AMEA Hall of Fame The following pages feature the twenty inductees of the inaugural class of AMEA’s Hall of Fame
Dr. L. Gene Black has been a life member of MENC /AMEA since 1960 and has frequently served as a choral festival adjudicator, guest conductor and choral clinician across the country. He has received numerous honors, awards and holds membership in several professional societies. He is respected throughout the country and abroad as a music educator, conductor of the renowned Samford University A Cappella Choir, and currently as conductor of the A Cappella Alumni Choir. Dr. Black is widely recognized for his work in the area of a cappella choral music and has brought worldwide recognition to Alabama through the lasting and positive impressions his choirs have made across Europe and Asia in 27 international tours. Dr. Black holds the Bachelor’s Degree in music education from Samford University, and the Master of Arts, Educational Specialist and the Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. His career began as a choral teacher in secondary education until his return to Sam- ford in 1965 as associate conductor of the A Cappella Choir. He was conductor of the choir 1967-1999. During his 35 year teaching tenure at Samford he was Professor of Music/Music Education, Director of Choral Activi-
ties, Associate Dean of the School of Music and Dean of the School of Music. Colonel Carleton Butler
was born February 2, 1907 in Edinberg, Ohio and died May 27, 1993 in Ashville, North Carolina. He attended high school in Warren, Ohio graduating in 1924. He attended Dana’s Musical Institute from 1924-28; Kent State University from 1928-32; and the University of Alabama in 1935. He was band director in the Elementary School in Birmingham, Alabama in 1929-30; Ramsay High School, Birmingham, Alabama 1930-34; and the Univer- sity of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Alabama from 1935 until his retirement in 1969. He was also band director at Tuscaloosa High School from 1935 until 1946. During his 34 years as band director at the University of Ala- bama, Colonel Butler was a driving influential force behind the band movement in the State of Alabama. In 1939 he called a meeting of Alabama band directors at the University of Alabama to form the Alabama Band- masters Association of which he was elected the first President. Colonel Butler was loved by his band members and respected by his peers. He lifted the “Million Dollar Band” to National prominence through his insistence of high, quick stepping, elaborate maneuvers, and accuracy and style of musical performance. He conceived the fabled time, tempera- ture, and score drill that baffled and delighted fans at home and at the many national appearances at the major bowls. Colonel Butler was appointed Honorary Colonel in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, University of Alabama in 1940 and appointed Honorary Colonel in the Great State of Alabama by Governor John Patterson in 1959. In 1968 he was presented a plaque by the University of Alabama Stu- dent Body, for 34 years of outstanding service to the University and the “Million Dollar Band” . Also in 1968 he was presented a Cer- tificate of Appreciation for “Outstanding Service to Music Education in the State of Alabama” for serving as president of the Alabama Music Educators Association in 1956 and 1958. . He was awarded the “Outstanding Bandmasters Award” by Phi Beta Mu, national band- masters honorary fraternity in 1969. In 1979 $10,000 was donated by former students and friends for the University of Alabama schol- arships in the name of Colonel Butler and in 1980, to honor Colonel Butler, the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama the naming and dedication of the band practice field,”Butler Field”. Colonel Butler was inducted into the Phi Beta Mu Alabama Bandmas- ters Hall of Fame in 1976.
Dr. Ed Cleino taught in public schools in Missouri before coming South and teaching at Vanderbilt University 1939 to 1942. He entered the Army Air Force in 1942, and was commissioned in 1943. He served at several airfields before being assigned to the 20th Air Force on Guam, where the mission was “round trips” to Japan. Following WW II, he and his young family moved to the The University of Alabama in 1949, as the College of Education opened its Music Education program. Cleino designed and opened Alabama’s first Master’s Program in Music Education in 1951, followed by doctoral programs in 1960. He has been a member of MENC for 60 years, and was President of the Southern Division 1969-1973. He edited Ala Breve for about ten years, and served as AMEA Membership Chairman for many years. With the opening of the state-wide “Educational Tel- evision Network,” Cleino taught TV music lessons designed for in-school use, beginning in 1956. The series, called “Music Time,” was used by 50,000 to 65,000 children each week, with the program continuing for 17 years. Though Cleino retired in 1978, he continues to serve as a mentor to undergraduate music students at UA. His greatest pride is in the success of his former students in their teaching of music in Alabama and in many other states.
50 ALA BREVE
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