Patriots’ Pence sets standard of excellence

Look at the wall.

The one behind Ron Pence’s desk in the underbelly of Homewood High School. On it hang three pictures, all taken from an overhead view at the last three Tournament of Roses Parades the Homewood Patriot Band marched in.

The frame on the left is from 2003, the frame in the middle from 2009 and the frame on the right from 2014. The size of the band swells with each shot.

“There’s the monster,” Chris Cooper said, pointing to the picture from five years ago, when the band had 400 members.

The images provide lasting memories for Pence, Homewood’s band director for the past 23 years, and Cooper, who has been his assistant director for all but three of them. The two men are best friends and neighbors, with musically inclined minds so in tune that they often wear the same clothes to work.

Together, they have taken the Patriot Band to unparalleled heights.

“There’s not a band director in the country who’s done as many parades as Mr. Pence has done,” Cooper said. “It’s pretty phenomenal.”

In mid-September, Cooper reflected on Pence’s achievements and, to a greater extent, his legacy. That’s because the time for reflection has come. After more than two decades of inspiring and guiding excellence, Pence plans to retire after the 2019-20 academic year.

Then, the band will be under Cooper’s direction.

“There comes a time when you need a change, and that’s what we needed,” Pence said. “Mr. Cooper needed a change. I needed a change, because the most important thing is the program itself.”

Pence said he has given his heart and soul to the Homewood band program and feels like he has lost a step in recent years. He wants the band to have the energy it needs.

“Doing what we do takes a lot out of you each and every day,” he said.

Pence and Cooper are treating the current school year as one of transition. Cooper has moved from Homewood Middle School, where he had worked since 1999, to the high school. He’s now teaching the marching band classes that Pence used to oversee and is sharing with Pence the title of band co-director.

“That doesn’t happen in a lot of places, but he’s always trusted me,” Cooper said. “We’ve trusted each other. We’ve always had the same philosophy, the same goals.”

Their lives have long been intertwined.

Pence hired Cooper to be his assistant band director at Foley High School upon Cooper’s graduation from Auburn University in the early 1990s. Cooper taught at Gulf Shores Middle School during the day, while Pence taught at Foley Middle School.

They then joined forces in the afternoon to lead the Foley High band, which they grew to 250 kids.

“It was one of the largest bands in the state at the time,” Cooper said.

Pence stayed at Foley, his alma mater, until coming to Homewood in 1996. He fielded a phone call one day from former Homewood Principal Mike Hathorne, who asked if he was interested in interviewing to be the school’s next band director.

“They had a rich tradition,” Pence said, “and I was hired to come in and keep that tradition going.”

Cooper, meanwhile, returned home to Orlando to work at University High School. He followed his stint there with a stop at Gulf Shores High School before Pence convinced him to come to Homewood in 1999.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you come up and just tour and take a visit?’” Cooper recalled. “The rest is history, because you don’t say no to Homewood when it comes to band.”

The two ended up buying homes across the street from each other and raising families together. Cooper’s kids, Molly Kathryn and Mason, and Pence’s kids, Will and Sam, have all been a part of the Homewood band.

Until this year, Cooper oversaw the middle school program and assisted Pence at the high school. The high school band has nearly tripled in size during their tenure, and the school system’s music program has established itself as one of the best in the country.

In addition to the band’s three Rose Parade appearances, it has marched in four Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades in 2000, 2006, 2011 and 2018.

“I thought we could really do something special here, and we have: traveled all over the country, have had the largest band in the state for the last 15 years, and right now we have over 1,000 kids [in grades] six through 12 in the band program,” Pence said. “It’s a real solid foundation for Homewood City Schools.”

Pence’s achievements have far exceeded his expectations. When he was in college at the University of Southern Mississippi, he said he wrote a paper and listed his professional goals. They included having a band of 200 and marching in one Macy’s Parade.

He credits a supportive administration, invested parents and students and a special community for helping him do more than he imagined.

“That’s the cool part about Homewood,” he said. “If you’re a teacher in Homewood or a student in Homewood, if you can dream it, you can do it.”

Cooper selected songs for the band’s show this year with Pence in mind. It’s Spanish-themed, and Cooper described it as a medley of his and Pence’s all-time favorite songs.

The performance features a big opening statement, lots of energy and a memorable closing, Cooper said.

“We end with the greatest band song ever written, called ‘Malaguena,’” Cooper said. “...I wanted his favorite song to be in it for his last year.”

Although Pence will no longer direct the band, he won’t totally disappear. Cooper said Pence will become the band’s director emeritus. Pence will help Cooper in a part-time role as he hands over more complex items such as budgeting and trip planning.

“I don’t think there’s another person on this earth who could take over that job yet except for Chris Cooper,” Lauren Bearden said.

Along with Terrance Cobb and Ryan Murrell, Bearden is one of three band directors at the middle school who also is an assistant at the high school. She has known Pence and Cooper for as long as she can remember.

Bearden graduated from Homewood in 2007 and was a two-year drum major. She then matriculated to Jacksonville State University, which she attended on a full band scholarship, before joining the staff at Homewood in 2012.

She’s going to miss Pence when he retires. But she knows his legacy will endure through the pride, perfection and professionalism that he has woven into the band’s composition.

“He really set the standard for what our band program is,” Bearden said.