This month, we use the start of the semester as an opportunity to highlight the start of the band. The earliest student leaders of the band helped shape our organization into its current and beloved form. Pep Band History — August Edition. Check out the post on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOCOkIUj0bp/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Contrary to popular tellings, our band existed for a decade before Conrad Gebelein stepped in to become the first staff director. These student “Founding Fathers” of our band shaped its early identity in ways that still echo to today. The band of the 1920s was certainly very different to the band of the 2020s, but you could still find them in the exact same stands bringing merriment and mayhem to every home football and lacrosse game.
The three Directors below -- Mike Bowers, Emil Smith and Fordyce Campbell -- are additionally special because they represent the period where band leadership was truly a one-person show. Partway through the three-year tenure of Campbell, he would bring Osmar Steinwald in to take over conducting while he did the main administrative work, a division that persisted for the remainder of the decade.
Ralph “Mike” Bowers
It was Mike Bowers in the spring of 1921 that put out the call for musicians that formed our dear band. It was his senior year, and by the time he put out that fateful call, he was already the undisputed king of music on campus. Bowers simultaneously directed the Orchestra, Mandolin Club and Glee Club. He played the Tuba, and even though he was only technically Director for one semester, pursuing his medical degree at Hopkins allowed him to continue playing Tuba with the band he founded for several years after his graduation.
Emil Smith
Emil Smith was the first Director to serve a full year with the band, and is largely responsible for the band’s integration into ROTC over the 1921-22 school year. He was an ROTC man himself, and even had taken time off school to very briefly serve in World War One just as the war was ending. His connections with ROTC secured the band their first uniforms and some badly-needed instruments. Much like Bowers, Smith took advantage of graduate education at Hopkins to continue his contributions to the band.
Fordyce Campbell
Fordyce Campbell started his service with the band as its delegate to the Student Activities Council, a position he would hold his entire Hopkins Career, even serving as the Secretary of the council his senior year. He served as the band’s Director for three full years from fall 1922 to spring 1925, fully realizing the potential of Bowers and Smith’s work. Campbell was the first to create a proper executive board for the band, and by the end of his tenure, band leadership had grown from one person to four. He played the cornet in the band but could also play tuba.
✍️ Jaekeb Harper