In The Beginning ......
Dr. Hank Calhoun came to
Hilton Head from the
The first recorded minutes of
the Hilton Head chapter happened on
Dave Stevens visited them on
one of their Monday night rehearsals, which were held at St. Andrew-by-the-Sea
Church. In his report to headquarters, he stated that the chapter was for real
but with a high age average. Nothing has changed.
Their newsletter, the
forerunner of “The Pitch”, volume 1, number 1, came in to being
The first annual show was
held at the Holiday Inn on
The 1976 show was held at the
The 1977 show was also at the
Elementary School. "Dealers Choice" were the
big guns. They were the 1973 International champs. Ron Parker, a new member of
our chapter, got his brother, Gary Parker, the bass of “Dealers Choice,” to
have the quartet sing at the show for no fee; just transportation. What a
deal. Of course, “The "Rebel
Rousers” represented our chapter.
In 1978, the chapter had grown
to 50 members. The annual show was a little different. They showed off the
“Sandpipers”, an in-house octet; “The Marsh Wrens,” a Sweet Adelines
quartet; a “Farmer" quartet with Robert Peeples singing bass; a “Cowboy”
quartet, and “The Rebel Rousers.”
Everybody got into the act. The top dog was “The Racquet Squad” with our
own Dave Frankland singing lead.
1979 was a good year. With 45 members, the Hilton Head chapter was
the second largest in the district. That
year, the “Pros N Cons" got top billing. Individually in other quartets,
they had won five international medals, (including two gold medals). They also
had seven district championships. Three were certified judges and all were, or
are, directors. Many of you remember their tenor, Harry Williamson. Their bass
was none other than Tom Ewald, a recent candidate for our Chapter’s chorus
director.
Fifty members helped make
1980 a great year with numerous sing-outs as well as the annual show in
May. “Crackerland
Chord Company” and “B and O Connection” were in the spotlight. “Crackerland Chord Company" was formed in 1978, and
they became district champions the same year. They competed at the
Internationals in 1979. The “B and O
Connection" were Mid-Atlantic champions in 1978 and came in seventh at the
International in 1978 and third in 1979.
Bill Laidlaw joined the chapter that year and, we gained a GREAT bass.
(We hope he can get back with us again.).
1981 followed 1978 as a good
year for in-house quartets. In 1978 we had three quartets and an octet in the
show. In 81, we had “ Shonuff 4”, “Heritage Foursome” (w/Robert Peeples singing
bass), and “The Rebel Rousers" (w/Hank Calhoun-bari).
The headliners were “The Stacked Deck” and “The Pros N Cons.”
"The Midstates
Four", past International Champions, headlined the 1983 Annual Show, with
the "Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boys" as the second guest quartet. Three
Chapter quartets appeared as well. Bud Max was the President that year but
moved to Florida before his term was up. Bill Bratt
moved up from VP Membership to take his place. This show ended Hank's
directorship, which was taken over by Dick Camp.
A new wrinkle was added on
Saturday Night At The Movies,” 1985s annual show, marked the return
engagement of the "Crackerland Chord
Company" plus the newly crowned Dixie District Champions, the "Bowery
Street Boys" from
George Hopkins was President
in 1986. Hank Calhoun was Membership VP. The year had a good start with lots of
singouts and a mid-May show with the "Side
Kicks" from Florida and our old friends from Savannah, "Tybee
Lighthouse", who helped demonstrate that "There is Something I Like
About Broadway.”
There was a letter in the
program addressed to George Hopkins. Here it is:
"Dear George:
m-m-m-mmmmmmmmm!
Pass the pitchpipe
and permit me to salute the Hilton Head Chapter of the Society for the
Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Singing in
Your barbershop talents will
certainly do justice to the many songs the world likes about Broadway. I am delighted that the great Hilton Head
group has chosen to honor the city of New York with this production.
Thank you,
keep on singing and God Bless!
Sincerely,
Edward I. Koch, Mayor"
1988 marked the 50th
anniversary of the founding of SPEBSQSA. The ranks of the chapter rose to 61,
all active chorus singers.
An unusual event took place
to commemorate the 50th anniversary when George Hopkins set up a display in the
local library to tell the story of barbershopping to
the
The long time friends of our
chapter, the "Pros 'N' Cons", returned in 1989 for our show in May,
announcing that this was their swan song. The lead, Kevin King, had formed a
new quartet to enter the race for the Gold at International. There was a new
group in the show, the "Back Nine", (a very large quartet). They were
very entertaining with their close harmony.
The Rebel Rousers also sang. For the first time in many years an MC
announced the singers and kept the audience in stitches. His name was Melvin
"Skinny" Harris of Charlotte. Ed Wechtel was President and Hank
Calhoun was Show Chairman.
The Chapter began the 90s
with 73 members and two new quartets, "Sunny Side Up" and "Lost
in Sound", making their way into the retinue with names like
“When The Railroads Ran” was
the title of the 1990 show. The featured quartets were "Class Apart"
and a great Quartet from Bellevue, WA, "Northwest Spirit". The show
was the introduction of our bright red jackets.
1991 was a good year for barbershopping on Hilton Head. Membership remained high.
Hank Calhoun presided at the meetings with Bruce Cormack, Ken Houck, Bill
Laidlaw and George Hopkins as Vice Presidents. The annual show, "Grandpa's
Attic", was a happy mélange of old favorites sung by the chorus. The 1990
International Champions, the "Acoustix", were
a smash hit with the audience. The 1990 senior champs, "Grandma's
Beaux", rounded out the evening in style. Dick Von Glahn
played Grandpa. "Five Over Par" made their debut with two songs. This
happy group consisted of Bus Baker, Ell Clymer, George Funk, Curtis Carter, Ed
Wechtel, Dwight Blackslee, John Judge, Jim Ragland,
Don Cedarblade and
This was the year we moved
our weekly meetings and our annual show to the elementary school from Palmetto
Dunes.
1992 began with Bruce Cormack
as our president. We added a long time barbershopper,
Wayne Meier, from Westfield Mass., where he was a director of a chorus for
eight years. He was immediately added to our directing staff as assistant
director. Our annual show, "Down in the Old Neighborhood," a nostalgic
musical trip to those days of songs everybody knew. 1982 champs, "Classic
Collection," returned for the second time and a crazy quartet
"Fred" were second banana and put the audience in the aisles
laughing. Ed Wechtel was the show chairman.
Bruce Cormack
took us into 1993 for a second year as president with a music team under the
gung-ho leadership of Ken Houck and a new quartet, "Calibogue Sound."
John Degnan, a long time barbershopper,
who joined us in 1992, along with John Judge,
In 1994 we lost a friend and
active barbershopper, Don Cedarblade.
Wally stone stepped into his place as base in Calibogue Sound. Ell Clymer was
elected president , backed by Jim Snow VP membership,
Wally Stone VP program, Ken Houck VP music and Frank Moore VP public relations.
Our annual show "
1995 was an up and down year.
We gained new members, including Dick Heckman and Bernie Bookman, but lost bass
section leader Dick Yawger to cancer. The membership
dropped by ten members overall but despite this there were a number of
successful singouts. "The Show of Shows"
was the theme of our annual show and was a rousing success. It featured the
1992 International champs "Keepsake". Their lead, Joe Connolly, was
the best I've ever heard. A fine young quartet fresh out of college, "Class of '94",
filled out our top billing. We had three local quartets, "Calibogue
Sound", "Keystone Rebels", and "Low Country". A month after the show tragedy struck again.
Ken Houck died suddenly following elective surgery.
1996 was an exciting yet
tragic year in that we lost longtime outstanding members Bill Bratt, Bill Huntly and Bruce
Cormack. The membership dropped sharply despite an active schedule. The self
In May we learned a valuable
lesson. Always have two headliner quartets! Our show "Vaudeville on
Broadway" featured International champs "Marquis" and a popular
comedy group "Shenanigans" and an emcee Mr. Barbershop himself,
Freddy King from Baltimore. A problem arose in that Marquis never showed Friday
night. Their bass was socked in by fog in St. Louis. Shenanigans did double
duty, actually two routines and Freddy kept the audience in stitches with his
own brand "shenanigans" to make the show a smash hit. Two local
quartets, "Low Country" and "Keystone Rebels" did their
part to add to the entertainment. All went smoothly Saturday night.
A new man joined the Chapter
in 1997 and dropped the average age of the group by five years. Chris Roach, a
17 year old high school senior came into the chorus adding a fine bass voice.
The Chapter inaugurated a Valentine program being used throughout the Society.
For $30 a quartet would sing two love songs to your sweetie and present a rose
and a card. Three quartets entertained around the
We entered chorus competition
in March of 1997 in
Bernie Bookman headed the
leadership team of the Chapter in 1998, a very successful year in Barbershop on
the
1999 was our Silver
Anniversary, 25 years of barbershopping on Hilton
Head.
Tyrrell did such a good job,
we re-elected him President for 2001. He had a great support group with Bernie
Bernstein, sec; Ian McLeod, Treasurer; Bernie Bookman, VP Music; Zig Palagyi, VP Chapter
Development; and Dick Gosson, VP Marketing. The 2001 Annual Show was titled
"Come on Down to Hilton Town", taken from the adaptation of an old
tune with new words written and arranged by our own Dick Heckman.
Kiah O'Brien, who we were proud to have had as our
Director since 1985, retired from the chorus. He directed the choruses at
Hilton Head High School and middle schools, and the Low Country Presbyterian
Church Choir. He was honored by being selected "Barbershopper
of the Year" in 1994.
"The Barbershop History
of Hilton Head Island" was the title of our 2002 Annual Show. We
acknowledged Charles Fraser for his vision, energy and enthusiasm that spearheaded
the growth of Hilton Head Island. We had two directors for our show, Tim Brooks
from Atlanta and Peter Stevenson, the Director of the "Harbormasters"
in Beaufort, each doing a segment of the show. We were very appreciative of
their help. Headlining the show was the "Four Voices", the 1999 Dixie
District Champs and Bronze International medalists, and the "Wise
Guys", the 1998 Sunshine District Champs.
Zig Palagyi was our President
for part of 2002, but relocated to
Our top guns for the show
this year were “Catfish
Bend”, the 2002 international collegiate champions and “Endeavor”, the 2002
international semi-finalists.
2004, our 30th year, we
presented “Barbershop On Broadway”. Under the directon of Dr. David Brown, we are singing better than
ever and filling the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina both Friday and Saturday
night.
On of are fairly new members,
Jim Grove, became President. As in the past few shows we have had “The Shore
Notes” and this year the
In 2005 we took a
“Sentimental Journey” with “The Hilton Head Lighthouse Chorus”. “Night Life”, the 1997 international
barbershop quartet champions was our guest quartet.
2006 was another good year
for our chapter. We had fifty three members. Our president and show chairman,
Our show “Tribute To The Ladies” was great success.
2007 was our break out year
for chapter quartets. In our March show, “Barbershop And All That JAZZ” we had
six quartets performing. This is what barbershopping
is all about. The average age of our membership came down with the addition of
a good bass, young Richard Melton.
Show chairmen
To be continued.....