*
- The following program
is a co-production
of the University of Wisconsin- Madison
and PBS Wisconsin.
- Mike: Nobody takes me as a serious musician
'cause I'm always putting on funny clothes,
but it's show business. [drumroll]
* [audience cheers exuberantly]
- Narrator: The costumes,
the fireworks,
the really big shows...
- One more time! [roaring cheers]
- A legacy of music and showmanship
that is unmatched.
[blows whistle, yells] - Dig, dig, dig, dig, dig!!!
- 50 years leading the charge and marching to the beat--
- How bad do you want it?
- Musician,
performer,
and the man with the baton. [crowd roars]
- He's got people right here
in the palm of his hand. [thunderous cheering]
- He can entertain anywhere, anybody,
under any circumstance.
[hockey buzzer]
- Unforgettable moments
on the biggest stages.
- He's an icon.
- He's an entertainer.
There's no doubt about it. - Mike: Is that right?
- He's a daredevil. [chuckles]
- Mike: It was fun!
It was still fun. [cymbals clang]
- He's a showman.
- Mike Leckrone: Wisconsin's Showman!
[exuberant cheering]
* ["You've Said It All"]
- Funding for Mike Leckrone: Wisconsin's Showman
is brought to you by
Robert J. Lenz,
Greg and Carol Griffin,
Stanley J. Cottrill Fund,
with additional support from
Rawson S. & Mary L. Price,
Alumni of the University of Wisconsin Band,
Focus Funds for Wisconsin Programming,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
*
[drumming]
- Mike: When the band
comes on the field and plays "On, Wisconsin!"
I feel
the hair crawl up on the back of my neck.
* ["On, Wisconsin!"]
- One of a kind,
a legend, [blows whistle]
Wisconsin's Showman.
There are many descriptions of Mike Leckrone
and thousands of students
who have taken his lessons
beyond the walls
of the University of Wisconsin- Madison.
* ["On, Wisconsin!"]
Mike began his tenure in 1969,
and 50 years later,
retired as
the longest-serving marching band director
in the history of the Big Ten.
- Mike: One of the reasons I stayed with what I'm doing
for all these years:
It was fun!
It was-- It was still fun.
[students chant a cheer] You want it, Bucky? [blows whistle]
- Fifty years of Camp Randall halftime shows,
countless basketball and hockey pep bands...
and the big event of every spring--
the UW Varsity Band Concert.
[pyrotechnic explodes]
[electric drill noises]
[testing microphone] - 1- 2-3, 1- 2-3, 1-2-3.
- Mike: This is my usual route.
Looks good, yeah.
They're way ahead of schedule.
- If you hadn't been to the Spring Concert,
I think the way to describe it would be...
[crowd cheering wildly] - Hello! Welcome!
- Teeple: ...A marching band concert.
- Sarah Marty: Then, bring in
a whole bunch of rock 'n' roll lighting,
like you'd see in a rock concert,
fireworks-- inside the building--
streamer cannons,
confetti bombs,
and fabulous guest talent,
all together with a ton of school spirit.
You ready? - Mike: Yep.
- Okay.
Welcome, everybody, to our Tuesday production meeting
for the 45th-Annual UW Varsity Band Spring Concert.
Give yourselves a round of applause.
[light applause] There we go, we made it.
- Mike: I'm probably going to go through,
you know, what it was like 50 years ago.
At the end of it, I'll--
I'll do that sing-y thing that I do.
[sentimental music]
"Funny How Time Slips Away.
Funny How Time Slips Away."
[singing softly] * How time slips away
- As Mike Leckrone
prepared to take his final bow,
thoughts turned to a lifetime filled with music.
[cheers and applause]
- During my childhood,
I don't ever remember there not being music.
*
I grew up and was born in a little town in Indiana,
North Manchester.
I was born in a house; I wasn't born in a hospital.
*
I have a sister.
That's my only other sibling.
My dad was a schoolteacher, as a band director.
My mother started as a housekeeper.
Later on, she became a clerk in a record store,
which gave me a lot of access to a lot of music
when I was very young.
- Mika Mitmoen: His mom was more outgoing.
She was the outgoing one, but my Grandpa Leck,
he was very quiet.
My dad's a lot like him.
Liking to just sit back and observe,
read, love music.
- Mike's dad-- Harold 'Leck' Leckrone--
a school band teacher
known for giving music lessons to children of all ages
throughout the community.
To Mike, he passed on a lifelong love of music.
- Mike: My dad, obviously,
being a band director,
he was always bringing home records
for me to listen to.
He wanted me to learn to play an instrument.
My first instrument was as a percussionist.
When I asked him that in later years,
"Well, you didn't have any teeth," he said.
"You couldn't play any other kind of instrument
at that point because there was no teeth."
But he said, "I wanted you to learn rhythmically
"how to read notes and read music.
"Music is a great outlet for you, and it's something
that'll serve you well all your life."
So, that was the message that he gave me very early on.
As soon as I had my teeth,
I started playing trumpet.
*
By the time I was in the sixth grade,
I was playing in the high school band.
It was a tradition in the high school
to display your medals on your uniform.
If you got medals,
and the medals came either winning 1st or 2nd place
in one of the music events.
And I would go to a music festival,
and if it started at 8:00 in the morning
and ended at 4:00 in the afternoon,
I might play eight, ten events.
Because of my nature, I just did a lot of 'em.
- Mika Mitmoen: He also
participated in baseball,
he participated in track,
and he played basketball.
- My favorite sport was basketball
because you're in Indiana, and that's all anybody knows.
It's a great, great tradition.
- Mika Mitmoen: My grandpa would always put on, like,
a little halftime show on the basketball court.
But with my dad being a basketball player there
and in the band,
there was a little bit of a conflict
with time.
- Mike: So, my dad and the high school coach
worked out a plan where--
with about two minutes to go in the first half--
the coach would pull me out.
I would run across the hall
where my mother had a uniform
that we had specially built.
- Mika Mitmoen: She made a special kind of a shirt,
similar to what you might call a "dickey,"
that had the tie attached to it,
and it snapped in the back.
So, she just put it on, snapped it in the back.
He said he'd just put his arms out,
go out, perform for the halftime show,
and then go back, take it off,
rejoin the team, and play the second half.
[audience cheering]
[playful jazz]
- A mother's clever costume solution
was just the beginning
of what went on to become
a flashy tradition.
[cannon blast] - Whoa! [crowd cheering]
- It started very simply with a fancy shirt
that I happened to have backstage and put on
because my other shirt was just absolutely drenched in sweat.
And so, I did it and I got a reaction.
The next year, you start getting, "Well,
what are you going to wear next year?"
Or, even the kids in the band pick up on it, "Well,
"that was pretty wild last year.
What you gonna do?"
"Have you got something to match that next year?"
So then, you feel that obligation
to try to match
or outdo what you did before.
[mischievous jazz]
- Lois Levenhagen: Well, I'm coming down today
to fit Mike with his new costume
and go from there to see how it fits,
and then, if I've got some more alterations,
finish hemming, I'll take it all home,
and then, bring it back later this week.
[sewing machine whirrs]
[lifts presser foot, cuts threads]
To come up with an idea for his jacket every year,
Mike and I get together, but then during the year,
the both of us, we like to watch the skating programs on TV,
or he likes to go out to some of the shows
where there's like in Las Vegas.
- Mike: Once in a while,
I'll see a design I'll cut out of a magazine or
a advertisement somewhere that I'll show her and say,
"This, get close to this."
- Once they put the show together,
we know what the theme of it is,
then we sit down and decide, "Okay, we may take something
from this jacket or this idea and put it together."
- Mike: They became a little more
subtle in the last year if you can call
glitz and shine
and fringe and everything, if you call it subtle.
Is that right? [cheering]
One of the core stipulations
for the last jacket that I wear,
the last jacket I put on is,
Have to be red! [snickers]
It's got to be red.
- Lois Levenhagen: No one else has seen this yet
except for my husband.
There's the back.
- It's got the 50 on it.
- I got the 50 and "On, Wisconsin!"
[whispers] There you go.
- Mike: It's not as bulky as it used to be. - It's not as bulky, alrighty.
- Mike: So, if it fits here, it's probably gonna fit.
- Lois: Well, if I don't get a chance later,
I'd like to give you a big hug. - Mike: Oh, I'll give you one.
Thanks again for everything, for all the years.
Yep, it's been fun.
[band chattering, clapping rhythmically]
- Mike: Good morning, Elm Drive.
WAKE UP! [blows whistle sharply]
[blows whistle five times]
* ["On, Wisconsin!"]
- Janice Stone: He could get people
to do things they really didn't want to do,
and it's pretty amazing.
- Mike: Stop at the top.
Hit the ground together.
Match legs.
- Gary Ciepluch: There'd be days where it would be so cold.
He said, "It's just a state of mind."
He would say that all the time!
"If you want to feel cold, feel cold.
I'm not cold."
He'd take his shirt off,
and say, "It's not cold out here.
"It's all a state of mind.
You're better than that."
He'd get these young kids believing
that we could do anything
and then, all of a sudden,
going and taking a test was nothing.
- Mike: We're going to do the knee bow again.
We had some people in that quadrant
right back there.
[yelling sternly] Focus! Focus! Focus!
- Emma Watermolen: That probably
seems like a big component of what he's doing is, like,
just screaming at us, which...
sometimes has to be done.
And sometimes, he has to
take his headset off and throw it on the ground
and shimmy down that tower,
and, like, run, and you're like,
"Oh, no, here he comes!
Like, what did I do wrong?"
You're looking at your sheet
[fretting voice] "Did I do this?
Oh, no!!
And like you can feel the adrenaline,
and then, he just runs right past you.
- Mike yelling: FOOT PLACEMENT!
I am a bit of a yeller.
If I see something I don't like,
I think it should be fixed,
and I'm not very patient,
particularly if I've already told you once.
Right away "On, Wisconsin!"
Don't play it; Just do it.
I don't think I ever have yelled at anybody
that couldn't do what I've asked them to do.
I've told the band many times
they're never going to be as good as I want 'em to be.
They're never gonna be as good, perhaps, as they could be,
but that's the problem.
If you're not as good as you could be,
that's where the yelling comes in.
SPACE, TRUMPETS!
SPACE!
- Scott Teeple: This man
is a master of group psychology and group dynamics.
He's not really mad,
but he's really pretending to be mad
to fire up those students.
When I climb up on the tower sometimes
when I go visit rehearsals,
and Mike is up there,
and he's barking at the band
and really giving them the what for,
he'll just turn to me, and wink and smile.
- Are you ready, kids?
- Band in unison: Aye, aye, Captain!
- Tweet, tweet, tweet!
- Emma Watermolen: We all idolize him,
so we want to be there.
He shows us that
we're good.
It can be really fun.
Someone's expecting greatness of you,
it's the greatness that you can achieve.
- Greatness you can achieve.
For Mike Leckrone,
setting a high bar came from his own story...
...from lessons learned
through his own family.
- Mike: My grandfather and I
were very close.
He was a very stern individual.
I started working for him,
probably when I was in about the eighth grade.
He was in charge of the town maintenance.
With my grandfather, you didn't get off easy.
I was digging ditches.
I was doing work on the streets.
I was sweeping streets.
Anything you could mention that had to do
with street maintenance and town maintenance,
why I did.
He got me used to the idea
that hard work isn't really a bad thing to do.
And was, was a philosopher in a lot of ways.
A lot of the sayings that I
utilized later for the band,
I know I picked up from my grandfather.
He would put us in a ditch and say,
"You can stand anything if you know when it's gonna end."
And then, he would say,
"Guys, it's gonna end at five o'clock."
So, you knew
you were in the ditch working
'til five o'clock,
but somehow it made the time tolerable.
And I know I've used that on students
to make them think
those rehearsals would be tolerable for a while.
[ladder creaking]
- Janice Stone: There's a lot of different
band slogans or things
that Mike will say.
- It boils down to one word:
pride.
- Janice Stone: The one that
I would say is most prominent
is "Eat a rock."
Meaning, you have to be
tough enough to eat rocks to do this.
It's going to be hard.
*
- Mike: And you do it for pride.
The pride of the band, for the seniors,
anything you want, but it's for pride.
- Bob Rooney: I think
my favorite saying
that Mike uses all time is,
"If it was easy, anybody could do it."
- Melanie Rooney: Nobody said, "Do it again!"
-Dan: That was my second choice. [all laughing] - THAT WAS MY SECOND CHOICE!
- Whole Rooney Family: Do it again!!
DO IT AGAIN!! Do it again!! [laughing]
- Mike: You've got to do it every day.
All the time.
- Louis Liu: Mike would say, "All I want
is all you got."
He's not asking more.
He's not asking too much.
He's just asking for everything you have.
- Mike: It's the Wisconsin band.
It has to be good.
And that's just-- that's reason enough.
- Emma Watermolen: He said
something about moments of happiness,
and I was like, "Okay,
"I'm not happy right now.
"Like, my body hurts and...
you're yelling at us." [laughs]
But he just kept saying that,
and there were a lot of moments of happiness.
- Mike: If you don't take pride in what you do, then...
you're lost.
- Emma: We all have ups and downs,
and if you don't have
that place to return to,
it's really hard to push forward.
- Mike: It's one word: pride.
You go out there, and you do it for pride.
[playing "76 Trombones" from The Music Man ]
- Mike: Work harder!
You're playing mushy.
* Dot da-da-dah-dah-dah Dot dot-da-dah-dut-da dot-dot-dot *
[band members murmuring] Sunday was okay.
And I'm saying this for the benefit of everybody.
The worst thing about Sunday was the hesitancy.
And that's what's gonna happen.
When we mix it up here for the next two or three concerts.
[in a demanding tone] Can you make it more musical?
It sounds like a bad drum section.
[band chortling]
Here we go: Seven. 1-and-2 at seven 2-3-4.
[band playing smoothly]
- Those early life lessons and tough work ethic
propelled Mike through his college years
at Butler University.
After graduation, he went on
to lead the school's marching band.
But after 10 years at Butler,
it was time for a new challenge.
- Mike: I had always been a fan of the Big Ten,
and I think they had the greatest bands
in the country at that time.
I thought, "Well, maybe I could take that next step."
And it was that ambition,
wanting to see if I could do it
and if people would be interested in having me do it.
- Ray Luick: All of a sudden,
this skinny guy with a crew cut, with a funny accent,
shows up,
and he is the new band director.
What is he going to try to do?
How is he going to be different?
- Gary Ciepluch: Why is he here?
Why did he come to Wisconsin?
- There's a sleeping giant here that maybe I can stir
and maybe make something happen.
- Ray Luick: Nothing else
was going to be the same.
[crowd cheers wildly]
*
- Mike Leckrone's childhood was filled with music,
close family ties,
and a value for hard work.
- That combination created the perfect foundation
for his next step:
his dream job
as a Big Ten band director.
But Mike soon discovered his Indiana upbringing
had not fully prepared him for Madison, Wisconsin in 1969.
[film projector fires up, motor spinning, sprockets clicking]
['70s rock, protesters chanting]
[chaotic shouts]
[Recording of Fred Harrington, UW President] - We have reached the point
of clear and present danger in our institutions."
[boots marching synchronously] - The University of Wisconsin- Madison
was a place of unrest and turmoil,
as anti-war protests erupted across the campus.
[chaotic shouting]
- Suddenly, there were these military uprisings.
As I looked out the window
at my office,
I could see people with fixed bayonets.
There was an anti-military atmosphere,
and here I am, wanting to organize
a military-type group.
- Ray Luick: When you are in an organization
that puts on a uniform
in the late '60s,
it was not necessarily seen
as a positive thing.
- A turbulent campus environment
and a band in need of direction.
What might have seemed like a thankless challenge,
Mike saw as opportunity.
- Mike: When I came to Madison,
basically, they said, in their own way, "Make it better."
[game buzzer rings, crowd cheers]
I was gonna be the third band director
in three years.
And that means there's no continuity.
On the surface, it looked like
it wasn't a good opportunity.
That was a challenge within itself,
but it was also a wide-open challenge. [ref blows whistle]
[ball swishes through net, cheering, whistle]
And that was very important to me, who was
trying to take that next step
and didn't want any barriers in the way to take it.
* ["Wisconsin's Pride"]
*
- Ray Luick: First rehearsal,
we walk out.
He said, "Line 'em up."
So, he walked down,
introduced himself to every member,
and he has not forgotten anybody's name
from that band since.
- Gary Ciepluch: It made
a huge university
very small.
The first day I'm on the field,
and I walked by,
and Mike Leckrone says, "Gary,
get your get your legs up!"
How did he know my name?!?
"How do you know my name?"
I auditioned for him two minutes.
And I said,
"Either I'm in trouble,
or this is gonna be the greatest experience of my life."
*
[percussion]
- Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen,
the University of Wisconsin Marching Band!!!
[cheering]
- Mike: The group that I did inherit
were very hardcore.
My first goal was to get them to do "horns up" together
so that when it came time to bring the horns up
into playing position,
they did it crisply, they did it uniformly,
there was a sense
of intensity about it.
I used to say, "That first year,
we had the best 'horns up' in the country."
[crowd cheering]
I think part of my strategy was,
I want 'em to feel what it feels like
to do something really well.
Take that to the next step
in what we were trying to do.
- Most bands in the Big Ten
were doing a move called the "chair step."
Mike took that step, added some flash,
and created the Wisconsin signature move:
stop at the top.
- I think the step that I added,
the stop at the top,
had a built-in intensity
and that became something that the band started to feel,
and I think the audience started to see.
- CJ Zabat: He wanted to give it
some oomph ,
some flash.
Something that people really want to see.
Instead of bringing it all the way up to 90 degrees,
he brought it down to 45.
And so, your thigh would be about 45,
and then, you'd point your toe all the way down
as straight down as you can go,
hoping that it's all just kind of a straight line.
The kicker with stop at the top
is that you switch legs as fast as you can.
You kind of give it a slight hesitation,
where you stop right there once you reach that point,
hold it there for the audience to enjoy and be like,
"Oh, my gosh! They just did that."
And you swap again;
You keep going back and forth.
- The new step wowed audiences,
and showed off the intensity and precision
of the band's signature moves...
Early evidence of the showmanship
Mike would bring to every performance.
But it would be
the creation of another tradition
that propelled Mike's reputation as a showman.
[clanking, clunking sounds]
- Tim Mackay: Go ahead and hop up here, Mike.
Do you feel like
this height is where you want this?
- Maybe a little lower,
if you don't mind. - Sure.
We can contain it around your jacket,
but it might look good if your jacket was over it.
- Mike: Over the top? Alright.
- Yeah, we'll look at it tomorrow.
Ready? Here we go.
Three, two, one, go.
And you dial it up, up, up, up, up.
[motor lifting]
I think, start by waving 'Hi' to the upper crowd there, yeah.
This year, we're flying Mike
on a big arch,
and we're flying him
for his Act Two entrance
using the jet pack.
- Go, go, go! [jets fire]
- Sarah Marty: Mike is quite the daredevil.
We like to think of him
as the Evel Knievel of the marching band world.
[mischievous music]
- Mackay: Cool.
Do a couple of those.
Great.
- Mike: In the concert, there had been
a series of times where we had done entrances,
and the entrances,
got more and more involved.
And we had pretty much done everything
we could do at ground level.
So, we started thinking, "What can we do 'up'?
[fantasy music]
The flying, like probably everything else in the concert,
was evolutionary.
It started as, "What if we?..."
and then, whatever the next line was.
[audience cheering]
It started from those kind of things.
We rigged a bicycle so I could ride the length of the floor
over the audience.
And that was
fairly well safety-ed,
but only from the standpoint of the bicycle.
I had to hold on to it, and there was no safety belt.
And we rigged it, and I did it. [chuckles]
[cheers and applause] Because it was different,
everybody liked it.
So, we just kept adding, adding, and things.
And then,
the problem was it became too much fun.
* ["Space Badgers"]
I enjoyed doing it too much
so we just kept it in the show,
and it became sort of a trademark.
[cymbals clang dramatically]
Are you ready to have a good time this evening?
Are you ready?
- Trademarks,
traditions,
and tricky moves...
all part of building
the Mike Leckrone Big Ten legacy.
- One of the reasons
the marching band's traditions
have been established
is because there was a point
in our history where the football team
wasn't as successful as it is now.
[crowd cheers, then groans]
Mike was trying to find ways to keep the fans
engaged and involved,
really, for the team.
[crowd cheers, then groans]
What he knew he could influence was
what the band does,
and how the band interacts with the crowd,
and what the band does during the game.
- Very gently,
I started adding crowd participation things.
And the first one, I remember very distinctly.
The first one we added was the "Beer Barrel Polka."
* ["Beer Barrel Polka"] We're in Wisconsin.
Everybody knows the "Beer Barrel Polka."
- Janice Stone: It's something
that keeps the audience involved,
and it makes that connection.
You're not just sitting there
passively as an audience member.
You are expected to get up and dance.
You are expected to yell, "Hey!"
You are expected to do the "Chicken Dance."
That interaction, I think, is really unique.
- Adding the "Beer Barrel Polka" engaged the crowd,
but fans wanted even more.
Hockey games were filled with cheers of,
"We want a polka!" [stadium crowd hollering]
- Announcer: [inaudible] for Cornell, lining the shot, look at those lines--
A rebound-- a shot and a goal!
[cheering]
- When we'd get to the Coliseum, people would say,
"We want a polka!"
A little bit later, I told the band,
I said, "They want a polka."
I said,
"If you take this song, change the drum part a little bit."
I said, "It will sound like a polka.
They'll shut up and leave us alone."
[hockey players shouting]
But when they got to the spot in "You've Said It All,"
where the crowd is supposed to say
when you say, "Nah, dah, duh," which is the name of a product,
they hollered out the name of the product.
And so, I told the band, "Look,
next time we come to that, you stand up,
turn around, and holler out
"When you say Wis-con-sin,
you've said it all!"
[fans singing] - * When you say Wis-con-sin
* You've said it all! [roaring cheers]
- Playing "You've Said It All" carried over
into the football season.
The crowd sang along.
They were up on their feet, dancing in the stands.
It was a hit!
...maybe too big of a hit.
- And as we did it--
it was a very exciting game--
reports came back to me that when we did it,
the upper deck was swaying up and down.
Elroy Hirsch, the athletic director, called me in.
He said, "Mike, we're getting a lot of complaints."
He said, "Can you cut out "You've Said It All"?
'Cause people are
very concerned about their safety."
I said,
"Why don't we make an announcement?
"Due to safety concerns,
"the band will not play "You've Said It All"
"until five minutes after the final gun
to allow people to leave the stadium."
Well, as soon as you make an announcement like that,
nobody leaves, everybody's curious.
- The curiosity from Mike's lively post-game performance
kept drawing crowds
game after game.
[crowd cheering]
- Mike: A local sportswriter
named Glenn Miller
picked up on what was happening,
and he started referring to it, in press as,
"The band did a Fifth Quarter, again,"
and kept using this term.
It became part of our language
that this is what we're doing.
We're doing "The Fifth Quarter" now.
- Badger Fans, make sure to stick around
after the game for The Fifth Quarter!
- The Fifth Quarter was born,
and for decades, audiences and the band
celebrated together-- win or lose.
The tradition soon cemented its place
among collegiate lore.
*["If You Want to Be a Badger"] - Gary Ciepluch: The band
created all this
incredible energy and excitement.
- Mike: It was a phenomenon.
[cheering]
[background chatter]
[warming up instruments]
Pace yourself.
Don't overplay.
Remember, we gotta do this tonight.
We gotta do it tomorrow night.
We gotta do it the night after that,
and the night after that.
1, 2, 3.
*
- Bringing out the best
in his students and leading them
to a higher level of performance.
For Mike Leckrone,
the role of band director was a combination
of a passion for music,
some innovation and flash,
and a lot of coaching.
- Is that tempo alright for you guys?
- Band: Yeah. Oh, yeah.
- Mike: Right at E.
- Barry Alvarez: Mike's very unique.
You see the passion.
He takes great pride in his band
and how they represent us.
When you're a leader,
when you're an educator, it's about
trying to build young people.
I was fortunate
to have great coaches
throughout my entire tenure,
from the time I started playing.
And they had such an impact
on my life, and I wanted to do the same thing for others.
It's the exact same way with Mike.
- Mike: I came under the influence of people
who were really good coaches.
And my basketball coach in high school was
just a terrific coach.
He made you love playing,
and he was one of those kind of coaches that
when you got done playing,
you really felt good about yourself,
whether you'd won or not.
It influenced me so much
that when I got to be ready to think about a career,
coaching was one of those things that I thought,
"I liked the effect these men had on me,
and I could see myself doing it."
1, 2, beginning, 2, ready, and...
DIG! DIG! Dig! Dig! Dig!
How bad do you want it?
When people make
a comparison to me,
"I've heard that what you do is like coaching,"
I don't deny it.
I think it's a flattering comparison.
[snapping on snare drums] Mike yelling: I want more desire than that!
You work on physical attributes,
you work on the mental part of the game.
The main difference is that musical part of it,
which you don't necessarily see
if you're a basketball player or baseball player.
I've heard baseball players
talk about the rhythm of the swing,
and I've heard basketball players talk about,
you know, that rhythm that they get into,
that synchronization that they get into.
[cheering, whistling]
There is kind of a Wisconsin spirit that I encountered
when I first got here.
There was a different feeling in the air,
and I can't really describe it
other than to say,
I caught it, I caught the feeling.
- Barry Alvarez: That's part of our package.
You don't come just to a football game.
You don't come just to a basketball game.
Part of that experience is the band.
We have 23 sports, and they're
at most of the games that we play.
They're there.
[percussion plays solo, crowd cheers]
- Barry Alvarez: I found out about the band
as I started going around the state
trying to sell the program,
but every place I went,
someone wanted to talk about the band.
Really upset me, quite frankly.
I don't wanna talk about the band.
I'm the football coach.
And finally, someone said to me, "You know,
I hope you build a football program
that the band could be proud of."
[laughs] I think that sent a strong message to me.
[fans cheering]
[players tackling]
- Gary Ciepluch: We've all had peaks and valleys,
but the one constant was the band.
No matter win, lose, or draw,
they were there to entertain, to have fun,
[fan blows vuvuzela horn] and to give spirit to the
student athletes that were trying their hardest.
[cheering]
[funky music]
- Bob Miller: The Wisconsin hockey team has caught the imagination
of thousands of fans.
What do you like about Badger hockey?
- I like winning. [laughs]
- The excitement.
- I like a fight now and then. [laughs]
- Bob Miller: The story of the acceptance
of Wisconsin hockey in Madison is unique.
And this is that story...
- One of the things that gave the band the biggest boost
in my earliest years,
was the fact that we were,
we became a staple at hockey games.
Bob Johnson, our hockey coach,
legendary figure in Wisconsin history,
came to me one day, and he said,
"Can you get a band to play at a hockey game?"
I don't even remember if I'd ever seen a hockey game before.
But Bob was one of those guys that you didn't say 'no' to.
- So, Badger Bob Johnson and Mike Leckrone teamed up.
And the hockey coach and the band director
soon discovered that joining forces
brought the games to a new level.
* ["Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight"] * [hockey buzzer]
- Growing popularity and excitement
for the hockey program
and creating an opportunity
for the band to further establish
its unique reputation.
- Ray Luick: To be the first athletic endeavor
during Leckrone's existence here
that took off is so ironic because
it's the sport he knew the least about.
But then, the relationship
he developed
with the coach, Bob Johnson,
is just absolutely marvelous.
- Johnson was the same way. *["Wisconsin Forward Forever"]
He was trying to get people interested in hockey
like Mike was with the band.
So, the two of them said,
"What can we do to help each other?"
- John Berg: The band was a huge part.
You know, you have to make new ice,
and you have those delays between
first and second, and second and third periods.
And who filled that space?
Mike and the band.
- Mike: The band established a personality.
In a lot of ways,
there were big signs.
They had "Leckrone Legionnaires."
In the meantime, the hockey team got really good.
- Announcer: Picked up, score!!!
On the rebound!! - Mike: It was wild.
Wisconsin had just won the national championship
in Detroit.
Obviously, a great deal of celebrating was going on.
People were wild.
The band was performing everywhere you could imagine.
All this celebration going on,
and there's no Bucky Badger.
Bucky Badger had left
his uniform, his suit,
with the band.
So, I happened to know
where the suit was located under one of the buses.
So, I said, "Wouldn't it be fun
if I got to be Bucky Badger?"
*["If You Want to be a Badger"]
Just a short period of time.
Make an appearance,
do everything that Bucky Badger does.
And so, I put on the suit, and I made an appearance
as the band was playing.
Everybody was happy.
I disappeared quickly back into the crowd.
No one has ever known.
'Til now. [chortles]
It was one of those things
that you can put on your bucket list,
say, I did it, but I don't know that
I can tell anybody I did it.
* ["If You Want to be a Badger"] *
- Stepping into the role of Bucky Badger,
being a part of a national hockey championship:
two big career highlights for Mike Leckrone.
And yet,
after 25 years at UW-Madison,
there would be even more great moments to come.
[triumphant fanfare] [cheers and applause]
[birds chirping, traffic sounds]
- Mike: Good morning, Breese Terrace!
[blows whistle sharply] - Wake up!
[percussion]
I had been here twenty-five years.
After 25 years,
you think, "That's it."
I mean, "This is as good as it's gonna get."
It has to look like this.
You have to have equal sight on both sides.
Otherwise, it looks wrong.
- I do remember Mike telling me,
early on in my tenure,
his goal was to someday march in the Rose Parade and be
a part of the Rose Bowl.
- Mike: I thought it would never happen.
The football team hadn't been very good.
And then, out of nowhere,
suddenly they started winning games
and winning games and winning games
and then, you started to see that,
and it was like
this thing coming down the road.
[crowd cheering]
Could it happen? - Announcer: Wisconsin Badgers
are going to the Rose Bowl.
- Mika Mitmoen: People just went wild that
we're finally getting to go to the Rose Bowl.
It was so exciting.
[airplane engine purrs]
- A trip to the 1994 Rose Bowl.
The Wisconsin spirit was on
the national stage in Pasadena,
with Wisconsin's showman
leading the big parade. * ["On, Wisconsin!"]
- Mike: That whole week was so filled
with life-remembering moments.
Oh, it was, it was amazing.
- Mike achieved his dream of marching in the Rose Parade,
and leading his band at halftime.
But it was the football team
and the final play of the game
that put Wisconsin, and Mike,
on top of the world.
- Just 5 seconds. - Hooray!
- YAY! - IT'S ALL OVER!!
Wisconsin has won!!
Wisconsin wins the Rose Bowl!
- John Berg: That place literally...
shook.
- Mika Mitmoen: Dad was just elated.
You'd have thought he had won the game.
I mean, he was so excited about it.
- John Berg: The Rose Bowl is magical.
[rapturous cheers and applause]
* ["Varsity"] - Fans sing: * Varsity
* Varsity
- John Berg: I don't think the smile
ever went off Mike's face.
- * Praise to thee, Wisconsin *
- And you could just tell how,
how special it was, and it was infectious.
Mike is infectious.
- Fans sing: * Praise to thee, our alma mater!
- Mike: The Rose Bowl has to stand out as the most,
most important single thing I've done.
- * U-rah-rah * Wisconsin!
[overwhelmingly cheering]
[Mike blows "listen up" whistle, then four countdown whistles]
[percussion starts]
- Mike's years at the University of Wisconsin- Madison
were filled with happy moments.
Through all those years,
through all the games and rehearsals,
there was one constant in Mike's life:
his wife, Phyllis.
*
- Mike: I think
the only reason I was able to do
as much as I wanted to do,
and, boy, I would really stress that,
it was really Phyllis that made it work.
- She was very proud of
what Dad had accomplished
and of the band.
- She was just a reliable presence in the background.
You knew that if,
in the worst-case scenario, we still had one fan
who was always looking out for us,
and that was Phyllis, and Mike knew that, too.
- Mika Mitmoen: According to Dad,
they happened to be in the same homeroom,
and, he said, also band.
As my dad says, with a grin on his face,
she just couldn't leave him alone.
- Mike: Maybe the fact
that we were both trumpet players
and by the very nature of that
we were kind of thrown together.
But I do remember
almost right away that there was some,
some attraction that never really left. [laughs]
I asked her formally to marry me
Christmas Day in 1953.
We were both 17 years old.
We hadn't yet made our 18th birthday.
It was a very whirlwind wedding.
We were kids and didn't know any better.
And everything was an adventure.
- Mika Mitmoen: While we were young, she was
the person that kind of held down the fort
so that Dad was able to do the things that he did.
And we just understood, too,
that there were times that Dad wasn't gonna be available
because he had different commitments that he was doing.
- Scott Teeple: I think it was their 60th anniversary
and I said, "Now, Mike, I have to ask
what is your secret to 60 years of marriage?"
And then he said, "Well, I'll tell you, I'll tell you.
You wanna know what the secret is?" and without missing a beat,
Phyllis said, "Be quiet, Mike."
And Mike pointed to Phyllis and said,
"That's the secret!"
It was almost like they
had it set up.
It was brilliant.
[percussion]
- Mika Mitmoen: Every pre-game, dad knew exactly
where mom was sitting.
So, when he went up on his ladder, he would
turn around, put his hand
on the brim of his hat.
- Gary: ...And tipping his hat
thanking her for allowing him
to make this happen
for himself, for his family,
for his students, for the fans,
for the state of Wisconsin.
- Sarah Marty: Mike's wife Phyllis passed away
in August of 2017.
So, the 2018 concert was
the first year that she
wasn't there to give him notes
and to give us notes after the concert.
- Guys, the keyboard player is going
to end up right about here.
The challenge is going to be doing this in 30 seconds.
- The team behind the Spring Band Concert
knew they wanted to do something special
to honor Phyllis Leckrone
and came up with a heartfelt idea.
- Sarah Marty: We've been thinking
about how we might be able to honor her,
and we actually put together a family band.
A Leckrone Family Band.
So, we have his son,
and his grandson
and his granddaughter will be performing together
on this concert.
*
[Erik Leckrone drumming solo]
- Mike: We did the song "Me and Bobby McGee"
and I said at the time, it and another song were
very important to the family.
- * Feeling good that's good enough for me *
- It was a song that Phyllis liked.
One of those songs
that we sort of understood
was important to us .
I think there were members of the family who were surprised
when I said that's the song we're going to do.
*
- * Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee *
*
- Scott Teeple: If these are songs that are special to the family,
then certainly "You are My Sunshine"
is going to be one of these
because that is a song
that was one of Phyllis's favorites.
[Mike singing] - * You are my sunshine
* My only sunshine
Mike: When a kid was sick
or needed cheering up,
Phyllis would sing the song.
It became a very significant healing song for the family.
[trumpet flourish]
[cheering]
[drumming]
- Music has been at the center
of the Leckrone family through generations.
And sharing their musical talents on stage
has been a long family tradition, too.
- Mika Mitmoen: One of the things
that my dad and his dad would do
when he was in high school,
he and Grandpa would go around,
and they would perform similar to a vaudeville act.
- Mike: We worked out a trumpet duet,
a two-part harmony.
I would finger his instrument while he was playing,
and then he would bring his arm up and finger mine.
There was a certain amount of bit work, whose hand goes where.
We milked it for everything it was worth.
* [trumpet solo]
The most famous person I probably ever saw
was Louis Armstrong.
He made an impact on me.
It was just the joy of him making music.
You could just sense he was having fun
doing what he loved to do.
And that's a great lesson to learn.
*
[cheers and applause]
- That joy for making music and captivating an audience,
fueled Mike's natural ability as a showman.
- Gary Ciepluch: It's a gift.
He's able to work the magic
to get everybody to feel,
"I want to be like this guy."
- This is a... this is a showman.
- Gary Ciepluch: He was so charismatic.
But it was a way of connecting to your audience.
He has the ability to connect.
It's truly a gift.
*
[school bell rings]
- The Leckrone legacy reached far beyond
the marching band on the playing field.
- My goal in this class is to get you
to be better listeners.
- Musician and composer.
Arranger and music educator.
Mike's many talents have touched the lives
of scores of students and fellow artists.
- Sarah Marty: He's such a good teacher.
I took, like, everything he offered.
[tubas playing]
Then, often, he'd bring in a piece he had written himself.
And, for many of us, it was a surprise.
Like, "Oh, you direct the marching band,
and you also are a composer?!?"
*
- Scott Teeple: He's always teaching thousands of people
some little tidbit or some piece of history.
And that comes through in everything that he does.
[applause]
- Mike: I'd like to present to you,
Linda Franklin!
- Linda Franklin: Mike is nationally known
for his ability
to write incredible arrangements of songs.
*
* Amazing grace
* How sweet the sound
So, I did at least three UW Marching Band Concerts
with Mike.
He's someone who knows how
to manipulate music to the point
that it's supportive of the performer.
* But now I see
He's just
such a multifaceted musician.
[vocalizing] * I once
- Mike's work with thousands of musicians
over the past 50 years
created some unique personal connections...
- Mike: Those are some of our trumpets and trombones.
- ...including one family with three generations
of Mike Leckrone Marching Band members.
- We're the Rooney's.
- Aaron Rooney: With me being
in Mike's last band
and my grandpa being in Mike's first band,
it's literally the beginning and end
of his career at Madison.
- Bill Rooney: When Aaron decided to join the band,
I was thrilled as a parent.
I think that's a great thing
for him to do because it was
a very worthwhile experience for me.
Hopefully, he'll get that much joy
and work ethic out of it also.
- Mike: It's kind of like
watching your life pass by you as you can
visualize each one of those people, what they
brought to the band.
I'm very proud of that fact
that I was there to see three generations.
- Aaron Rooney: I just think
that's really special to be a part of.
- Mike: They saw something in it
that was worth continuing doing.
That, to me,
is the real compliment that I got.
It's just very gratifying to see all that happen.
- So, it's this little perfect lineage.
- Band reciting: Once a Badger,
always a Badger.
*
- Mike: Anybody who's
about to go on stage for any kind of performance,
[crowd chanting]
there's that moment
before the lights come on, and you say,
"Okay, I got to produce now."
One of those moments that I get a chance
to be reflective
is just before we go on stage.
I get a chance to think about a lot of things.
Sort of go over in my mind how I've got to proceed.
Making sure I've got
the first couple lines in my head
that I'm going to say so that I start some momentum.
But at the same time, just think about, "Here we go."
- Man: Okay, we're going out. - Guy: Alright, going out.
Here we go! - Mike: This past year,
it was, "Well, here we go one last time."
[ecstatic cheering]
- One last time...
Mike's final year leading the UW Band
was full of 'last times',
including one last Camp Randall football game
and a final salute. *
- Mika Mitmoen: After my mom's passing,
my dad continues to do his salute to mom.
We wanted to have her presence there for Dad.
We put together a flower with her picture on it, and then
one of the assistants would hang it on the fence
right in front of the band, in front of Dad's ladder,
so that he could see mom and she was with him during the games.
- Mike: It's never about the moments of unhappiness;
It's always about the moments of happiness.
- Mike Leckrone's unprecedented 50-year career
leading the UW Marching Band
was filled with memories and milestones
and countless moments of happiness.
And then,
one more turning point.
- Mika Mitmoen: I think he kind of had a goal in mind
of how far he would like to go in his career
before he retired,
and with Mom's passing,
and hitting a milestone of 50 years at this position,
I feel that that was just kind of a sign to him.
- John Berg: I don't think he wants to quit.
But I think there comes a time when you leave in the right way.
And I think he's totally doing that.
*
[crowd cheers enthusiastically]
- The big night arrives:
Mike's final Spring Band Concert.
[drumming] No more rehearsals.
No more second chances.
Just one last time to put on a show.
[cheering crescendos to a roar] - Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen,
the University of Wisconsin Varsity Band!
* ["On, Wisconsin!"] [audience cheering]
- Leckrone shouts: One more time?!? [audience cheers wildly]
- Mika Mitmoen: He knows how to put on his showmanship
and does such a fabulous job.
- Leckrone yelling: You want to do it one more time?!?
- It's just so exciting.
- Mike: Well, it's show business.
I can have fun with it.
- With the crowd on their feet,
Wisconsin's showman takes his final flight.
[jet engine whooshes]
- Mike: It's probably as close
to a sense of weightlessness
that I'll ever experience.
Oh, I loved it!
Oh, thank you!! [intense cheers and applause]
It's the last time.
It's a little intimidating, as well as being very exciting.
How about that?
You like that one, Lois?
I like this one a lot.
It's my last concert;
I'm gonna play what I like.
These are songs that
[speaking with emotion] are very important to my family.
[applause] Well, thank you.
* ["Me and Bobby McGee"]
[Raychel Wilson jangles tambourine, sings]
* Busted flat in Baton Rouge
* Headed for a train
* Feeling nearly faded as my jeans *
- Scott Teeple: That was a group of people on stage,
being very vulnerable.
- * Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee *
- Sharing their music
and their love for one another [Michael Mitmoen plays tuba]
in front of thousands. -Raychel:La da da da da da da--
[Mike belts out his song] Mike: *You are my sunshine
Mike: *My only sunshine - * La da da da da
- Teeple: And when Mike started singing "You Are My Sunshine"...
Mike: *When skies are GRAY - * Da da da da
[singing soulfully] Mike: *You'll never know dear
-Teeple:...in a style and manner that I never saw coming...
Mike: *How much I looooooove you - * La da da da da
Mike: *Please--don't--take - * La da da da Mike: *Please don't take
*My sunshine awaaaay
- And I thought that was a really special moment.
[trombone, keyboard, drums play closing notes]
[warm cheers and applause]
- It was a night
full of special moments for Mike Leckrone:
a last chance to entertain,
to connect with the audience,
to lead his band.
But before the final bow,
before the curtain lowers,
Wisconsin's showman took center stage.
* ["Funny How Time Slips Away" Willie Nelson ] *
[singing] - * We've had some good times
* More than I thought we ever would know *
[yelling] I want more desire THAN THAT!
* We went to places
* I never thought I'd get to go *
* [crowd singing "Varsity"] - * Praise to thee, Wisconsin
- * But now it's over
* And those good times
* Will still
* Stay in our minds and replay
- Announcer yelling: Wisconsin has won in overtime!!!
* But it sure is funny
* How all that time slipped away *
*
* People ask me
* What am I gonna miss most *
[yelling at Bucky] * about this?
Thank you again for everything.
You're looking at it.
[cheers and applause]
[drumming a distinct cadence]
[yelling] How bad do 'ya want it?
WELL, DIG! DIG! Dig! Dig! Dig!
* Those in the generations of people before *
* who made this band what it is *
* And I can't thank them enough *
*
* Sure is funny
* How time slips away
*
* But just remember
* What I told you
*
* And have some happy moments
* Each and every day
* But it's still funny
* How time has slipped away
All you fans, I can't thank you enough
for what you've meant to me, my family.
[getting choked up] Thank you so much. [swelling cheers and applause]
* Funny how time slipped away
* [Band singing "Varsity"]
* U-rah-rah!
* Wisconsin!
[cheers and applause billow]
*
- Mike: Well, I'm a badger.
I've been a badger for 50+ years.
It gets ingrained in you.
I think about what it was like 50 years ago quite often.
People have said we've changed some lives,
and that's great to think that might have happened
over the course of the time I've been here,
which is good because
that's the reason I've done it all these years
is it is to have those memories.
I don't think moments of happiness
should ever stop.
[chuckles]
*
* ["You've Said It All: Chorale"] *
* ["You've Said It All"]
- Funding for Mike Leckrone: Wisconsin's Showman
is brought to you by
Robert J. Lenz,
Greg and Carol Griffin,
Stanley J. Cottrill Fund,
with additional support from
Rawson S. & Mary L. Price,
Alumni of the University of Wisconsin Band,
Focus Funds for Wisconsin Programming,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
*