The Pride of Durant High School band finished its band camp last week and head band director Chris Gregg was honored for recently being inducted into the Oklahoma Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame.
Gregg has been director of the Durant High School band since fall 2000 and he is the fourth director in the history of the Durant band program to receive this honor.
He said he was humbled and honored to receive this prestigious award.
“This should speak volumes about the tradition of excellence and the legacy of the hard work of thousands of students over the decades, the support of the community of boosters and school administrators, and band leadership that has impacted the city of Durant,” Gregg said.
Gregg was honored and pre- sented a cake Aug. 9, which was the last day for the band camp.
“I think that he really deserves it,” said Victoria Langley, who is the head drum major for the Pride of Durant. “He’s a hard working individual. He inspires so many kids. His passion, it just lights up and it spreads to everyone around him and I think that he is absolutely deserving of this award.
“A lot of people could have gotten this but I think that he really stood out from the options.”
Gregg spoke last week about the band camp and he said band members were doing physical conditioning and learning basic marching fundamentals to prepare them for the show this year which is Beetlejuice. The band has 40 incoming freshmen this season.
“It has music from the movie but it’s also very strongly based on the musical,” Gregg said. “There’s a lot of just real campy sounds and things and solos and features. It’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of section features too so a lot of bright colors and of course, we’re going to have the Beetlejuice out there too.”
He spoke of the accomplishments of The Pride last season.
“We were the Tigerpalooza grand champions last year,” Gregg said. “We had a pretty successful marching season. It didn’t end quite the way we wanted it to. The weather got us pretty bad at OSSAA (marching band competition) and then also in the spring, we swept our concert band contest at state and then we finished the year at the American Classics in Corpus Christi, winning outstanding band of the day and earning straight superiors, also.”
Langley said band members were fantastic during band camp.
“They pushed through this heat and the 12 to 13 hour days, maybe more for some kids and I think that everyone stayed consistent,” Langley said. “They pushed through and they’re all hard workers and I’m really excited for this season and for all of our future accomplishments.”
