Legend_of_Leckrone Transcript
 
[crowd chanting]
- § When you say "Wis-con-sin" 
§ §
You've said it all! §

- Hello, everyone, I'm Diane Hinkle, and speaking of sports and speaking of, "When you say Wisconsin, you've said it all!" with me is director of University of Wisconsin bands Mr. Mike Leckrone. And those of you sports fans all know and love him dearly.

- I hope so.

- Mike, welcome to the Legend of Leckrone.

- Thank you, they say it's a legend in my own mind, but I...

- Yeah.

- In all of our minds, I'm sure. You're director of university bands. Can you tell me exactly what that means, how many bands you supervise?

- Well, there are four concert bands in the department but the band that most everyone thinks of associates with me, of course, is the marching band and then the varsity band, which plays at the basketball and the hockey games. And we've sort of divide our season, once the football season becomes concluded, into the indoor sports, although in these last few years why we've had a lot of basketball and hockey during the marching season, but those are basically the two bands that people see me around with although there are probably about 520-some students in the total Band Department at the University.

- Mm, goodness. What-- what percentage of those students are in the bands are music majors?

- Well, in the concert band, there's a large portion of them probably about 50% of the people in the concert organizations are music majors but when you get to the marching band there it's a whole different situation. Most people are surprised. They think that the marching band is about, oh, 50% music majors. Really it's only about 25%. Our biggest numbers is engineers and most people are quite surprised when I tell them that the engineers--

- I'm surprised.

- The engineers make really good band students because they're usually usually pretty bright and they have an interest in music. They're usually pretty talented and they use music as just a great emotional release and for that reason, they make very good marching band members. I'm glad to have 'em in there.

- Well before we go any farther I would just like to tell you that I thought we'd roll a videotape that we-- our producer for Wisconsin Magazine program last year, producer Jeff Clarke had done. And he spent a couple of days with Mike Leckrone and his zanies in the band. And here's a personality profile on Mike and the hard work that the University of Wisconsin band does. 
[blowing whistle]
 
[working out "Hhh! Hhh!]

- Mike: Thirty-six.

- female narrator: Here's another people profile featuring the University of Wisconsin varsity marching band and director Mike Leckrone.

- Mike: Okay, come on! § 
["Fanfare for the Common Man" Aaron Copland]
 §- Woman: When I think of Mike Leckrone, I think of a very enthusiastic individual considering he's just one person he can get a whole group of 220 people going exactly where he wants to on Saturday afternoon and I think that's pretty amazing. 
§ ["On, Wisconsin"] §

- Mike: Watch here, I'll help you. One, two, beginning two ready and! Dig, dig, dig, dig! How bad do you want it?

- Mike voiceover: The band, and a lot, is like a family unit in a sense I'm kind of the head of that family you know and I think we worked very hard at the band to get that sense of togetherness. 
[blows whistle]

- Mike: I want more desire than that!

- voiceover: If the band does have another strength that would be the fact that we worked really hard together to realize that it's not a person out there, it's the whole package and we're all part of it together and we kind of live or die together on a Saturday afternoon.- Mike: Come on! We don't have time for you to walk back. We just don't have time for you to walk back.

- Band: Yeah!

- voiceover: I think the band sometimes-- sure they'll get out there, they'll be mumbling about, you know, "Geez what a rotten mood he's in today," but I think they also realize that at the end of the week that performance has to result in... in some sort of excellence.

- Mike: Bunch of pansies! Come on, play!

- Band: Boo, boo!

- Mike: Watch it! 
[laughing]
 
[Mike mumbling crankily in background]
 One, two, one, two number three! § 
["Fanfare for the Common Man" Aaron Copland]
 §- voiceover: I think they realized that I'm-- there's never anything personal about it. I think everybody in the band realized when I reprimand them or growl at them or chew them out that it's not done in any personal sense at all because I like them all.

- Mike: Because I said no. That's the only reason you need Tucker. Here we go, here we go ready okay. 
§ §

One, two, three, four, one 

§ [marching band music] §
- Woman: The thing that really impressed me the most I think was the first day when I auditioned for him, that afternoon he remembered who I was and he knew everybody in the band by the second day. 
§ §

I couldn't believe that. § 
[marching band music]
 §

- voiceover: One thing I try to do is put everybody at ease so that they know that I know who they are. They can't hide. That's the first thing that I do so that they don't feel like they're just a face or a number out there.

- Mike: One, two, three and back, that's right.

- voiceover: And I tell everybody in the band if they don't like it, they shouldn't be there. I mean the idea of being in the band is that you're there to really just work as hard as you can for the two hour rehearsal or eight-minute show whatever we're doing. And like I said I love every minute of it. There are some days that are better than others obviously. 
§ §

But... I think if I can do anything I'm supposed to be a teacher in it, you know in a university, and I think if I'm teaching anything I think it's to attack whatever you're doing with a certain amount of enthusiasm and I think if you're going to do that you're going to be successful. 
[Leckrone yelling orders]
 
§ [marching band music] §

- Man: Most band directors I'd see they would stand on the podium you know and let everything happen you know but Mikey gets right down there on the field and if you can't do it, he'll show you how to do it, and you know he's you know, he's really a big hype for the band too you know to see someone you know 'cause he's getting on in his years of course but he's out there. 
[drumming]

[Mike whistles, yells a command]
- Band: Whoo!

- voiceover: If marching band can't be fun it isn't worth doing. It's too much work to just go out there and not have a good time.

- Band: Yeah, oh!

- Mike: One-week shows, one-week shows scare me to death not because I don't think anything's gonna go wrong because I know everything's gonna go wrong. 
[band laughs]

- voiceover: The fun comes from the fact that I like to have a good time and I I tease and kid the band but they do the same thing to me. I mean I-- I have to constantly be on my lookout. 
[air nozzle sprays]
 
[band laughs]
 
[chanting]
- Man: I think Mike has a large ego but I think that's very good in the fact that he puts more pressure on himself than the rest of us to perform and I think that's why Wisconsin's band has become much better. He wants to be the best and that makes us want to be the best and usually, what he wants he gets.

- Mike: Sharpen ... three-quarter ... Tucker. You guys are going to. 
§ §

- voiceover: Rich Tucker is serving his seventh year in the band as a marching member. It's not because he's dumb, because he's graduated and he's now working on a graduate degree here. Rich loves the band. I think the kindest thing I could say about Tucker is he's a character, but he's the kind of guy that every band needs. He's the guy who keeps us loose, he's the guy that keeps me honest.

- Mike: One, two, three, and spread. Ready again, same thing. Full whistle sprint kick. Now look at the position of your feet. Now Tucker, you always have to be an exhibitionist don't you Tucker?

- voiceover: I can't say anything that's unbelievable without knowing that Tucker's gonna test that.

- Mike: Bragging doesn't help Tucker.

- voiceover: I talked to band directors a lot and in our first year our goal was to get our horns up better'n anybody else in the Big Ten and if we could do that then we would build on that and I think that's kind of the key to how the band has grown. Each year we pick another area that we try to improve on. We tried to put a little more show business into what we were doing.

- Mike: Got these horns up. But you didn't have any sound to go with it. Horns up was good. You just didn't get any sound. 
§ [marching band music] §

- voiceover: One thing I think that I'm probably most disappointed in is the fact we don't have the reputation to the layman that I'd like to have. A lot of people put a lot of stock in how the football team does and so they equate the band's success with the football team success. I mean we've never been in a bowl game since I've been here. That's one of my real dreams is to do that and a lot of people will say "Well gee the Wisconsin band, I don't know anything about them." Because they-- they aren't aware of what we have been doing professionally. 
§ [marching band music] §

- Crowd: Whoo! 
§ [marching band music] §

- Man: I've been in the band five years and after that much time a lot of the things we do during the week seem kind of routine to me and a lot of other people, yet Mike has the ability to push us and drive us through those routine things so that come Saturday we're just as excited as the first day we got on the field as freshmen. 
§ §
 
[cheers and applause]

- male announcer: Even at Camp Randall, once they said it couldn't be done. 

§ ["You've Said It All"] §

- Man: I guess the best way to describe Mike Leckrone, there was this saying, "When you've said Wisconsin, you've said Mike Leckrone!"

§ When you say Wisconsin § 
§ You've said Leckrone § 
[cheers and applause]

[playing trumpet]
 
[Diane laughs]

- Here we are back in the studio attempting to play "On, Wisconsin!" but I think the band's forgotten how. 
[laughing]
Why don't we meet our band members? 
[Diane laughing]

Let's really embarrass them now that they couldn't remember how to play how. Who are you?

- John Blau.

- Hi, John.

- Kirk Zentner.

- See if it'll reach.

- Tom Silke.

- Andy Grohl.

- Welcome to The Legend of Leckrone. 
[laughing]

He'll get you guys later. 
[laughing]

Now in the videotape piece you also met the infamous Tucker and we also have Mr. Tucker here. Come here Rick. 
[laughing]

Here is Tucker. How long have you been in the band, seven years?

- Yeah I spent a few years in there, it was seven. I worked through my bachelor's degree in chem engineering and then my master's in food science. Really more like I got a degree in marching band and they finally kicked me out.

- [laughing]
Are you back in again this year?

- No, unfortunately. I'm up working for uh-- I don't know. Can I say a commercial on here? I work for Sanidairy's in Menomonie, Wisconsin as an engineer up there.

- What's this guy like to work with? Do you miss him?

- Oh yeah, quite a bit. He used to really push us. I remember one night he said he wanted a tank, a prop tank made for the next day. So we went to work with a case of beer and a golf cart and a little cardboard at about 8 o'clock on a Friday night. He came walking you know about oh, 7:30 Saturday morning before the show and he was like a little kid, "Can I drive it? Can I drive it?" And so we let him out and he tooled around the field a little bit. Yeah you know he goes, "Boy, that was nice." But he put the pressure on us and I think we put the pressure on him sometimes, once in a while.

- Thanks for coming down, Rick. We appreciate it.

- My pleasure.

- Bye, bye. All right. 
[both laughing]
 
Well we also have one more surprise for you Mike Leckrone. Because tonight, this is your life. 
[laughter]

- Man: Do you remember there's a famous show from California called the Gong Show? In this show there's a character called Gene Gene the Dancing Machine. Well, along with your help and myself we've brought that act to Madison. But we call it Tut Tut the Dancer with the Gut.

- I know that voice very well.

- And who might that be?

- That's Terry Westegard who is the famous top-- the dancing machine there. 
[cheers and applause]

- Our Portage Plumber!

- The Portage Plumber! Hi Terry, nice to see you! 
[laughing]

- Nice to meet you Terry. 
[laughing]
 
Tell us a little bit about how the Portage Plumber started.

- Well it happened about six years ago. People up in Section X were partying and one thing led to another and the next thing I got down in the field and started dancing with the pom-pom girls. And for some odd reason the guards didn't stop me and the people thought it was great, so the following week when I went to the game and I come out of the chute and I had the furry helmet on, it's the first part of my costume, the crowd went nuts, "He's back, he's back," and it's been the same ever since.

- Well I know this-- this year particularly we missed you quite a bit. Everyone kept looking up to Section X longingly as the game-- we weren't scoring and the games were getting more and more dull so we all kept looking to Section, Section F with about ten minutes left in the game for you to come out but sometimes you did and sometimes you didn't. Why didn't, why don't you tell us about what happened when you came out during the Brigham Young game?

- Well particular game was the first, my first appearance of the year, and when I come out the crowd received me well. We were, weren't doing too well in the football game so they were looking for other sorts of entertainment. And so I come down and the people thought that was all right, so they started their cheering, and the quarterback who was having trouble calling the signals so instead of having them have a penalty, he called timeout, and the crowd really thought that was all right. We stopped the football game.

- And as I recall the Brigham Young quarterback Jim McMahon had no idea what the roar was. They thought it was the general roar of the crowd trying to, you know, get him from being able to call his plays and here it was the Portage Plumber and you were also frontpage color photo of the Wisconsin State Journal the following morning. So you've become quite a celebrity, welcome.

- Mike: It's amazing a grown man would dress like that. 
[laughter]

But he's big enough I'm not gonna argue.

- Why don't we talk a little bit about the postgame show phenomenon at the football games? It's it's just been I mean the people are in the stands for at least 45 minutes to an hour, although I've been told you've been limited to an hour now, waiting for the band to play.

- Mike: Well it's it's very gratifying because it's something that you can't explain. I guess you have to explain it as a Wisconsin phenomenon because it doesn't happen like this anywhere else in the country. I think part of the fact is the fact that we try to entertain. It started I think, it got its most impetus I think from the fact that they banned the Budweiser song that "You've Said It All" in the middle of the game, so now that people stay around to hear us play it at the end. And consequently we have a crowd and we try to get the crowd involved we bring Terry out a lot of times to do his act over again, we put on little special dance routines, we have a lot of audience participation things and I think the people just want to be there and be entertained. I wish I could say there's a magic formula for doing it but I just don't understand it myself but we love it because we can leave the football stadium on any given Saturday feeling really good about the fact that the game is over and there's been a lot of fun to close the day and after all I think that's reason people come to a football game. You have to have fun.

- Diane: Absolutely. The amazing thing is too that almost every week, it's pretty much the same format but people stay and every week you manage to put just a little kicker just some new twist that the crowd's not expecting.

- Mike: Well there's not too many things that we can do, but what we try to do is to make them either wait for it or surprise them when we do some of the things. They know that I'm gonna play "You've Said It All" but I try to make them wait for it and surprise them when we're going to say it so we have a few little deceptions that we call them as to when they the time is going to happen. It's always fun to see it, you see that the surprise.

- Diane: Including marching the band halfway off the field, stopping them suddenly, turning around and playing but--

- Mike: Or we'll back up and play it we'll do anything we can to do

- Diane: Or segue from "Varsity" into it.

- Mike: Yes we've done that too. And it's, I think the band sort of appreciates it. I think that's the only time the band ever gets booed that they appreciate it is when we don't play it when they expect it. Then that's kind of fun just to play games with the crowd.

- Diane: Also I noticed that the opposing team, the fans and the cheerleaders all come over and play too.

- Mike: They stay and the cheerleaders always come over and dance and I always particularly make the visiting cheerleaders, particularly if they're from Ohio State or Michigan, beg to hear the, to hear the Budweiser song because I think that's the least they can do.

- Diane: But the question I've always wanted to ask is how did the tubas play while laying on their backs and kicking their feet up in the air?

- Mike: They play about like they always do, just average. 
[both laughing]

- Diane: Tell me how the Budweiser song got started.

- Mike: Well it started about 1972 at a hockey game. Some fans behind us where the band sits kept hollering for a polka and we didn't have a polka in the book at all. There was no-- we didn't have a thing that even resembled a polka, and we did happen to have this jingle which is called "You've Said It All" so I told the band to play it as close to a polka as they can. And I would tell other people that we play a printed version of this song but we add so many little nuances that no one could play the printed version and make it sound like we do. So we tried to make it sound just like a polka. Consequently it grew and from that point on we started adding at first just the-- the commercial,the Budweiser commercial was the first thing we did and I thought, well that might be deemed a little bit out of place so we started adding the Wisconsin. It really caught on the most at the hockey tournament in Boston in 1973. And that was a mad, mad time when Wisconsin won the national championship and from that point anything we did was a tradition. So we came back from that that tournament and it was really firmly established and we can't get rid of it now. It has grown, it grew from hockey into basketball and the last thing that happened was the football season. And of course then the very famous incidents with the shaking of the upper deck, which probably did as much to make people want to hear it as anything else we could have done.

- I don't know if any of you have ever had the opportunity to be in the upper deck when "Budweiser" is playing but it really does shake, and up in the press box all of the lights are jingling and everyone, even if you try to describe it to someone when it happens, they're still surprised.

- Yeah, it really does shake. We've been up there with some band members and trying to make it move and you can feel it. But it doesn't move four and five inches like some people say that it does, but it-- you can feel it.

- Hasn't the engineering department also been there with seismographs testing the structure to make sure there's no damage, and and also you're playing less, you're playing "Budweiser" less during the game?

- Right, we don't play it at all during the game now. We wait until after the game and sort of, our policy is I look up there and I when I quit seeing people moving for the exits I say it's time to play it. I figure I give people enough time and if they decide to quit moving for the exits then they're, then they're taking their own risk. And there really is no risk because they-- we've been assured that, that there's nothing at all unsafe at all about the structure.

- Now the Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch people were here for homecoming I believe, it was with the Clydesdales and they presented you with a $3,000 check to the Wisconsin band.

- That was very nice. I don't really regard that as payola, but it was but it was really a very nice gesture on their part. They did present not only to the band $3,000 but they gave a check to the athletic department for $5,000 and I think that was just sort of their way of making a gesture towards the towards-- the department and the university, and they've done that for some other schools. They've done it particularly for schools around Missouri where the head plant is, and-- and I think it was very nice that they did it here.

- What will you do with the $3,000?

- Well we're gonna replace some instruments. As you can imagine with all the events that we do, we'll do about 49 varsity band events in a year and plus the football and the basketball, and it really takes a lot of refurbishing of instruments. They take a terrible beating during the course of the year. We'll probably buy some new tubas, we'll probably replace some baritones, some drums, they take a terrible beating. And then, of course, we're kind of like WHA in that we don't depend on state funds to keep ourselves keep ourselves going you've got to have-- you got to have contributions and this is going to be one thing that helps us keep our-- our program going in the way we want it to keep going just operating it from that standpoint.

- Let's talk hockey for just a moment. Some of the antics of the band during the hockey games and with the Budweiser song and the rocket cheers do you think you guys could-- I don't know if our audience, yeah, if you've never been to a hockey game then some of you may not know what a rocket cheer is, let's see if we can get one here.

- Ssss... Boom... ahhhhh... 
[skyrocket whistle]
 
Hey, Mike! How much are you giving?

- See? 
[Diane laughs]
 
[cheers and applause]

- Pledge now! We're all committed at this point. 
[laughs]

- You never know what's gonna happen at the Coliseum, but I'll tell you when that whistle goes out, the entire Coliseum 8,662 fans there is dead silence, dead silence waiting to hear what the band's gonna say next.

- We have a lot of people ask me, "Can't we put a microphone down there or-- or some means of amplifying some of those?" And my answer that is pretty much I prefer that they not hear many many of those events that are, those comments that come out of the band. But I do think that you know they're very inventive sometimes and I would also assure a lot of people that we don't come with those thought-out or preconceived. Most of those are pretty extemporaneous and I think if you tried to plan what you were going to say it wouldn't work at all.

- I remember them chanting-- is the band responsible for the sieve cheer?

- We didn't start it, we didn't start it but we have contributed to it mightily I think. But I think that was started before the band started playing hockey games that was something that had sort of developed among the really diehard hockey fans.

- Well how about a little Budweiser? 
[laughs]

- Try it, all right? 
[laughing]
 
One, two, ready, and 
§ ["You've Said It All"] § 
[clapping in rhythm]
 
[singing along]
Come on, come on!

§ When you say Wis-con-sin § 
§ You've said it all! § 
[triumphant closing note]
 
[laughter]
 
[phones ringing]
 
[cheers and applause]

- Well are we going back to pledging now? We're going back to pledging. Okay John, take it away. Thanks very much Mike.

- Thank you.

- Wonderful thank you very much, both of you. It's terrific, and and the Portage Plumber too.

- Wow, now is your chance! If you like this, call! What can I say? You know, the Friends of Channel 21, the contributions that you make when you become a friend of channel 21 goes for Wisconsin sports. At least $10,000 this year, probably more. If you appreciate that, if you appreciate things like this wonderful performance we've just seen here tonight with Mike Leckrone, now's your chance to call. The number's 263-4040. Call collect if it's a toll call, 608-263-4040. The volunteers are waiting to make you a Friend of Channel 21 and a financial supporter of WHA-TV. You'll never have a better chance to tell us that you appreciate this kind of special programming that we can do for you occasionally. Something that really means something special to people here in the Madison area to people all through South Central Wisconsin. Now's the time to call. We really knew, we really do need your support and it's so easy. Just walk over to the phone, pick it up, and call 263-4040 and many of you are calling. You're wonderful, you're calling up, you're telling us how much you appreciate this, how much you thanked us for the opportunity, how much you thank WHA-TV for the programming. Here is Donald Ritchie, a $500 pledge to us tonight. Here's Richard Baxter in Rockford, Erwin and Elaine Probstien in Madison, Regus Smith in Poynette, here's Gary Childre in Madison. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Paddock in Beloit. Robert Krueger in Madison, Earl Bodine in Portage, John Langer in, in Verona, Kenneth Kosik in Monona. Join these people, join your friends, your family, your associates and become supporters of the programming that you like here on WHA-TV. Just exactly how you can do it, Steve Bass is going to tell you right now.

- Thank you John. I've always said that we've had something for everybody right here on this station and now I think we've we've really done it. We have four membership categories for those of you that would like to join the friends of channel 21 by calling 263-4040. We start out with $120 producer membership and we have a $60 sustaining membership, both of which are available on an installment basis and it's very very easy. You can pay in three, three, four yearly installments. We'll send you a reminder three, once every three months. I got that right now. In the case of the $120 producer membership, that would be $30 every three months, and we will send you a reminder. In the case of the sustaining membership, that would be $15 every three months. Just think of that: $120 producer membership that comes out to just ten dollars a month for probably the best programming on television in Madison. The $60 sustaining membership, that's only five dollars a month. We also have two other membership categories, we have the $42 associate membership and a $21 regular membership. And there are many advantages to joining the Friends of Channel 21. The first one is the good feeling that, knowing that you are a financial supporter or a financial booster of WHA-TV and of the fine programming that's here. Secondly, you'll receive 21 magazine every single month to help you plan your viewing in advance. Also, your contribution is tax-deductible to the maximum extent allowed by law. And it's a good time of the year to start thinking about tax deductions as the 19, as 1980 draws to a close. And also in the $42, $60 and $120 categories, you'll receive a very special thank-you gift if you choose, although if you don't, more of your contribution will go to support the fine programming on WHA-TV. So why not give us a call? 263-4040. Become a member of the Friends of Channel 21. Remember, your contribution does not just support national programming. We bring you programs such as Nova, great performances, Masterpiece Theater, but we also bring you fine local programming. So why not give us a call? 263-4040. If it's a toll call for you, call us collect 608-263-4040. Now over to Linda Baldwin.

- Right, and also fine cultural programmings like The Legend of Mike Leckrone. 
[laughing]
I don't, I'm not putting anybody down. I think it's terrific. And if you look about this whole evening I mean I can't imagine of such a wide variety of television and such excellence, and for that, you want to become a Friend of Channel 21 and that's easy to do. Call 263-4040. Look at what we've had for you tonight. We've had Pavarotti with Christmas music, we've had big band sounds, we've had the Wisconsin band, I mean folks you're not going to get that anywhere but on channel 21 right here in Madison. So call us collect if you live outside of our area. The number 608-263-4040. You know this is our second to the last night. We only have one more night. And we've really appreciated those of you who have joined the Friends of Channel 21. More than ever you're with us, and boy, we you know it's really terrific to have you as a member of our little group, actually our large group. But those of you who've been sitting out there, I met, ran into a guy on the airplane. He said, "You know, I've always thought I should do that." Well, Roger and all the rest of you who I've run into airplanes in a lot of other places, now is the time to pick up your phone and make that pledge to the Friends of 21. We make it very easy for you, these volunteers are sitting back here and they want to talk with you. Let me give you just a little bit of the rundown what's happening tomorrow evening, because and tomorrow afternoon, because those things are gonna to be terrific. A gospel sound, more Bascalia, Cosmos, Masterpiece Theater, stay with us tomorrow. Here's John.

- We want to remind you that if you call tonight in the $42, the $60 or the $120 category we do have this very fine album by Luciano Pavarotti, Oh Holy Night. When you call 263-4040, tell the volunteer who answers that that's the thank-you gift that you'd like this evening. You have been wonderful, you have called, many many of you. We have one more night. If you've been thinking about calling and becoming a Friend, now's the time to do it. One more thing, I don't want to forget to do tonight is thank the Pepsi Cola bottling company of Madison because they've been providing us soft drinks and all these people have been working so hard, it's keeping them feeling a little bit better. Call right now 263-4040. It's a toll call, call collect but call now. It'll never be easier. You'll never have a better reason. Thank you for remembering. You're watching WHA-TV, Channel 21 in Madison, Wisconsin. 
§ §