It All Started Here! “I felt the ties with what had become a family here. I loved the teachers.”
Pat, you came to North Texas with a desire to start something new. From Nashville to Springfield to Denton, you and Shirley embarked on a wonderful adventure, both professionally and personally. The fascinating parallels between your life and career and the 75th anniversary of UNT Jazz Studies are evident. You exemplify what the University of North Texas is all about. Now is the ideal time to honor both you and UNT Jazz in a permanent and meaningful way.
Legacies Planted “I can still remember the smell of the air while my new bride and I were hanging clothes on the line outside of our first apartment on Avenue D in Denton.” While at UNT, you sang with the Aces of Collegeland and grounded yourself in the North Texas community by working at the Ft. Worth Star Telegram and, subsequently, with all regional media outlets. Legacies Rooted “It was such an amazing time in our lives while I was at NTSU. Not only was my career starting, but I was also newly married and we had our first daughter, Cherry. Altogether, we spent almost four years in Denton and I give the utmost credit to NTSU for founding us in our marriage and in life.”
Your years at NTSU coincided with the early years of the Jazz Studies program. Inspired by Gene Hall in the late 1940s, the Jazz Studies curriculum quickly grew in popularity and reputation, with the 1950s yielding some of its first graduates. Under ‘Fessor Graham’s direction, the Aces of Collegeland ensemble was the precursor to what is now the One O’Clock Lab Band, one of the most highly regarded collegiate ensembles in history.
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