Skip to main content

Mr. Hogan - The Leader of the Band


Richard Hogan 1936-2012

A few weeks ago a guy in Aledo died by the name of Dick Hogan.  He was in an accident outside Peoria and died at the hospital about a week later.   "Hoagie" was a beloved local character who used to teach music at the high school, gather with friends at the Club or one of the local watering holes, played golf and was a friend of my Dad.  Hoagie was also the biggest Cubs fan I ever knew, and they are legion.  I know another big Cub fan in Knoxville, but she doesn't watch all of the games, especially when they are close.  But Hoagie did.  He went to Chicago or St. Louis several times a year also.  Once we were in one of the bars in Aledo and I'm not sure but I think it was Nancy's sister Patti who was with us.  We had been there a bit and Hoagie wrote a song on a paper towel.  It was composed of notes, no lyrics.  Wonder if she still has it, and wonder what it sound like.  It would be nice to have today.  He was one of my Dad's pallbearers and he represents about the last of his buddies.  He was also an Army man and also received his Masters.



The reason he graces this post is because of something he did a few years ago when I was Program Coordinator at the Mary Davis Home.  In my capacity as PC I worked every so often to bring in outside people to come speak tot he kids.  Once in a while I was successful but more often than not I wasn't.  Guess there wasn't enough cred, or publicity, and of course, we had no money to help offset their expenses.  I was successful in getting Congressman Lane Evans to stop by and talk tot he kids. I tried getting Neil Castor several times since at that time he was traveling to schools to give little weather talks.  Hen never did, and didn't even write back.  I tried to bring in local bands like Rio, and Knoxville, but never heard back from them either.


The Leader of the Band

There was, however, one guy who did.  Hoagie received approval from school  administrators and brought his jazz band over not once, but twice.   I suppose he had tremendous cachet at the school and it was likely they didn't refuse him much.  But imagine Dick going to his superiors with a proposal to take kids out of classes, the use of a bus along with gas, and go to a school out of district with 25 kids and play music for kids in detention.

 Amazing.

Undated picture of Mr. Hogan leading his AHS band members in a parade. 

Through the years when we'd run into each other I always got the sense that it was more inspirational for him and his students than it was for us.   He felt an empathy for the kids and was happy to entertain them.  He always asked if I thought they enjoyed it.  I always told him they did.  Of course our kids would have enjoyed seeing a squirrel peel an acorn if it got them out of their room or out of work detail or out of their own classroom.  They put on pretty good shows and for a few minutes our hallways echoed with the sounds of a musical concert.  Jazz rocked the Red Roof Inn.  It was a nice thing to do, and I'll always appreciate Aledo High School, the Jazz band members and Richard Hogan for taking the time and absorbing the expense to bring a little culture and music to the Mary Davis Home.      




Of course, Aledo High School isn't Aledo High School anymore.  They merged with Westmer a few years ago and are now called Golden Eagles or something like that.  In Dick Hogan's honor at his funeral, they dusted off the old Aledo Green Dragon uniforms and marched and played in front of his hearse.  Here is that video.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Florida Air Museum - Part 3

Welcome back to a pretty neat tour of the Florida Air Museum in Lakeland Florida.  There's a lot to see and a couple of the old Geezer Gold Wing guys are already sitting down instead of walking around looking at the exhibits. That's John who is wore out and making a call to his wife.  In all honesty, John was pretty well bushed before the ride.  He told me his daughter's family was down from one of the Carolina's with the grand kids and he must have played with them too much.   He's about to take off on his own and head for home, but he's going to miss a couple of neat things out on Hangar A.   But, before we walk over there, we have lots yet to see here.  If you saw The Aviator with Leonardo DiCaprio playing Howard Hughes, you'll remember that he went up in a plane during the filming of one of his movies to prove a point about flying.  He crashed trying to execute a roll and this is a picture of the plane he crashed.  No...
1 comment
Read more

Summer Swim

It's Monday and the start of another work week.  Except for me.  I have the week off because the parents of my daycare charges are taking the week off, too. This is one of those wordless posts I love on Mondays so I can put my laziness in full view of loyal readers.  These pics need no words.  Why muddy the waters?   They were taken at the pool at Sinkhole Estates aka Death Valley.  The nice thing about this pool is it is heated in winter.  If one must find positives in one's situation, I suppose that is one.  But, please, no more.   
Post a Comment
Read more