That same summer Holmes McNeely retired as band director of

That same summer Holmes McNeely retired as band director of the Marching Owl Band. He was replaced by Bert Roth who was one of the forces behind transitioning the Marching Owl Band into the MOB. Google the MOB to get an idea of how the band changed.

When I started playing with the MOB in the fall of ‘67, I was way better and could blow long and loud despite the crummy embouchure and sustain my lip for the entire football game.

Note that the summer of ‘67 was a pivotal year in my love life. I was completely hooked on Kathy. I made three trips to St Louis that summer. I proposed to her on the second trip. And we got married on 23 November that year.

That summer I also committed to go to grad school so I stepped up my studying. So in the fall of ‘67 I was playing in the MOB, playing in Eloy’s band, working part time at the Speech and Hearing Center, going to Rice full time with a 21 semester hour load and courting Kathy. Something had to give. I had a goal written out that if I wanted to go to grad school I had to make the dean’s list the rest of my time at Rice.