Five Stick Friday

On the morning of July 8th of Spirit of Atlanta’s 1980 DCI tour, a tragic accident claimed the life of Jim Ott, the Corps’ brass arranger. If you recognize the name Jim Ott, it’s because his name is memorialized on the Brass Caption Trophy handed to the Corps with the highest scoring brass section at DCI Finals every year. He was a genius arranger. And he was taken too soon. For any of you that have been on a DCI tour, you know there’s a LOT of late night traveling via truck, bus, and van. Honestly, I’m surprised that even with all the safety protocols in place we don’t hear one or two of these stories every summer tour. Heck…I was riding shotgun at 2 a.m. in the “merch truck” in the middle of Nowhere, Arkansas in 2018 and almost ended up in a lake thanks to a 180 degree bend-back turn at the bottom of a hill with zero signage.

But I digress. First, I have to say from seeing the activity up close for the last 5 years, I’m amazed that the students in that edition of Spirit of Atlanta could even put on their uniforms and walk on the field that night after learning the news. But they did. They wore black armbands to remember their fallen leader. And they started in a stand still formation and kicked off their show music. But when the closer came…Jim’s now-famous arrangement of “Let It Be Me”…they did this. ( see video).

Many opined as the time that Spirit would never be the same. Many would argue they never HAVE been the same. It’s a pointless argument. This happened 43 years ago. And Spirit of Atlanta is still here.

I’m proud to have joined the Board of Directors of the Spirit of Atlanta in the last couple of weeks. And I’m even more excited to help the 2023 Edition get back on the field…with a goal of 2024 being a season that Spirit reclaims their proper place on Saturday night in Finals. It’s a goal worth having…a goal worth fighting for…because on July 8th, 1980…the music did NOT die.