Today’s Vintage Twirler Photo: A Baton Twirler and His Dog. This photo, which is available on eBay, was taken around 1952. No other information is available. This is a scan of the original Below is a version restored with AI tools and software. Which do you prefer?
The_Camden News, April 26, 1974 Born in 1927, James Percy “J.P. (Pee Wee)” Crumpler began twirling in 1937 and quickly became one of the most remarkable young drum majors in the South. At just 12 years of age, he was leading the Camden High School Panther Band under the direction of...
James “J.C.” Baskett became one of the most recognizable figures in Tennessee baton twirling through his work as a collegiate performer, instructor, and co-founder of the Tennessee Twirling Institute, a program that helped shape competitive baton twirling across the Southeast during the second...
Cloin H. Watts was one of Globe High School’s most accomplished performers of the early 1950s, earning statewide recognition while still a student. Born in 1936, he began competing at a young age and quickly distinguished himself. By 1952, he had won the Arizona state championship, and he repeated...
Walter Aldine “W.A.” Thomason, was a talented drum major, twirler and tumbler for North Carolina State University. His earliest recorded performance at the University was in 1940. According to Ancestry.com, Thomason was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1920 and died in 1989. He...
Brown University students Robert Hackett (1919-2003), Class of 1941, and Kenneth M. Greene (1920-2021), Class of 1942, pose with guest majorette Betty Brown Lee, 1942. Brown was an Ice Capades star. Photo Source: Brown University Alumni Magazine. Photo published with permission. Here is another...
Please check out our newest page, Mark Nash, A Living Legend. Click here to see it now. In case anyone is wondering, pages provide better design features than posts while posts allow for categorizing and tagging. Thus, we published this content as a page but want to take advantage of...
Before Narada Michael Walden became a famous American drummer, singer, songwriter, and record producer he was drum major for the Plainwell High School Marching Band, Plainwell, Michigan. Walden is best known for his work behind some of the biggest pop and R&B hits of the 1980s and 1990s. He...
The following article is reprinted with permission from the Chicago Sun Times. It was originally published on April 22, 2015. Before World War II, baton twirling was dominated by men. And Gene Shea was one of the best. He twirled across the nation and in Canada, Ireland, Korea and Japan. He met...
Willard Everett Roth was born in 1892 in Warren, Pennsylvania, and died at the age of 80 in Palenville, New York. As a young child, in 1898-99, he was the drum major in his father’s marching band. The Roth Band marched in parades including the parade and reception escorting soldiers home...
Check out the future drum major. He’s ready to lead the band in his rolled up cuffed blue jeans and plaid shirt. This photo was likely taken in the early 1950s. It features a young boy who appears to be around 8-years-old. Sitting in the big floral chair is presumably his younger sister,...
Recently, we received an email recently asking if we’d ever come across any photos of Dale White, a much-beloved living legend in the sport of baton twirling and “the most decorated baton twirling coach” in the sports history. We appreciated the email and so we did some digging....
