Posted on September 17th, 2020
Associate member Gail Langan, inducted in 2017, is the new World Drum Corps Hall of Fame (WDCHoF) webmaster, replacing Dan Rippon, a regular member inducted in 2012, who will continue to serve as website assistant. The appointment was announced by WDCHoF president Richard Templin on September 14.
Those who have attended Hall of Fame induction banquets for the past few years are familiar with the major contribution Gail Langan has already made to Hall of Fame activities: she has been producing the induction video features since 2011. She also conceived of and produced the videos for Buglers Hall of Fame induction ceremonies from 2010 to 2012. She has conducted video interviews with prominent drum corps personalities.
She is a founding member and board member of the Drum Corps Experience virtual museum, which debuted online in the summer of 2017. From 2010 to 2015, she handled public relations for Park City Pride Alumni.
She played lead soprano with ND-ettes drum and bugle corps (Notre Dame Girls High School) in Bridgeport for five years, winning four major championships: the 1969 and 1970 World Open All Girl Championship; the 1970 U.S. Open All Girl Championship and the 1970 Greater New York Circuit All Girl Championship. The following year, she was assistant brass instructor with ND-ettes. She played soprano and mellophone with Park City Pride Alumni from 2004 to 2011 and more recently played mellophone with St. Rita’s Brassmen Alumni and the Romeos Brass Ensemble.
Dan Rippon also made important contributions to the drum corps community off the contest field. He proposed and served as the first coordinator of the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) Class A division. Ten Class A corps competed in the 2005 DCA championship preliminaries, making it the largest prelim show in DCA history to that date. He provided computer automation support to the National Judges Association for website design and a judging profile system. He also provided design and support services for the computerized DCA tabulation system.
He has served in many DCA positions, including secretary, vice president, business manager, executive board member and assistant treasurer. He was the first outside member of the board elected to Five Star Brass Productions. When the Westshoremen were facing difficult times, he stepped in to serve as corps director, helping to create a successful turnaround. He has judged for DCA and the National Judges Association. In his early years in the activity, he marched with several corps, including Rochester Crusaders, Grey Knights of St. Mary, Pennsylvania and Johnsonburg Diplomats. He first marched with the Buck-tail Regiment, playing cymbals in 1976 and 1977.
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