Over almost a century, the marching band at Sylacauga High School has had strong contacts with the University of Alabama and its ‘Million Dollar Band.’ Many band members at Sylacauga matriculated to UA and became members of the MDB. So it was only natural when the SHS band started calling itself ‘The Half-Million Dollar Band.’
Former band members from SHS will gather (and some will perform) on Friday, September 4 to mark the 90th anniversary of the band. For 75 years of those 90 years, one family supplied all the band directors – Fess Simpkins, Buddy Simpkins and David Simpkins.
The former band members will first do something they are all used to. They will go to band practice on Thursday night, Sept. 3 at the school in the Simpkins Band Room. Then on Friday, Sept 4, they will march in front of the current student “Aggie Band” in the pre-game show.
Records at the school show that over 2,100 SHS graduates were in the high school band during the three-quarters of a century of the Simpkins era. Another 15 years of students played under different band directors, including current director Sam Childs.
In honor of the Simpkins family, the Sylacauga Schools Foundation endowed a Chair in a 2023 ceremony at the school. The Chair was initiated and funds were raised by the Sylacauga Alumni Band.
The grandfather, the son and the grandson — all with the same last name and the same job at the same school – were honored by the Simpkins Family Legacy Chair.
George Lewis “Fess” Simpkins, the grandfather, started as band director at SHS in 1940 – before World War II, before Pearl Harbor, during the last of the Great Depression, and during the second of President Franklin Roosevelt’s four terms. Fess had graduated from the esteemed Vandercook School of Music.
Fess had been offered the band director’s job at the University of Alabama’s Million Dollar Band earlier. He turned it down but nominated Col. Carleton K. Butler, leading to the long tenure of that legendary Alabama band director. Butler was an old-school military-style band director, contrasted with Fess Simpkins’ jazz style. The UA Band’s $5 million practice field is now named “Butler Field.”
Fess’ decision to go to Sylacauga from Pell City changed the history of Sylacauga for the next 75 years.
Fess was a trumpeter and played in his own jazz band, playing at events through the 1970s. He also put together and conducted a unique and popular all-ladies jazz band.
George “Buddy” Simpkins, the son, took over where Fess left off. He played multiple instruments, including in a jazz band as a drummer or trumpeter. He came to Sylacauga from Holt High School in Tuscaloosa. Buddy Simpkins died in June of this year.
David Simpkins, the grandson, took over when Buddy retired. David plays multiple instruments, including keyboards, in rock groups that appear across east Alabama many nights a month, including Highway 77. David is the Chorale and Worship Leader of Cornerstone First Global Methodist Church in Alexander City.
Fess died in 1981 at age 72. The last surviving Simpkins director, David, now 61, calls himself retired, but the number of events he attends, including many where he furnishes the music, makes it an active and community-oriented retirement.
The influence of the three Simpkins band directors extended beyond the band members. The high school cheerleaders even cheered for the band directors. The cheerleaders wrote lyrics to the school cheers about the band directors. How unusual is that?
“Simpkins swings it red, hot, and blue.”
“Do the Big Apple and the Suzy Q.”
The cheer was accompanied by dance steps of the popular dances of the swing era, the Fess Simpkins era.
Buddy and David Simpkins teamed up with three other musicians to form a jazz band for a graveside service of Sylacauga businessman Jim Clinton on October 6, 2024. Naturally, they played “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
For years, both Buddy and David Simpkins would show up at the annual alumni band reunion and play, along with the other alums and the current Aggie student band. This year is the first year that Buddy Simpkins is deceased, but his spirit lives on in the lives of the thousands of students he touched.
Members of the public who go to the football game on Sept. 4 – Sylacauga hosting the Leeds Greenwave — will get two shows for the price of one. They also will see the alumni band performing alongside the student band in their pre-game show.
Anytime something good happens on the field for the home team, you will hear a cheer that has been heard for 90 years – “GO AGGIES.”
Jim ‘Zig’ Zeigler is a freelance writer about the colorful and positive in Alabama — her people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former State Auditor. You can reach him for comments at [email protected].
Disclaimer: Zeigler played in the Sylacauga High Band under Fess Simpkins and plays to this day in the Sylacauga Alumni Band. He will perform Sept. 4. He played in the Million Dollar Band under Col. Carleton K. Butler.
