May 2017 
  
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In this Issue
1. May 6 General Meeting Recap
2. Membership Update
3. Band Banquet on the 21st Floor
4. The Matt Taylor Photo Collection
5. What I've Learned
6. This Band Loves Its Diamond Ms
7. Thank You, Arlene Manthey
8. And the Pony Award Goes to
9. Nostalgic Photos

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May 6 General Meeting Recap  
    


An intimate group gathered in the band hall on Saturday, May 6 for the Spring Meeting, the last gathering of the Diamond M Club for the 2016-17 membership year.  Following the meeting, everyone present - which included alumni, band students, and SMU development and alumni officers - enjoyed fantastic Freebirds burritos custom-assembled right there on the spot.  

Diamond M Club president Kellie Johnson led the presentations and some subsequent brainstorming on challenges and strategies for the 2017-18 membership year.  Outgoing Club board member Mark Dempsey displayed his love of charts and metrics with a too-detailed rundown of Club communications and social media messaging.  And while Don and Tommy weren't able to be at the meeting in person, Don prepared a spiffy PowerPoint to recap the band's 2016-17 school year.



Here are some highlights of the meeting...

* At press time, the Diamond M Club's "FFE" account designed to fund student scholarships has over $538,000.  We expect to add another $50,000 to that fund at the end of the current fiscal year.

* Fundraising was boosted by over $10,000 collected through three new promotions: Name the Uniform, Guest Conductors, and SMU's special Mustangs Give Back.

* Game day tailgates were enhanced by our new giant white feather flags (that's President Turner showing his Mustang Band pride below) and the successful distribution of "BEAT" stickers.  We were shocked to see how far and wide the stickers traveled.  We saw them everywhere.



* Discussions are ongoing to develop a tiered "menu" for Boulevard tailgate sponsorship to maximize corporate sponsor support.

* The new Diamond M Club website launched in September 2016 and since then we've hosted 2000+ page views.

* In the last 12 months, the Diamond M Club's Twitter feed has made 110,000 impressions, up from 43,400 impressions in the previous 12 months (a 153% increase).

* We now have 30 videos posted on our YouTube channel, almost all of them Mustang Band and Alumni Band performances, with over 3100 views to date.

* Our Facebook page has added over 60 likes in the last 12 months, which continues to expand the Diamond M Club reach and get us in more feeds.

* In an effort to boost traffic at AARO, we ran a special recruiting ad (see below) in the AARO edition of the Campus Weekly last summer:



* The directors report that they're already welcoming 16 incoming students for next year, far ahead of last year's recruiting pace.

* Seven donors have donated four-year awards to provide $5000 a year to band students.  And the late Wade Choate set up funding before he passed away to provide $5000/year for a band member in perpetuity.

* Big projects for the upcoming 2017-18 membership year will be the hosting of a fundraising gala celebrating the band's 100th anniversary at Homecoming and the production of a special Mustang Band video to help with recruiting new members and adding hype and sizzle to halftime shows.  Both have been discussed for many months and we're excited to finally be moving them forward.

* Your new 2017-18 Diamond M Club board was also announced.  Joining the five hard-working incumbents...

Tricia Clark
Kellie Johnson
Jennifer Henry
Brian Waddle
Amanda Weise

...will be four new members.  Two board members, both recent graduates, and two student representatives:

Gerry Hendrix
Nick Morris
Alexis Jones, student rep
Sabreena Robinson, student rep

We also want to give a big "Hubba!" to the outgoing Diamond M Club members, who donated their time, their energy, and their passion for the Mustang Band.  Thank you, Paul Vattakavanich, Mark Dempsey, and Courtney Kent.  This year was a huge success because you were involved in making it so.

Membership Update  
    
 
Please remember that there are only a few short weeks left in the Diamond M Club's 2016-17 membership year.  Come June 1, we'll have to re-set everything and roll the odometer back, Ferris Bueller-style, and start over.
 
The chart below - presented at the May 6 meeting - shows (as of early April 2017) the dramatic increase in Diamond M Club membership over the last few years.  We've increased membership for three straight years but we need your help to crack 240 members for 2016-17 and make this the best year ever. Research suggests that a number of 2015-16 members have yet to join for 2016-17... so if that's you, we hope you'll consider pledging this month!
 
To join, just click on the blue button below.  From there you can pledge online with a credit card or print out a paper form to include with a check by mail.
 
 
Please pledge by Wednesday, May 31!
 
Band Banquet on the 21st Floor 
    


The Mustang Band held their annual end-of-year banquet last month and - with the help of the Diamond M Club - was able to hold the event off campus.  Rather than in the dank, beige basement of Hughes-Trigg, the band banquet was held on the spacious 21st floor of the Doubletree Hotel at Campbell Center.  Banquet newsletter correspondent Courtney Kent (senior, Diamond M Club student rep, pictured above with Tommy Tucker) reports that it was the nicest venue in all of her four years at SMU.  As usual, slideshows were presented, awards awarded, and red senior blankets distributed.

Below are your 2016-17 Mustang Band student awards.

Outstanding Freshman: Alex Bridges, Twirler
Outstanding Upperclassman: Stefan Raicevic, Senior, Trombone
Outstanding Spirit & Loyalty: Lawson Mallory, Senior, Master Beater (drums)
Mr/Mrs. Mustang Band: Jake Moon, Senior, Trumpet
Jack Rohr Award: Courtney Kent, Senior, Baritone

Remember that we're keeping track of these awards - which of which go back more than 30 years - at our fancy Google Sheet.  If you want to see the band's history in detail or want to fill in some of the gaps, please visit:  http://bit.ly/1ADk5we 

Special thanks to Hannah Hughes for sharing these photos with us.




And now a few from Kellie Johnson:







The Matt Taylor Photo Collection  
    


Mustang Band drummer Matt Taylor (frosh 90) was a senior photography major when he approached then-directors Bob Brandenberger and Lou Dorfman in the summer of 1993 with a pitch. Matt wanted to capture the entire year of the band, taking photos wherever possible.  He'd already been doing some photography, including a number of photos from the 1991-92 season.  But this would be a much more organized project.

Says Matt, "I remember going to Bob and Lou and asking to do this.  And I remembered they were worried it would interrupt things or be a distraction."  But they ultimately agreed.  And from an early-1990s era where cameras used film, computers didn't have internet browsers, and communications outside required a pay phone or a very loud voice, Matt's efforts provide us a thorough look at the way the Mustang Band was 20+ years ago.



As to whether Matt shot slide film or color 35mm, there is some debate.  The best of Matt's images wound up in the famous Mustang Band banquet slide shows, often carefully produced by Brian Waddle.  But some of the images look to be slide transfers from 35mm color prints.  And Mark Dempsey secretly converted some of those slides into color prints to keep for himself, a process that degraded the image (it could have been a print turned into a slide turned back into a print).  In the end, lots of Matt's photos are floating around out there in varying degrees of quality.  (Further muddying the water, some images not taken by Matt ended up in the banquet slideshow and then got lumped together and called a "Matt Taylor photo.")





The story of Matt's pictures took a dramatic turn in late 1994 when the band hall flooded.  We turn now to Thomas Dunlap, whose wife Cathy Dunlap (then Cathy Adams) rescued the slides from the rising water:

"The slides were in a box she rescued from the great Band Hall flood in 94, I think. She saved several VCR tapes of halftime shows and also the Dempsey art that was around at that time. You should definitely get her telling of the story, braving the rapids coming up from the Natatorium. This may be slightly inaccurate: several of the best slides were pulled in 1995 to make a band banquet video. Cathy remembers taking them to video producer way out in east Garland at the time. The slides I have are predominately of the 93 football season, with a few from the following spring basketball."

When discussing this important archival work via Facebook and then on the phone, Matt at first could only muster a vague recollection of doing any of it.  (His wife Stephanie, an SMU student at the time, as well, remembers it much better.)  Aside from remembering asking Bob and Lou in the summer as described above, Matt only has one other vivid memory: "I remember at the end of the year standing at Lou's desk, asking about keeping the pictures and giving the band a copy and he said absolutely not. They're owed by the band."

We offer a small assortment of these photos here.  For the rest, you'll have to visit the Diamond M Club Facebook page, where we've uploaded close to 200+ images from 1991-1994.  We hope you'll annotate the images and share your memories.  As for the slides and the negatives and the prints that the Dunlaps preserved... those will be soon going back to the band hall, 20+ years after the flood.



As for Matt, he built a successful career after graduation in commercial photography, but that industry suffered in the wake of 9/11.  And so Matt changed jobs and now builds homes.  After spending years in the Bay Area, he's moved with his family to Arkansas.

Hubba, Matt!  (That's him below circa 1993.)



What I've Learned  
    


When current president Kellie Johnson (our years in the Mustang Band together overlapped for two years) first suggested I consider running for the Diamond M Club board of directors in the spring of 2013, I'd only been back in North Texas for a few months after spending 17 years in Southern California "exile," far removed from SMU, "Pony Battle Cry," trumpet buzzes, and the Mustang Band.  So the board seemed like a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends and support an organization that meant so much to my years at SMU.  When I joined the Diamond M Club board a few weeks later, I was presented with the chance to manage the monthly newsletter and help elevate the Club's social media presence.  That job soon turned into an obsession to reach and engage as many people as possible by any means necessary. 

The newsletter, as regular readers know, took on a life of its own, a platform not just for announcing membership pledge drives and tailgates, but also a tool to celebrate and explore the Mustang Band's unique culture and rich history.  Getting the Diamond M Club newsletter in my e-mail in-box while I was out there in California was no small thing.  It offered a window into fond memories of my past and provided an assurance that those memories were being made anew by current Mustang Band members.  The newsletter connected me back to SMU.  The newsletter made me write a check.  

And so I hoped to do for newsletter readers what my predecessors - Carolann Jacobs and Mark Scovill - had done for me.  This newsletter has been a labor of love, but it works only because of the contributions of countless others who took the time to send emails or schedule phones conversations with me in my quest to provide original content.*  

This is my 48th Diamond M Club newsletter.  After four years, I'm taking a hiatus from the board and letting someone else connect with readers like you and deliver important messages about the Diamond M Club and the Mustang Band.

But first I'd like to leave you with a few lessons I learned...

* There's nothing quite like those first few bars of "Shantytown."

* The Mustang Band is certainly different in many ways from when I (or, probably, when you) was in the band, but it's also the same in many ways.  Traditions evolve.  Band halls change.  New songs are added.  Technology advances.  But the tireless members of the Mustang Band are still practicing in the heat, still rehearsing late into the night during Pigskin week, still learning the harmonies of "Varsity," still getting beanies, and no doubt still developing leadership skills and making friendships that will last long past their graduation date.  Until 2013, I probably hadn't been to an SMU home football game since 1995 or so, but I was struck by how familiar it all was.  The only noticeable difference ? All the crooked necks bent over smartphones.

* We may never know the origin of Peruna Pete and who first built him.

* The Diamond M Club still has hundreds and hundreds of those blue plastic cups.  It will take forever and a day to get rid of them all.

* The Mustang Band's unique look and sound inspires devotion in a broad range of people.  Whether you spent four years in the band or never marched a step, those who love the band... really love the band.  This is no doubt why the new band hall was constructed with the largest number of individual donors in the history of SMU. 

* Alumni love to tell their story.  Over time, I was no longer surprised when band alums - especially a select handful who became my "go to" sources whether they liked it or not - quickly agreed to help with a newsletter article.  If the newsletter managed to shine a light on some quirky, entertaining aspect of band culture, it's only because so many helped.

* When it comes to managing game day tailgates on the Boulevard, golf carts matter.  Riding a golf cart around campus on game day is the closest thing to royalty I may ever get.  Everyone stops and looks, children wave, police officers nod, barricades are dragged aside to give you room.

* The Diamond M Club is managed smartly and efficiently, but they cannot do it alone.  Considering that members of the board all full-time jobs - and many have young children - it's remarkable the accomplishments and successes the board has achieved during my four years working with them.  Seven motivated, passionate people can do a lot.  Imagine if they had more help.  So if you love the Mustang Band, don't be passive witnesses.  Get involved.  In addition to the offering donations and pledges, consider volunteering with your hands and you brainpower to help at events, whether it's setting up the Boulevard, taking photos, identifying tailgate sponsors, forwarding this newsletter, or helping with student recruiting efforts.

* There is no bureaucracy quite like a university bureaucracy.

* Social media is only as strong as its engagement.  Retweet.  Share.  Forward.  Spread the word.

* The old band hall, cramped and old as it was, had one clear benefit: band members were surrounded on all sides by history and culture.  Walking down that ramp, there was no doubt that you were part of a long line of proud, spirited Mustang Band members.  The new band hall is beautiful and plush in countless ways, but it's a very different environment.  My hope is that efforts will be undertaken soon to recreate some of the old-school charm of that space under the natatorium bleachers to keep the fires of history and tradition burning.  Hang the new freshman blocks, find a place for the old metal band hall sign, frame some photos - old and new, yell when going through the archway.

A big "hubba!" to all of my fellow Diamond M Club board members, but especially my two presidents - Roger Pace and Kellie Johnson - who, along with directors Don Hopkins and Tommy Tucker, more or less turned me loose and never rejected an idea.  It has been a pleasure.

Buzz em up.

Mark Dempsey, frosh 90

* Newsletter highlights:

This Band Loves Its Diamond Ms  
    


It's an unwritten rule of Mustang Band graphic design.  When in doubt, add a Diamond M. 

If you can correctly identify the source of all 16 of these diamond Ms from a variety of eras... then we're very impressed.

Thank You, Arlene Manthey  
    
 
For many years, she's been an enthusiastic, upbeat staple at just about every Mustang Band fundraising event and a loyal, energetic attendee at countless Mustang Band performances.  Even if you don't know her name, you probably know who she is.  Her name is Arlene Manthey (that's her in the photo on the right with Diamond M Club president Kellie Johnson) and after working closely with the Mustang Band for so long, she's been reassigned as part of a university reorganization.  Arlene will now serve SMU as a Leadership Gift Officer in the Office of Development and External Affairs.

But we couldn't let her go without a proper "thank you."  And so, as is our custom, we sent her a few questions via email to learn more about her time with the Mustang Band.

When did you start working with the band?

This is a difficult one for me to answer since it seems as though I have always had the privilege of "working" with the Band even as a Student Activities professional when I joined the SMU family back in 1985. Working alongside Bob Brandenberger, Louis Dorfman, David Kehler, Don Hopkins, and Tommy Tucker and the men and women of the Mustang Band with events such as Midnight Yell, lots of pep rallies, Family Weekend spirit rallies, Homecoming candidates at Pigskin Revue, lots and lots of Homecoming parades, campus events, and more just strengthened my love for this group from my beginning days at SMU.

And then . . . in 2006, Dr. Jim Caswell allowed me the opportunity to put on my fundraising hat for Student Affairs and dive head first into SMU Unbridled: The Second Century Campaign. At the top of the list for Student Affairs funding initiatives was the Mustang Band Hall and then the fun began!

What was it like to work on the new band hall fundraising? 

It was joy . . .pure joy because I had the opportunity to work with the Hub of SMU Spirit on a project that I knew in my heart would be worth every ounce of sweat, tears, time, and effort that it would take. I was working on something that I believed was so important for the life of SMU. I had the chance to get to know the best alumni in the whole wide world - the Mustang Band alumni.

I did not manage this project. I had the chance to be a part of a dynamic team of committed Mustang Band alumni, Diamond M Club leadership, and two great Mustang Band Directors, Don and Tommy! Randy Hopkins, Ralph Hamm, and Will Green were band alumni volunteers extraordinaire along with Diamond M Club leadership of Boyd Patterson, Cindy Meachum, Louis Carpenter, Roger Pace, Tricia Clark, and Kellie Johnson. Setting the groundwork for this project had certainly begun long before I came along with Art Buhl and Margaret Finley and many others. And then there was Judith Banes, former Director of the Dedman Center who had the vision to make sure that in the new renovation and expansion of the Dedman Center that a space was built with the sole purpose of being the new home for the Mustang Band. Working with all of these individuals, along with the incredible student leaders of the Mustang Band through the years, was absolutely the highlight of my last 10 years at SMU.

What was the biggest challenge/biggest accomplishment?

Not finding that one special donor who could make the lead gift of $1.5 million dollars...but instead finding over 1250 donors who helped make the Mustang Band Hall a reality!

Why do you think the band is important to SMU?

What makes someone LOVE their alma mater? What happens to a student at SMU when that connection is made to their heart - that ties this institution to something deep within them. What sounds and feelings and experiences bring that joy and that connection to the heart of a student? I believe that nothing captures that connection, that feeling, that joy, that heartstring moment more profoundly than the music of the Mustang Band. And when that student becomes that alum, what triggers that feeling, what gets them "fired up" about the red and blue and The Hilltop and Peruna - that's right - it is the SMU Mustang Band - the Hub of SMU Spirit.

The students of the SMU Mustang Band are truly some of our finest student leaders at SMU. They are servant leaders and their contributions to SMU both in the Band, in the classroom, and in other arenas of campus life are outstanding. 

Diamond M Club, the Mustang Band alumni, parents of Mustang Band students, friends of the Mustang Band - those who love the Mustang Band are truly our most loyal and devoted fans and supporters.

Why is the Mustang Band important to SMU? SMU is simply not SMU without the Mustang Band. 

The final word goes to Diamond M Club president Kellie Johnson: "I'm looking forward to working with new folks in development and to leverage new contacts to further our fundraising scope and reach. It has been a pleasure working with Arlene. Her effervescent personality is contagious. She's a great friend to Mustang Band. Her tireless efforts are greatly appreciated. We'll miss working closely with her in our development activities."

"Hubba!" Arlene.  We appreciate your service. 
 
And the Pony Award Goes to... 
    
 
The Diamond M Club was invited by SMU Athletics to sponsor a table at last month's Pony Awards, SMU's glitzy sports banquet.  Fittingly, the Club also had the honor of presenting the "Red and Blue Awards" to athletes who embody SMU spirit.  That's our president Kellie Johnson in the photo below, on stage ready to hand out one of the two awards.  Ramon Flanigan was the  special guest of the Diamond M Club. 

The winners were women's basketball player Morgan Bolton and men's golfer Ben Baxter.  

The Diamond M Club's involvement was part of an overall effort to increase cooperation and partnership with Athletics and with the Mustang Club to continue expanding Club reach and awareness.  As we all know, as dedicated as Mustang Band alumni may be, the success of the Diamond M Club depending on raising funds from outside the band "family."




 
Nostalgic Photos - Directors     

2014, Don Hopkins

1983, Coach and Bob Brandenberger
2004, David Kehler

1971, Coach

Diamond M Club / Southern Methodist University / Dallas, Texas 75275