3 shows I remember

Show #1

On October 13, 1972 we were booked for a show with Bob Hope at the convention hall in Wichita, Kansas.  The hall was packed.  (5,000 seats)  As I remember we began our opening song and immediately the power to our stage went out!  Pat just took over.   With no PA system he started into his "Don Rickles-like" put downs of the local celebrities until Jerrel and I could get the power situation fixed.  It was hilarious and our part of the evening turned out fine.  However, Bob Hope did not hear or see our part of the show.  After Bob's performed, his agent (Bob Bixler) wanted Mr. Hope to see us perform.   He asked us if we could set up in the hotel for the "After Theater Party".  This was not part of our plans and without knowing the set up situation at the hotel, we said yes.  It was a big mistake.  You see, the only place in the hotel that was big enough to accommodate the "after party" crowd was the area around the indoor swimming pool.  We set up at one end of the building (Lots of hard surfaces) and Bob Hope literally sat at the end of the diving board at the other end of the building.  The sound was terrible and we had used all of our good material in the show earlier that night.  The people were standing around the pool eating "hordouvers" and could not respond.  Needless to say, we never heard again from that agent.

Show #2
May 23, 1973 we were booked to open for Roberta Flack at Hofhienz pavilion (10,000 seats) in Houston.  This was at the height of her popularity (Killing me softly).  That day we were at Hofhienz pavilion at 2:00pm ready to set up for the concert which was supposed to begin at 8:00pm.  The plan was to get a "sound check" from Ms. Flack and her orchestra and then we could set up and get our "sound check".  The problem was Ms. Flack did not show up for the sound check!  In fact she did not enter the building until 9:00pm that night!!!  (no sound checks) The crowd was very upset because the concert was starting so late .  When we finally started our part of the show, the audience was very hostile towards us, but we got through our part OK.  Ms. Flack's performance was also flawed because of  the sound.  She did not start singing until after 10:00pm 

This performance was bad for us in two other ways.  (1) We had scheduled a concert at Jones Hall in Houston for the next week and we were using this Roberta Flack Concert to promote our HEW concert at Jones Hall.  After the reviews came out, none of the press decided to attend our concert because "they had seen us at the Roberta Flack Concert".   (2) We had also invested in the Roberta Flack Concert.  Cormo Productions had spent money to bring Roberta to Houston with the stipulation that we would be the opening act for the concert.  Consequently, we lost our investment because so many people wanted their money back.

Show #3

We were booked for a one month stay in Las Vegas at the Showboat Hotel and Casino.  The gig paid very well, but the job was difficult.  The night club at the hotel was the"only" place where customers had to pay for their drinks.  We did three shows a night.  (9:00pm, 11:00pm and 1:00am)  The performances were to be exactly 30 minutes long (no deviation)  This was difficult for us since much of our show depended on our interaction with the audience. There were a few nights where our audience was one drunk passed out at the bar.  We also had major problems with the Musicians Union in Las Vegas.  We were already members of the American Federation of Musicians (AFL-CIO), but the local chapter wanted  extra "performance fees" because we were not members of their chapter (scary guys).  We told them to "bill us" and after the gig we never paid the bill! 

       

Hamilton, Elliott, and Walter (HEW)

As our time in the USAF came to an end, Jerrel, Pat and I decided to see if we could "make it" as full time professional musicians.  Our good friend, Gene Northway (see blog "Windjammer early years") had accepted our offer to be our manager.  Gene had recently left the Boys Scouts of America for a job with Southwestern Bell in Houston, Texas. We decided to base our families in Houston since all of us liked Texas.  We formed a company called Cormo Productions, had one "open audition", and immediately began accepting bookings.  We hired a great drummer, Roy Prince.  When we were not on the road, we had regular "gigs" at the Village Inn Pizza Parlor in Westbury Square and the Marriott Hotel Astrodome.  Gene was our manager, but we had an agent in Hollywood (Bob Vincent of MUSART) who booked us all over the USA.  We played clubs in Washington DC, St. Louis Missouri, Denver Colorado, Bloomington Minnesota, and Sioux City Iowa.  Sometimes we would travel with our families, but most of the time we left our wives and children in Houston.  We would sell our LP's and T-Shirts while travelling and send our paychecks home to the wives.  We traveled in a Ford LTD station wagon and pulled a rented trailer full of our equipment and merchandise.

Our "Court Martial"/ Commendation

I neglected to say that we had "problems" with the office of information at the Pentagon during our stint in the Air Force.  It seemed they always were telling us how to do our job, even though they had never seen our act.  They ordered us to always sing with a US Air Force banner (10 ft high x 20 ft across) behind us.  It was huge and very cumbersome and was in a wooden crate which weighed about eighty pounds.  Since we were our own stage crew for most of our shows, it seemed we never had time to set up "the banner".  Our large PA speakers did have USAF stencilled on them.  The USAF did supply us with "singing outfits".  (see earlier blogs for pictures) Of course, we never wore our dress blue uniforms when we did our show.

On our Southeast Asia trip, the office of information ordered us to perform every show in our dress blue uniforms.  We ignored the order, because we wanted to entertain the audience not "piss them off".  You see we looked like we were career military because we were E-6's. The young draftees wouldn't like us because we were non-commissioned officers (Lifers) and the older career soldiers wouldn't like us because we were too young to be that high ranked.

As we toured southeast Asia, we met with the base commanders at each stop and asked them if it would be OK for us to wear our "singing outfits" rather than our dress blues.  All of the base commanders agreed with us that wearing our dress blues would be a mistake.  On November 17, 1971, when we arrived at OSAN AFB in Korea,  the base commander (General Robert W. Maloy) met us at the tarmac with several MPs and said the he "must confiscate our singing outfits".  We again explained the situation and he let us perform in our singing outfits.  He sent a message to the office of information that the order was received AFTER our performance.

When we returned to Bolling AFB, our commander and director of the USAF Band (Colonel Arnald D. Gabriel) was very upset with us because his superior officer at the office of information (Pentagon) wanted to court martial us for disobeying his order to wear our dress blues.  Colonel Gabriel asked us to each sign the Administrative Reprimand.  We did.  The next day they had a big ceremony at Bolling AFB presenting us with the Commendation Medal for meritorious service.  The chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, Admiral T.H Moorer, sent us a note with his picture. Our time in the Air Force ended February 4, 1972.

International trips

In May of 1971 we did a nine day tour of Europe performing in Germany, Spain, Holland and England.  We were booked mostly in officers clubs and American schools.  We did thirteen shows while in Europe, but what I remember most is the one day we had no performances.  It turned out to be one of the best days of my life.  (May 16,1971)

Lt. David Walter (my brother) and his wife Melanie were stationed near Frankfort Germany.  So they met us in Mainz and we all got on a boat to spend the day traveling up the Rhine River.  It was a beautiful day.  We actually got bored looking at the many castles and churches along the river.  The whole time we were drinking Rhine wine and singing German songs along with other tourists on the boat.  (Jerrel and Melanie did not drink.)  It was glorious!  As the day went on, I stopped drinking; however, Pat and David did not stop drinking.  When we got to Koblenz, we literally had to carry Pat and David to the bus stop.  They were getting sick.  They left some "relics" on the bus.  When we got to the train station to return to Mainz,  Pat and David were too sick to put on the train.  We missed several trains waiting for them to "sober up".  After several hours, they finally were able to board the train.  We made it back to our hotel in Mainz where David slept in our bathroom for at least five or six more hours.  Years later, David told me he never took another sip of wine after that day.

On October 17, 1971 we began our Southeast Asia Tour which lasted until November 25, 1971. (40 days)We performed a show at CLARK AFB in the Philippines and then one show at the the US embassy in Manila.  We then travelled to UDORN AFB in Thailand for shows at NKP (NonKomPhenom) and UBON AFB.  On October 29th we travelled to Bangkok, Thailand (via U-TAPOU AFB) for more shows.  Next, (the longest week of the trip) we were in South Viet Nam.  We performed at TAN SON NHUT AFB, PHU CAT AFB, PHAN RANG AFB, PLEIKU AFB, and KRB.  While we were at Kam Ranh Bay, it was noisy because a "sapper" had infiltrated an amunition dump the night before we arrived.  The US Army was exploding the bombs and artillery shells that did not detonate.  Explosions were happening all during our performance.  It was unnerving!   In DA NANG we were excited to see our college choir director (Dr. Paul Engelstad) who was now the USO director for the northern section of South Viet Nam.  (see picture).  While in Viet Nam, we got to stay in officers quarters, but they always put us on the second or third floors.  That was dangerous because occasionally "in-coming" artillery shells would be launched into the airbase and if the shell detonated near a barracks, the upper floors were vulnerable while the first floors had brick walls built around them.  We asked if we could stay in a below ground bunker. We were told, "No, the snakes would get you!"

After our week in Viet Nam, we did shows in Okinawa, Japan and Korea. My oldest son, Michael, was only two months old when I left.  I know that was tough on my wife, Martha.


The Goodtimers with Paul Engelstad

USA trips

Another story that I remember was the time we arrived late in Chillicothe, Ohio to perform at a VA hospital.  Our flight was delayed for some reason and when we arrived the the truck for our equipment and our van did not meet us.  After several phone calls, we were met by our set up crew and transported to the VA hospital.  Our truck and van just pulled up to the back of the stage area and we unloaded the equipment right on to the stage.   We could hear that the auditorium was already full of people.  We decided to forgo our normal sound check and just set the controls to what we thought might be appropriate for the auditorium.  The curtain on the front of the stage did not divide in the middle (like most curtains), instead it was one the just lifted straight up.  So we just started singing our opening number which was "Going Out of My Head/Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You".  As the curtain slowly lifted, we noticed that there were people just milling around, not sitting in their seats, and some were talking to the walls.  No one had told us it was a mental hospital!  We quickly stopped singing and changed our opening number to a more appropriate song.  We had many performances at  many different hospitals.  The hospital staffs loved us and wanted us to return often; however, I'm not sure how much good we did for the patients.

In May of 1970, two days after the Kent State event (see Kent State Massacre),  we were in Columbus Ohio to perform at a banquet in which the commander of the National Guard Unit which fired on the students was to speak.  Needless to say, the students at Ohio State University prevented us from getting to the gig.  We were also prevented from doing a concert at the University of Hawaii later that year. 

In February 1971, we did a show at the Ohio State Penitentiary for the general population inmates.   When we arrived the inmates helped us set up in the main cafeteria area.  I saw several men pick up our main PA speakers by themselves and carry them to the stage area.  That was impressive!  We did the show and then were given a "grand tour " of the penitentiary.  We went to the maximum security area.  Those inmates had already heard that we did a good show even though they were not able to see or hear it.  (the  prison "pipeline" really worked!)  We got to enter the "Death House" and we got to sit in "Old Sparky" (the electric chair).  On the walls around the electric chair were pictures of the inmates that had been executed.  It was creepy.  Each of us sat in the chair, but when Pat sat in it, they actually clamped his arms and legs so he couldn't get out.  Since the Ohio legislature had abolished the death penalty in 1968, the clamps were a little rusty and one of the leg clamps would not come undone.  Pat had to do some distorted moves to get free.  It was funny.  (see picture)

We Travelled!

First I need to explain our situation in the USAF Headquarters Band. THE GOODTIMMERS were part of "The USAF Band". Our company was made up of about 300 members (100 of them were staff people who handled the day to day operations of the outfit). The rest of us were the performers which included the USAF Marching and Concert Band, the USAF Strolling Strings Orchestra, The Airmen of Note (Jazz Band), Singing Sergeants (choir), and THE GOODTIMERS. Most of the musicians in this company were highly talented. Many were graduates of Julliard and Eastman Schools of Music. All of them were fulfilling their "military obligation". All the performers were college graduates, but could not be officers so they gave us high non-commissioned ranks. We were immediately E-5s (Staff Sergeants/4 stripes) and after one year we were promoted to E-6 (Tech Sergeants/5 stripes). What this actually meant was that we had salaries equal to airman that have spent their life in the Airforce. ("Lifers") The fact that we were young and had advanced rank would prove to be a problem when we were forced to perform "in Uniform". Remember this was 1969 through 1972; Not a happy time to be promoting the military. (The Viet Nam War)

From a logistics point of view, we were really easy to book.  Consequently, we were well travelled.  Our job was public relations for the USAF.   In addition to doing many shows in the Washington DC area,  we would often drive to Andrews AFB and fly all over the USA.  We were constantly waiting for pilots who wanted to get their "air miles" logged by flying us to Ohio via Florida or to Oklahoma City via Chicago.  Sometimes we were in the DC3's which were very slow airplanes and other times in executive jets.  In most of the airplanes we were the only passengers and the planes were cargo planes with only crew seats not airline seats.  We often took a football and frisbee to throw around while we flew.

One trip that I remember was the time (January 1970) when we were scheduled to do a weeks tour of Alaska.  We drove our air force van to Andrews AFB and loaded the C130 aircraft with are equipment.  We waited for a pilot to take us to Alaska.   He finally showed up, but he told us he had to make a stop in Colorado Springs, CO.  (not quite a straight route to Alaska)  He was a Lt. Colonel and we could not change his mind.  It was a very long flight, but we finally landed in Colorado Springs.  After spending the night in officers quarters, we were at the airport early in the morning waiting for our pilots.  They finally arrived and we took off for Alaska.  All of a sudden the plane jerked.  We looked out the window and one of the engines was on fire.  The pilots immediately turned us around to go back to the airport and as we turned back another engine caught fire.  Now the crew chief on the plane ran back to us and said.  "When this plane lands, you follow me out that door!"  In the meantime all the hydraulics went out of the aircraft, so the crew chief had to hand crank the landing gear down. He did.  The airplane landed going very fast and fire trucks were following behind us.  I can remember leaving the airplane running backwards taking pictures as I ran thinking the plane was going to explode.  It did not.  One of the pilots told us that it was the closest he had ever come to crashing.  We got another plane to fly us to Alaska a day later.

We had a good time in Alaska; however, it was dark the whole time we were there.  We did several high school assemblies and shows at the airman's club (Elmandorf AFB).  We were supposed to visit five dew line radar stations, but the weather was so bad at the top of the mountains, that we only performed at one radar station.  The flight to the radar station was uneventful, but the trip up the mountain was scary.  They put us and our equipment (PA system and guitars, organ etc.) into a tank-like vehicle and transported us up the mountain.  There was no road to the station.  As we drove up, there was a man waiting for us.  It was the head cheerleader at McMurry from last year, Lonnie Barbary.  We freaked out!  What a small world.

There was another incident in Alaska that I remember vividly.  Our last night we were booked (a paying gig) in the officers club at Elmandorf AFB.  First let me give you a layout of the stage area of the club.  The room was long and narrow.  The stage was high (4' higher than the dance floor).  The dance floor was about 30' in front of the stage.  So when the spot lights came on, you could not see the audience.  For this show our outfits were white buck shoes, white pants and very bright colored shirts.  Jerrel's was red. Pat's was yellow. Mine was bright green.  We started the show and the audience was very subdued.  We could only hear them, but they were "quiet".  As we started our second song, a waiter came toward us across the dance floor which was empty.  He pointed to me and said, "your fly is down".  I immediately looked down and part of my bright green shirt was sticking out of the zipper.  I could not stop and fix it because Jerrel was singing and I was accompanying him, so Pat walked over in front of me and he zipped up my pants.  Oh my, the ad libs were great after that and the show was really funny.

More stories to come.

To USAF Band in Washington DC

In the fall of 1969, we finally got orders transferring us to Bolling AFB in Washington DC.  We were now members of the USAF Headquarters Band.

Travelling to Washington DC was a road trip we will never forget.  Jerrel and Cindy were in their car.  Pat and Pat were in their car.  Martha and I were in our 1968 Buick LaSabre and we were towing our 22' motor boat filled with everything we owned in it.  (the boat weighed considerably more than our car.)  We left Tampa early in the morning and by 7:00pm we were still only a few miles north of Tampa.  The boat was so heavy that it was difficult to tow at any speed because it would wobble and make driving our car very dangerous.  We packed and repacked the boat at least three times trying to get the weight right so it could be towed.   We finally got it right, but by that time, Martha was ready to "leave the boat on the side of the road forever!!"  We caused the other couples to spend an extra night on the road. As we travelled the car started to "hum", so Martha and I would just turn the radio up louder to drown it out. When we finally got to our new apartments in Oxen Hill Maryland, I had to replace the differential in our new car, but we made it.

Our living situation in Maryland was much better.  We rented apartments right next to each other.  It was great because we knew that we were going to be travelling all over the world without our wives and "the girls" could be close to each other while we were gone.

Our Time in Tampa

Martha and I rented a fully furnished third floor walk up apartment. Cindy and Jerrel rented an apartment in the same building.  We had common walls, but we had to walk down three flights of stairs and then back up three flights to visit each other.  Rent was $78/month.  Needless to say, we banged on the walls to meet in the lobby which was "guarded" by our landlord.  She watched everyone who came in or out of the building.  One time Martha and I broke the bed and had to sneak the broken bed frame down to the basement, past the landlord, where we knew there was a replacement bed frame, then sneak the new bed frame back up to our apartment.  We accomplished the switch undetected.  The apartments were infested with cockroaches and termites.  Martha wore my cowboy boots all the time because she feared the "bugs".  Pat and Pat lived in a small house closer to McDill AFB.

If the band had no performances scheduled, our job was easy.  Most days we played bridge while at the base and as soon as we were dismissed we went fishing.  I had purchased a nice boat from a sergeant who got transferred to England.  It actually had a cabin with two beds in it.  We had some good days fishing and some great fish fries.

Here is one story that I remember from our time in Tampa.  The McDill Airforce Band was scheduled to play a mid day concert at the outdoor pavilion in downtown St. Petersberg, Florida,  When the bus and truck carrying the band equipment drove up to the venue, we were totally surprised because there were hundreds of people sitting in the seats waiting for our concert.  We complimented our host for the great job of publicity.  We did our concert. It was well received and we were happy.  A few days later, Martha and I were shopping in St. Petersberg and we happened to drive by the pavilion.  We noticed another large crowd, however the stage was empty!  I guess the senior citizens just congregate there every day.  We laughed.

Transition to the USAF

A brief word about the man that facilitated our induction into the USAF.  In Summer of 1967, Gene Northway attended a concert we did at Baylor University.  At that time, Gene was an Assistant  National Director of Exploring for the Boy Scouts of America.  He later became the Director of Exploring of the BSA in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  Gene had asked us about our draft status and he also asked us if we had ever been boy scouts.  All three of us were boy scouts earlier in our lives.  With that information, Gene contacted his friend Lieutenant General Albert P. Clark and explained the WINDJAMMER draft situation.  Soon thereafter, Sgt. Jack Townsley came to our room at McMurry and formalized the paperwork to recruit us into the USAF as a group.  Texas Congressman Omar Burleson actually swore us in and on February 1,1968 we went to basic training at Langley AFB in San Antonio.

After completing basic training, we were assigned (for one year) to the USAF Band at McDill AFB in Tampa Florida while we waited for the "slots" to be opened in the USAF Band in Washington DC.  Our name was changed to "The GOODTIMERS" since "the windjammers" was to nautical for the Airforce.

Our year in Tampa was interesting.  Since Jerrel could play the clarinet and Pat could play the flute, they transitioned into the marching and ceremonial band quite well.  For me it was different,  the McDill USAF Band already had enough trombone players.  They wanted me to play the sousaphone/tuba.  I received a few lessons, but did not put my heart into it.  It was hard enough just to carry the instrument much less learn how to play it!  The McDill Band would do many "concerts" that year, however the concerts consisted of the National Anthem, then The Goodtimers would do a 30 minute show, and then the band would end the concert with "Stars and Stripes Forever".

In July 1968 we all married our college sweethearts.  Jerrel married Cindy McCann of Lometa, Texas.  Pat married Pat Smith of Midland, Texas, and I married Martha Miers of Dumas, Texas.  All of us lived in apartment very close to each other.  We all had a good time in Tampa.

More pre-military memories

I found another box of clippings from my McMurry days.  As I said earlier, Pat made a big difference in our show.  He could play the piano, flute and drums.  Our show now consisted of some satire, parodies, and jokes.  Pat was the fall guy and Jerrel and I just had to react to him and play the straight men.  It was really fun.  Jerrel could play the guitar and the clarinet.  I played the bass guitar, occasionally the piano, and sometimes the trombone.  We had fun switching instruments.  However, it was the vocals that carried us.  We could sing!

A story that I like to tell is the one about our "Blanket Excuse" from missing classes at McMurry. Dr. Bennett ordered the dean of the faculty (Dr. Howard Ramsey) to make sure that we were not penalized for missing class since we were promoting the college and we often returned to Abilene very late on Sunday nights and often had shows during the week. However, I took one class (History and Principles of PE) taught by Pete Shotwell. He was a very well respected football coach in the State of Texas. His teams had won several state titles and he served as athletic director at McMurry. He also had the largest football stadium in Abilene named after him. Well. I often missed his class.  I turned in all the required papers, passed all the quizzes, but when the final grades came out, he gave me an "F". Needless to say, I was upset, I thought the dean would "make it right", but I was wrong. In this case, Pete Shotwell was more powerful than the president or the dean of the faculty. I had to retake the whole course the next semester!

Windjammer Changes

In 1966 a new freshman from Borger Texas came to McMurry.  His name was Pat Hamilton.  He joined the Chanters and immediately made an impression on Jerrel and I.  He was the first uninhibited person I had ever met.  He was a free spirit who reminded me of Robin Williams, and he could sing beautifully.  He had tremendous stage presence and in the summer of 1966 he won a spot at Six Flags as a single performer.   That summer Jack lived at home with his parents in Irving while working with us at Six Flags.  Jerrel and I asked Pat to stay with us in an apartment we rented in Arlington Texas while we all worked at Six Flags.  As the situation developed, Jerrel and I asked Pat to join the WINDJAMMERS, since Jack was graduating from McMurry in the fall.  Needless to say it was a rough breakup.  Jack went on to form a group called "The Shoppe" with his brother.  They were very successful as a country-rock band for many years.

Looking back on the transition, I can say that our act was truly enhanced when Pat joined our group.  We decided to forget folksinging and went to electric instruments.  With Pat, our act turned into singing with comedy.  Our bookings continued through 1967.  Jerrel and I were looking at graduating from McMurry and fearing "The US Army Draft" which was looming in our future.  In the Summer of 1967, we did a concert at Baylor University in Waco which was very well received.  After the concert a man named Gene Northway asked us "what is your draft status?"  We told him we were going to break up because we knew we were going to be drafted.  (We were physically fit and college graduates.  There was no lottery system in those days).  Well, Gene had a friend in the Pentagon in Washington DC.

Windjammer Early Years

Jack, Jerrel, and I were quite busy performing at assemblies in many of the high schools near Abilene. We were able to get into a recording studio in Dallas and produce our first 45 RPM record "Joshua" and the flip side "Let It Be Me". Our next record was a song called "The Drifter" and the flip side was "The Red Rose". Jerrel sang the lead on "The Drifter" which got major airplay and really helped our bookings.  We were actually screamed at by young audiences during this time.   We were full-time college students, but very busy on the weekends. We were selling our records from the stage. We travelled in Jerrel's '57 Ford sedan which meant that whoever was riding in the back seat had to lay down under my bass fiddle. We performed with two microphones and converted stereo speakers using the amplifier from a tape recorder which meant the every performance was recorded.  I believe those recordings made us much more accurate singers.

In the Spring of 1965, we auditioned and won a job for the summer show at Six Flags Over Texas.
In early 1966 we were selected as one of the acts on the state-wide CBS Television show called "Campus Talent 66". It was a big deal on campus when the CBS affiliate station in Houston (KHOU) visited McMurry to film our performance.

In the Spring of 1966, we accepted an invitation from the management of Six Flags (we did not have to audition) to again perform for the summer at Six Flags.  Some of the people that were performing with us were:  Jay Johnson, a ventriloquist who later starred on the sitcom "Soap".  Betty Buckley, who later starred on Broadway in "Cats".  Jane Hitch who was Miss Oklahoma in the Miss America pageant.  Micky McClelland who later became a Playboy Playmate.  Cissy King, who later danced regularly on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Singing Fool

I am writing this blog to document my life as a professional musician.

Looking back on my life, growing up in Roswell New Mexico was pleasant.  I am the oldest of 5 children of Pete and Elizabeth Walter.  Our family was very musical.  Mom and Dad owned a piano studio where they taught piano to many of the residence of Roswell.  Since our family was large, our daily routine was regimented.  My siblings and I were required to learn piano and a "second instrument" from age six on.  During my time in Roswell, I played piano, violin, trombone, and took voice lessons.  Our family also sang during the Christmas season, as a madrigal group, for our friends and neighbors.  In high school, I played one year in the band, but enjoyed the Roswell High Choir much more.  I was honored to be selected as one of the "Roadrunners " (a barbershop quartet) my junior and senior years.  The group travelled quite a bit and I gained valuable experience singing in front of crowds.   

In 1963 I went off the college.  I received a small scholarship from our church to attend McMurry College/University.   I was a frustrated athlete.  I knew my father was a good athlete, but he never had the time to coach me or attend many sporting events with me.  I was an average athlete, but had little success in organized sports.  As you know, the mid 1960's were a time of rebellion and I was determined to NOT be a musician.   I decided to pursue a degree in education, hoping to become a football coach someday.  At McMurry I did join the choir, but just for fun.

While in the choir (The Chanters), I met some guys who were starting a folk group.  The original group consisted of Jack Wilcox (McM head cheerleader) Jerrel Elliott, Kenneth Elliott, Sam Barnes, and myself. We called ourselves THE WINDJAMMERS. Our first performance was to be at the TIP Singsong on November 22, 1963.  The event was cancelled because of the JFK assassination earlier that day.   We were disappointed because we had rehearsed quite a bit and did not get to perform.  Jack decided to see if we could get a "paying gig".  Somehow he got us a job singing at the Abilene Downtown Petroleum Club once a month.  Kenneth Elliott left the group because he had already joined the US Marines earlier that year.  Sam Barnes left the group in the spring of 1964 when he did not come back to college.  Jack, Jerrel and I were having success singing at various venues around Abilene.  One day, Dr.Gordon Bennett (President of McMurry College) asked us if we would promote McMurry when we performed.  Of course we agreed and received some compensation towards our college fees.