved Rockdale and I loved this band.”
“The last time I got up on the podium in the band hall in 1972, I could see the faces of every student who passed through the band program in those 15 years,” he said.
‘30 years of Bill’
That success continued, uninterrupted, under Thoede and Perry.
“Bill was my mentor,” Thoede said. “He trained me. Then Jim came in and we worked together and then Jim took over.”
“So that’s why this band was so successful,” Thoede said. “You really had 30 years of the same guy. You had 30 years of Bill.”
“This is one of the most wonderful days of my life,” Thoede said.
Thoede directed the band from 1972 to 1981 and Perry from 1981 to 1985.
Fear factor
Perry confessed to another motivator during his tenure.
“Pure fear,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t just let it go downhill after what Bill and Don had done.”
Perry praised Rockdale’s band students, noting they added the extra dimension of dedication and willingness to work that lifted the bands of that era from “good” to “great.”
He recalled a hot summer practice early in his tenure where, dissatisfied with the band’s effort, Perry left the football field parking lot and returned to the band hall, discouraged.
“I had been in my office when the door opened and one of the band members came in and started screaming at me, ‘Mr. Perry you can’t do this to us.’ And she kept it up several minutes, over and over, before I realized what had actually happened.”
Perry returned to the parking lot. “The band was still there. All of it. Melissa Wolf, who was the drum major, had kept them standing at attention, for 20 minutes, waiting for me to come back,” he said.
“Wow,” Perry said. “I thought ‘let’s get back to work’.”
‘I’m here to collect’
There were many highlights but none drew louder laughs than when Grusendorf praised accompanist Gerry Selden-Janik for her many years of volunteer work with the band’s spring solo-ensemble entries.
“She did all this, for all these years, and never asked for a penny,” Grusendorf said.
That prompted Selden-Janik, standing in the wings, to fly to the stage, grab the microphone and proclaim “I’m here to collect!”
Other highlights:
• Band members toured the new RHS band hall, located inside the remodeled-expanded high school. The old band hall was razed.
• Lee “Sparky” Thomason, RHS Class of 1981, composed and presented a musical selection, incorporating several familiar band themes.
• Several former band members took the stage with the Bluesadillos, who played on The Ranch stage during the evening.
• Cliff Simms, a member of the first RHS band in 1939, was recognized during the evening session. Simms said four members from that 1939 band survive.
• Films and audio of past Big Blue Band performances, and the band’s 1980 trip to Mexico City, ran continuously onstage during the afternoon session.
• Band members from each era were called to the stage for group photos with Grusendorf, Thoede and Perry.
• Mayor Pro Tem Allan Miller and Lee Jenkins, Rockdale ISD school board president, teamed up to observe the special day by proclamation.
• Grusendorf, who started the tradition of playing “Exodus” at football games, was presented a rare original soundtrack of the movie.
‘Let’s do it again’
The get-together grew as a “grass roots” effort and those roots were still growing over the weekend.
“The next day (Sunday), I heard from so many people who said they weren’t able to attend, missed it for one reason or another and wanted to know when the next one was so they could attend,” Perry said.
“What I’ve heard is ‘let’s do it again’,” he said. “I think we need to do just that. We’ll try to set a date and let everyone know.”
group photo:
From left, former Big Blue Band directors Don Thoede, Bill Grusendorf and Jim Perry, and 350 of their former students, gathered at The Ranch to reminisce about old times and get reacquainted in a giant reunion Saturday.
Photo by Mike Brown
From left, former Big Blue Band directors Don Thoede, Bill Grusendorf and Jim Perry, and 350 of their former students, gathered at The Ranch to reminisce about old times and get reacquainted in a giant reunion Saturday.
Photo by Mike Brown
Bill Grusendorf (L) and Don Thoede enjoy Thoede’s highly colorful account of the day Grusendorf hired him in 1972.
Photo by Mike Brown
LINKS TO THE PAST
There are now permanent reminders of the Rockdale High School Big Blue Band’s historic tradition on permanent display in the RHS band hall. Director Adrian Acevedo and assistant director Lance Walker said the band’s awards from past years, including numerous sweepstakes and marching contest awards were put on display as part of a tour for former band members during the giant band reunion Aug. 14. Photos of past band members were also displayed. Acevedo said it’s been decided to leave the awards and photos on display permanently. Walker attended the reunion and brought several of the archives with him.
There are now permanent reminders of the Rockdale High School Big Blue Band’s historic tradition on permanent display in the RHS band hall. Director Adrian Acevedo and assistant director Lance Walker said the band’s awards from past years, including numerous sweepstakes and marching contest awards were put on display as part of a tour for former band members during the giant band reunion Aug. 14. Photos of past band members were also displayed. Acevedo said it’s been decided to leave the awards and photos on display permanently. Walker attended the reunion and brought several of the archives with him.
John Rinn & Mr Grusendorf
Same Tune, Second Verse
Big Blue Band members to gather Saturday, June 11, 2011 for reunion
Okay, former Big Blue Band members, if you ever wanted to get with your old bandmates and play “Exodus” again this might be your chance.
The second RHS Band Reunion is set for Saturday at the Patterson Civic Center and former director Jim Perry says a special invitation has been extended.
“We have been offered the use of a band hall, drums and some of the larger school instruments,” Perry said.
“If we want to knock the rust off the old horns and play ‘Exodus’ again, let me know,” Perry asked those planning to attend. There has already been some interest expressed in “Exodusing” on the reunion’s Facebook page.
REUNION - The reunion gets under way at 1 p.m. in the air-conditioned Patterson Civic Center. “It will continue until ‘whenever’,” Perry said. Perry and former directors Don Thoede and Bill Grusendorf plan to attend.
Perry said donations will be accepted to cover the $425 cost of renting the venue. A concession stand will be open, staffed by the Matinee Musical Club.
The first reunion, in August, 2010, grew out of Facebook conversations Perry had with former band members.
“We decided to set a time and place and see if anybody showed up,” Perry said.
A crowd estimated at 350 came to The Ranch during the afternoon and a similar crowd attended that evening.
Organizers estimated about 450 different persons attended one or both of the sessions.
EXODUS - Grusendorf began to play the then-popular “Theme from Exodus” in the fourth quarter of football games in the fall of 1962 when opposing crowds began to leave with their teams trailing the state finalist Rockdale Tigers.
The piece became not only an anthem for that year but evolved into a tradition and then a legend. It has become the single most iconic piece of music performed by Rockdale bands.
Grusendorf was presented a rare, original 1962 vinyl record album of the “Exodus” soundtrack at the 2010 reunion.
Rockdale Reporter - June 9, 2011
Big Blue Band reunion - 2011
Rockdale Reporter - May 26, 2011
The second annual Big Blue Band reunion will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 11 at the Patterson Civic Center in Rockdale.
The first reunion last year drew an estimated 450 people, was termed a major success, and planning for the 2011 event began the next day.
Former band directors Bill Grusendorf, Don Thoede and Jim Perry, who guided the RHS band program during its “golden era” which produced consistent UIL Sweepstakes awards and 120-member bands, will attend. Perry is one of the main organizers.
He said donations will be accepted to cover the $425 cost of renting the civic center. A concession stand will be open, staffed by the Matinee Musical Club.
Big Blue Band reunion June 11th at Patterson
Rockdale Reporter - May 19, 2011
The second annual Big Blue Band Reunion is scheduled for Saturday, June 11, for the Patterson Civic Center, according to Jim Perry, former director.
Perry and former directors Bill Grusendorf and Don Thoede plan to attend.
The first reunion, held last August, drew a crowd estimated at 450.
“The reunion gets under way at 1 p.m. and continues until ‘whenever’,” Perry said.
Perry said donations will be accepted to cover the $425 cost of renting the venue. A concession stand will be open, staffed by the Matinee Musical Club.
Photo courtesy of
Mary Jacob James
Mary Jacob James
.