The C. H. Yoe High School band of Cameron, Texas has proved through the
past thirty-six years to be one of the most outstanding musical organizations in
the State of Texas. The school band and its parent municipal band have been both
an entertaining and a unifying influence in the Cameron community and have been
“putting Cameron on the map” for the past thirty-nine years.
The high school band situation forty years ago was vastly different than
what it is today. Today practically every high school in the state large enough
to be accredited has a band with membership open and free to all students. Not
so some fifty to sixty years ago. In the 1920’s and 1930’s few schools in Texas
except the large metropolitan schools supported a band program.
The outstanding organization that the Yoe High School Band has been and is did
not rise without outstanding leadership. The greatness of Cameron’s Yoe High
School Band can be directly attributed to its organizer and its director for the
thirty-six years from the band’s start as a public band to the recent 100 plus
member high school musical organization and this man is Francis Cox.
A story of the Yoe High School Band cannot but be a story of James Francis
Cox. Mr. Cox was the guiding force in the community in the forming of a
municipal band and the incorporating of the band into the school system. Perhaps
more importantly, Francis Cox was a driving force behind the development of many
young individuals into fine musicians and fine citizens.
James Francis Cox, born October 1, 1907 was the son of a barbering musician.
Louis Cox, while maintaining his job as a Belton, Texas, barber, organized the
Belton High School Band in 1921 and Francis was one of the its first members.
His talents were plainly evident. Young Francis Cox graduated from Belton High
School in 1924, and at seventeen immediately went to work as a director of the
faltering Belton band. Louis Cox had been prompted by illness to resign a year
earlier and the band had since deteriorated. Francis Cox at age seventeen
revitalized the band and made it to a success. In July of 1925, Francis Cox,
youngest band director in the State of Texas, and his Belton Tiger Band became
the first school band organization to play a special concert for Governor Miriam
Ferguson. Playing on the lawn of the governor’s mansion in Austin, the band was
well received. The band that evening also played an outdoor concert for summer
University of Texas students. The young director was featured in a special
trombone solo entitled “Smear.”
Regardless of the band’s success and popularity, the deepening depression
forced the school band program in Belton to be discontinued. Francis Cox,
formerly youngest band director in the State of Texas, ran records in a Belton
silent motion picture theater for a year until, on the prompting of his great
aunt, he traveled to West Texas and Fort Stockton to organize a band, a trip
that probably did not require a great deal of urging. In 1929 the Fort Stockton
Cowboy Band was organized by Mr. Cox and in two year grew to a membership of 30
and reached a musical skill that allowed the organization to play “high class
concert music.”
It was during the summer of 1930 that Mr. Cox served on the faculty of the
Dallas Band School and Conservatory at Southern Methodist University in Dallas
as associate director of the intermediate band assistant instructor in the brass
department. He was highly praised in the catalogue of the Southwestern Band
Conservatory: Francis Cox, bandmaster, fort Stockton, Texas is an artist of
rare quality on the trombone, successful teacher and director of high school,
chamber of commerce, and municipal bands. Mr. Cox holds a certificate from the
Advanced Department of the Southwestern Band Conservatory, occupied first chair
in the trombone section of the All-Southwestern Band in 1930, and was an
associate instructor in the brass department. Students made remarkable progress
under his superior instructions.
While touring with a dance band in the area of Cameron during the summer of
1930, Francis Cox met Mr. Ben Reichert, editor of the Cameron Enterprise.
Reichert urged Mr. Cox to come to Cameron to teach much wanted instrumental
music lessons. On the proviso that enough students could be solicited, Cox
decided later to come to Cameron.
After visiting Cameron at the end of the school year, Francis Cox left Fort
Stockton and came to Cameron in the summer of 1931. Mr. Cox soon became
established and began instructions with twelve students. The private lessons
were held in the home of one of his students near the school, due to a severe
lack of space in the Cox apartment.
While the high school band was uncommon in this era, the city municipal band
was not. Every community that was large enough to provide a fair representation
of instruments from the township organized a city, chamber-of-commerce, or
municipal band to play at community functions, represent the town and provide
entertainment for the town's people. Cameron was no exception for the municipal
band had always been popular in Cameron. Because of the negligence of a former
band director, the band was disbanded in the late 1920's and members only
continued to meet among themselves to play. Many of these amateur concerts took
place in the part of Cameron known as "Dutch Town" at the J.T. Parma Philco
Radio Sales. Parma and his friends gathered in front of the store and played for
those citizens who parked their cars in the streets and offered encouraging
applause. The last professional musician and band director prior to Mr. Cox's
arrival taught private lessons in his home. Musical instruments belonging to
members of the community were taken to nearby Waco, Texas, by the director for
repairs and over a period of several months the instruments failed to return to
Cameron. Several weeks later the director moved his studio and his family away.
With the arrival of Mr. Cox, a competent musical instructor, the times was ripe
for the formations of a city band. In 1932 Mr. Cox re-organized the municipal
band with his twelve students as charter members. He and his students canvassed
the town from door to door soliciting adult membership in the organization and
finally rehearsals began with a total of twenty members--twelve students and
eight young men of the community. No financial aid was offered to the band by
either the city or the school, although the school administration did allow the
band to hold night rehearsals twice a week in the abandoned school building
which had been Cameron High School. Membership in the self-supported municipal
band was limited to those who possessed an instrument. All other equipment,
including the bass drum and music was purchased by Mr. Cox.
The municipal ban played its first formal public concert in the spring of
1932. Mr. Cox called his brothers from Belton, who also were fine musicians, to
perform in the concert in order to fill the void created by a lack of
instrumentation.
By this time, due to the urging of many band parents and friends of Mr. Cox
who knew the strained financial state the Cox’s were living under, the city
government allocated the small sum of twenty-five dollars a month for the
municipal band director’s salary. Nevertheless, the Cox family was financially
hard pressed. At one time, Mr. Cox had in his possession only one white shirt.
Mr. Cox would wear his shirt during the day, take it off immediately when he
arrived home where Mrs. Cox would then was and iron it and hang it up in
preparation for the next days’ activities.
The band now rehearsing in the Yoe High auditorium, although still at night,
increased in membership thanks to the addition of new instrumental students.
During the second full year of band work for the director’s fee was raised by
the city to fifty dollars a month and Mr. Cox reduced his for private lessons by
one half –sixty-five cents—thus enabling more boys to finance their instruction
during the depths of the depression.
The municipal band fulfilled its role as one of the main sources of
entertainment in the community by playing at civil events, patriotic rallies,
marching in the community parades, as well as touring surrounding communities
such as Jones Prairie, Hanover, Belton and Rosebud on behalf of the Chamber of
Commerce.
The municipal band of Cameron entered the State Band Contest at Mexia, Texas
in the spring of 1933 and won first place as first year municipal band. Unlike
band contests in later years, these early contest pitted band against band in
musical competition, thus making the winner the best above all the other
entries.
During 1933 the parents of band students organized the Band Parents
Association with the expressed purpose of better assisting the band in any way
possible. They did this through the years until the association was disbanded,
providing financial support for the band, transportation to engagements and
offering firm demand to the school administration for better treatment of the
band program. The first president elected by the members of the Band Parents
Association was Doctor W.R. Newton, Sr. Under his leadership privileges accorded
to the band as well as membership grew as a direct result of the BPA program.
Early in 1934 the band received ten new members, bringing the total membership
to thirty-five and was fitted for its first set of uniforms – a set consisting
of capes, caps and trousers with a “C” for Cameron emblazoned within a lyre on
the right side of the cape. “Attractive, for their time,” according to Mr. Cox,
they were an improvement over the simple shirt, tie and trouser combination
which had been serving as the band uniform. During April of the same year, the
municipal band attended the State Band Competition again in Mexia and won for
the second time the first prize award, a silver loving cup.
During the summer of 1934, the office of superintendent of Public Schools was
vacated by W. T. Fisher. E. A. Perrin, the incoming superintendent, pledged to
Mr. Cox that he would install the band into the school system “as soon as it was
financially practical to do so.” The school board in the summer also set aside a
small room in the high school building for Mr. Cox to use for instructional
purposes; the room had been a former piano instruction room. The Yoe High School
auditorium was also made available for daytime band rehearsal.
The school board was interested in organizing a high school band program under
Mr. Cox; however, it was impossible for Mr. Cox to be employed as a teacher
since the Texas State Department of Education required all teachers in
accredited schools to have a teaching certificate. Francis Cox had plenty of
practical experience, musical ability and teaching skills – but no college
degree. But because the reputation of the Cameron Band had spread throughout the
state, the State Department of Education granted Mr. Cox a temporary teaching
certificate with the provision that he start his college work immediately. So it
was that in 1934, ten years after graduating from high school, Francis Cox
enrolled as a student at Mary-Harden Baylor in Belton. Mr. Cox transferred his
credit to Baylor University in 1936. Baylor, not offering a degree in band
directing that he wished to acquire, Mr. Cox transferred to Southwestern
University in Georgetown where he graduated in 1943, Magna Cum Lauda, and the
highest ranking student in his class. Mr. Cox was not a resident student, but
commuted to college during the regular year and attended summer school in order
to conduct affairs of the band in Cameron.
In 1935, the State Band Contest became high school band meet under
Interscholastic League supervision and the municipal band category was dropped.
The Cameron Band, which had continued to be active was a municipal band, was
forced to drop all nonstudent members in or to attend the State Contest. This
lowered the band’s membership from thirty-five to twenty-five and left the band
with an inadequate instrumentation for the contest. At the contest the band
received a third division rating. At this contest the old competition type
judging was abandoned. The division rating system, which judges each band’s
performance individually, has been used ever since.
During 1935 several requests were made of the school board by the BPA to hire
Mr. Cox as a teacher of music and to incorporate the band into the school system
as had been earlier promised of the new superintendent. On one occasion, thirty
band parents attended a regular school board meeting “en Masse” in order to
emphasize their requests. Finally, in May, 1935, the requests of the BPA were
met. A committee composed of two band parents and Mr. Cox went before the school
board with their request and the promise from the city council that it would
help fund the band in the school program. The board decided to incorporate the
band into the school system with a six hundred dollar allotment and hire Mr. Cox
as teacher of music at one hundred twenty-five dollars a month, with a one year
contract. The school board also provided twenty-five dollars a month supplement
for both teacher and band.
For the first time, no private tuition was charged to band students and any
student wanting to join the band had only to obtain an instrument. Now open to
all students, the band received its first girl members in the summer of 1935.
This action was “quite revolutionary” in the time of developing bands, according
to Mr. Cox, and was met with a few isolated complaints from “die-hard” male
members of the band. The male majority in the band has dwindled ever since 1935
until now there are usually less than twenty boys in the band each year.
The BPA continued to function with the band in the schools system, continuing
in their work of raising money from instruments and music and of providing
transportation for band excursions. The Band Parents aided the school board in
the purchase of the first of many school owned band instruments in October of
1935. On the request of the BPA that the board aid the association with the
purchase of several large and expensive instruments, the school board helped
purchase one sousaphone and two French horns, on the condition the instruments
become the property of the school.
Also in 1935, work began on the fifty-five thousand dollar Yoe High School
gymnasium which was to later house the music department in its accompanying
departmental rooms. When the gym was completed, the band was allowed an
acoustically treated classroom large enough for classes of thirty-five students.
For rehearsals of the entire band, a connecting stage large enough to
accommodate the band was used. The band later moved to the opposite side,
second-story level gymnasium for classes and rehearsals. The music department
remained there until 1967 and the completion of a separate new band hall, named
in honor of Mr. Cox.
In 1936 the band ordered its first set of military style uniforms, a style
which the band has kept, with slight variations, through the years. The school
board allocated one thousand dollars for the purchase of the uniforms, but the
major part of the price was carried by the Cameron city council. Mayor Charles
C. Smith was nearing the end of his term of office and was not seeking
re-election. Mayor Smith had during his administration carefully saved five
thousand dollars from the city budget and felt it should be put to a good use
after he left office. He therefore asked School Superintendent E.A. Perrin if
the school was in need of anything-“Band uniforms” was the reply. Mr. Cox
appeared before the city council and made a request that Cameron aid in the
purchase of a new set of uniforms. The five thousand dollars was allocated for
that purpose. Mr. Cox worked with a representative from the Craddock Uniforms
Company of Kansas City who presented special drawings of uniform styles. A
maroon military style jacket complete with blue-gray citation cords, maroon
trousers with gray stripes, and maroon shako topped with gray ostrich plumes was
finally selected by Mr. Cox as the band’s new uniform. The band and Mr. Cox were
justifiably proud of their smart new attire and according to Miss Ada Margaret
Smith, long time friend and associate of Mr. Cox, “the band never marched better
than that first night they wore their new uniforms.”
The band increased in size to seventy-one in the school year 1936-1937 and
earned another second division (superior) rating in the spring State contest.
The first group of seasoned musicians who had been with Mr. Cox since the days
of the municipal band graduated in 1938, but not without first entering two
spring contests and earning first division rating in concert playing,
sight-playing, and marching.
In the spring contest of 1939 the band earned three first division ratings and
qualified for the National Band Contest at Abilene where the band again received
top ratings.
In the spring of 1940, the band was exempted from entering the State
competition and went directly to the National Contest held in Waco. The class B
Cameron Yoe High Band received a second division rating.
Contests were an important part of the band program but were by no means the
only part. During the football season, the band, in early years, could be heard
playing their horns and be seen marching up-and-down vacant lots near the school
at 6:30 every morning and several days a week after school in preparation for
the half-time performance Friday night. Mr. Cox who meticulously planned out
marching maneuvers, patterns, and shapes to be formed by the band, watching for
errors, correcting them, barking instructions, and preparing his band for the
Friday night performance.
Transportation for the out of town football games and other out of town
engagements was provided by, until later years and the use of school buses, cars
were driven by band parents and friends. On Friday evenings the caravan of cars,
each with assigned band students entrusted to the driver's care would head out
toward the game, accompanied by a truck carrying the large instruments. The
pick-up truck belonging to the Eplin Furniture Store of Cameron was often used
for this. But on one occasion, the assigned instrument truck broke down and an
emergency substitute was used-- bear truck. Mr. Cox, who was riding in the truck
and who was faithful, non-drinking Baptist, found the situation quite amusing.
For contest engagements, the caravan of cars with mothers of band students
driving would leave in the morning. In the afternoon after school, Miss Ada
Margaret Smith, high school history teacher, would pick up the fathers of band
students and take them to the contest site in order to drive the students home
at night after the program was over.
In 1941, the band re-entered the State Band Contest, rating three first
divisions. This contest was the last contest until the end of the Second World
War in 1945.
Like most other aspects of life, band activities were curtailed by the war
effort. Gas rationing brought to a halt out-of-town engagements except those
concerts for American servicemen. The Yoe Band was honored while serving the
American "GI" by being the first civilian band to play at the new Camp Hood near
Killeen. The band received a standing invitation to return to the Camp to
perform whenever transportation was available.
In support of the war effort the band played for bond drives, scrap drives,
and community gatherings. The band often at times found itself, as it always had
in the years prior to television and mass entertainment, one of the most popular
forms of entertainment available. During August each year the band prepared for
football season with Friday night band concerts on the courthouse lawn in
downtown Cameron. Cars would be parked for blocks around and people would line
the area listening to the musical entertainment provided by the band for an
hour. This Friday night concert began in the days of the municipal band and was
only discontinued in the early 60's. These regular city concerts were continued
until the public lost interest and turned to television.
As the war ended in the summer of 1945, Superintendent E.A. Perrin retired
from office and was succeeded by Mr. W.T. Hanes. Superintendent Hanes proved to
be a good administrator and conscious of the value of the excellent band
program. Hanes set aside three of the best school buses for band use and had
specially constructed racks installed on the tops of the buses in order to carry
the large equipment of the band.
In 1948, Mr. Hanes increased the school's financial support of the band
program and brought all band activities under administrations and financial
control of the school board thus relieving the Band Parents Association of their
major duties of financing the band. On out of town football games trips, Hanes
provided fifty cents for each band student to purchase food on the trip.
Superintendent Hanes also saw that the annual band awards consisting of jackets
and letter-monograms were financed entirely by the school.
In the newly activated Spring Contest in 1946, the Yoe Band took up where it
had left off in 1941--winning first division ratings. The band earned the first
division rating at concert contest each year from then through 1966. In 1967,
the band received a second division rating but returned to a first division
rating in the 1968 UIL Contest.
The band membership steadily increased year by year after 1947 from
seventy-five students to ninety in 1951, ninety-eight in 1955, and one hundred
four in 1968. The 1971 Yoe Band lists some one hundred fourteen members and this
figure represents only the senior band; there are usually some forty to sixty
junior musicians working toward the advanced band. Through the years after 1947,
a student was able to enter the senior band from the junior band if he met the
standards of performance during his seventh grade year. In the 1969-1970 school
year, complete integration of Cameron Schools resulted in the formation of a
separate Junior High School and the formation of Junior High Band reserving the
senior band to High School students only.
In 1948 when the school administration took over complete control of the
finances of the band, the BPA disbanded with no further goal. By the 1960's
however, it became evident that an organization of some type was needed to
supplement the funding of the band and in 1964 the Band Boosters Club was
organized with the expressed purpose of helping the band in any way possible.
The Band Boosters provides each year a Texas-Style Barbeque honoring the band.
The Boosters Club was instrumental in the building of the J. Francis Cox Band
Hall and purchased a plush office chair for the director and new fiber-glass
chairs in 1968 for the band to replace the rusted metal chairs used by the band
for many years. Along with this, the Boosters, like the earlier Band Parents,
have bought several new instruments in recent years including four tubas and 2
French horns. The school continues to buy all the band's music for the band
music library, one of the most extensive high school band music libraries in a
school of comparable size in the state.
Band classes were held in the band hall atop the high school gymnasium from
the late 1940's. It had been the dream of Francis Cox to have built a new band
hall to his specifications which would adequately house his growing
organization. His dream was realized when in October of 1967 the fifteen
thousand dollar steel and concrete "J. Francis Cox Band Hall" was dedicated on
"Francis Cox Day" as officially proclaimed by the Mayor of the city of Cameron.
The band hall was dedicated in official ceremonies before a packed audience in
the new building. Dignitaries and former band students attended from all over
the state to honor Mr. Cox. One former student made a particular effort to
attend , coming all the way from Indiana.
In September, 1968, the always forward movement of the Yoe Band came to a
momentary but complete standstill. On September 12, 1968, Mr. Francis Cox died
suddenly of a hidden heart complication. The band, unaware of Mr. Cox's death
was called to the band hall from morning classes to meet with Yoe High School
Principal, Alvis Fuqua, who broke the news to the stunned band with words, "Mr.
Cox has passed away."
In true Francis Cox tradition, the band performed the very next night at the
season's first football game. The program planned by their loved director was
carried out in excellent detail.
Mrs. Wirt Skinner, the wife of Cameron's Presbyterian minister, led the band
for a brief period until Mr. Bob Carney of Fort Worth arrived in late November
of 1968 to accept the reins of the band. Mr. Carney remained as director at
Cameron for two years and resigned after his second year to enter ministry.
Dalton R.F. Harbers, former Lexington band director, became the next Yoe
director and at present directs both the Yoe High and Cameron Junior High bands.
The Yoe Band under Mr. Harbers traveled to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas during the
Dallas Cowboys' 1970 football season where they staged a flawless pre-game
performance before a crowd of over fifty thousand people. At the Spring, 1971
Uil Concert Contest, the band received a first division rating both concert
playing and sight-reading competition.
Today's Yoe High Band enjoys the fruits of the years of the effort put forth
by Mr. Cox, the Band Parents Association, the Band Boosters Club, and the
Cameron School Board. The band re-pays these efforts by continuing high levels
of performance excellence, a goal universally set for all musical organizations
and achieved always by the Yoe High School Band.