Former Romulus band director and district music department head Dick Kruse was recently inducted into the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance Hall of Fame.
Special ceremonies were held at the annual Band-o-Rama concert at Hill Auditorium and at Michigan Stadium before 112,000 fans during the Homecoming half-time show honoring the 94 members of the 1961 Russian Tour Band, who all were placed in the Hall of Fame.
Fifty-three came to the celebration and 12 are deceased.
Kruse was a featured clarinet soloist with the band on its 15-week U.S. State Department-sponsored Cultural Exchange tour of the Soviet Union, Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
Belleville High School graduates Gerald Anderson and Diane Mattson were also on that trip.
“When I got on the train in Schenectady, New York in the fall of 1959 with my clarinet and suitcase, I never imagined I would be in the U. of M. Music School Hall of Fame,” said Kruse, who now lives in Willis.
“We had historical events occur on the trip, such as the Russian satellite Sputnik orbiting earth, Lee Harvey Oswald attending a concert in Minsk, and a mob throwing rocks into our hotel in Cairo, Egypt,” Kruse said.
“We all thought that it was ridiculous that these people were accusing the U.S.A. of invading Cuba, but history showed this to be the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion,” he said.
“I was really nervous when I got to play my solo for the first time in Kiev in the Ukraine. Our concert was on national TV and I was interviewed after the program. Everything went great and I received a standing ovation for my performance.
“Our director Dr. William Revelli then decided to include me in our tour rotation and the final Carnegie Hall concert in New York City,” he said.
1961 Tour Band members were also recognized for their many professional career accomplishments. Major university band directors, symphony orchestra members, New York City studio musicians, public school teachers, and a variety of distinguished business and public administrators emerged from the band’s roster.
Kruse was with the Romulus Schools for 41 years – 33 as a band director and eight as public relations director. His Middle School Symphonic Band received First Division ratings at 95% of the MSBOA State Festivals entered.
The statewide average is usually between 35 and 40% First Division ratings earned by participating schools.
He also led the approval of the district’s $34 million bond proposal in 1999.
Kruse is still active as an adjudicator for festivals and as a beginning band recruiter for Marshall Music.
“I still really enjoy my work with beginning band prospects,” he said. “There is only one time in their lives that they get to try all the instruments and I guarantee them that we are going to have fun doing this. My beginning band classes usually include 55 to 60% of the school enrollments,” he added.
“The greatest gift of my life has been the many, many wonderful people I have met, mostly consisting of my former students in the Romulus Schools. I have been fortunate to continue relationships with a number of them and even have gotten to baby sit for some of their children,” he concluded.