DONALD A. LENTZ OUTSTANDING BANDMASTER AWARD
In 1975, after several years of planning and study, the Outstanding Bandmaster Award became a reality. Eugene Stoll, former Supervisor of Instrumental Music in the Lincoln Public Schools, presented the original idea for the award. Michael Veak, then the current NSBA Public Relations Chairman, and a committee that included Duane W. Johnson and Eugene Stoll, drew up the guidelines.
One paragraph in the committees’ guidelines read: “As a profession we must constantly seek out and welcome opportunities to recognize excellence among band directors throughout the state and make the public aware of the vital role the band director plays in molding today’s youth for a better tomorrow.
The award was named in honor of a man known and respected by many Nebraskans. Having retired as Director of Bands at UNL in 1974 after 37 years at the University, he was known as the national founder of Band Day early in his career at UNL and, although the athletic department ceased to allow it in 1971, Band Day is still a part of many colleges and Universities around the nation. During his career, Mr. Lentz also became a respected advisor to school band programs across the nation, and his vigorous encouragement motivated countless directors and students to achieve greater heights of excellence in their respective band programs.Currently the annual recipient of the award is selected by a committee appointed by the Awards Chair Person. Nominees must be Nebraska Band Directors and members of NSBA; nominations for the award are based upon the following guidelines as stated in the nomination form:
1. Does the candidate demonstrate an interest in the total band program? Explain
2. How has the candidate evidenced a commitment to a career as a band director?
3. In what ways has the candidate demonstrated by example and deed the basic principles of an outstanding band director?
4. Has the candidate shown creativity, originality and imagination as a band director? Explain.
5. List the professional organizations in which the candidate takes part. Include offices held, if any, and individual and group awards.
1975 - B.A. Johnson
1976 - Jack R. Snider
1977 - Duane E. Johnson
1978 - Glenn Koca
1979 - Jim Johnson
1980 - Georgene Diers
1981 - H. Arthur Schrepel
1982 - Harry McNees
1983 - Joseph Slavik
1984 - Don Johnson
1985 - Rod Schmidt
1986 - Dave Young
1987 - Bob Olsen
1988 - Bob Maag
1989 - Joe Chapman
1990 - Dean Maxwell
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1991 - Tony Snyder
1992 - Dale Duensing
1993 - James Saker
1994 - Duane W. Johnson
1995 - Robert E. Leigh
1996 - Kenneth A. Molzer
1996 - Kenneth A. Molzer
1997 - Phil Fahrlander
1998 - Michael H. Veak
1999 - Gary Davis
2000 - Dick Keiser
2001 - Linda Donahue
2002 - Ron Rickert
2003 - Bob Jenkins
2004 - Duane DeVries
2005 - Byron Braasch
2006- Terry Rush
2007- Tom Jaworski
2008- Kathy Dalby
2009- Brad Weber
2010- Brian Anderson
2011- Bill Reichert
The Jack R. Snider Young Band Director Award was established in 1986 by the NSBA Past President’s Council and approved by the Executive Board to commemorate the 25th anniversary of NSBA. The award was named for Jack Snider, who retired after a long and distinguished career which included 35 years at UNL. A committee of four Past Presidents, the first one chaired by Duane W. Johnson, are appointed each year to select the recipient of the award.
Nominations for the award are based upon the following guidelines as stated in the nomination form:
Write a short paragraph about the nominee giving your assessment of his/her teaching qualities, ability to organize and success with the band program and with students. Nominees will be asked to fill out an information form giving instrumentation list of their band, rehearsal schedule, perfomances in and out of school and community activities. Directors must be NSBA members in their third through seventh years of teaching to be considered for the award.
1986 - Byron Braasch, Dan Ehly, Jeff James, Bill Kellett, Sharon Klein, Diane Pedrock-Diffey
1987 - Kathy Dalby, Norman Edwards, Dave Klein, Don Krysl, Rick Moore
1988 - Brian Anderson, Charlene Brown, Tracy Biggs, Bob Krueger, Ron Smith
1989 - Daryl Jessen, Jon Weidner, Mary Tarleton
1990 - Pat Fortney, Curtis Forsch, Cathy Ludgate Keiser, Richard Philson
1991 - Jacque Rush, Steve Steager
1992 - Eric Fahrlander, Diane Lewis, Robert Lyons, Karen Murphy, Matt Sheppard
1993 - Jim Kordik, Barb Mock, Chris Tucker, Frank James Kucera
1994 - Brian Walker, Andy Sorensen, Neal Schnoor, Teresa
Schnoor, Mike Koch, Paul Gausman
1995 - Lance Nielsen, John Franssen, Shane Macklin, John Winter, Tom Hansen
1996 - John Robke, Susan Saker, Sam Zitek
1997 - Jeff Fahrlander
1998 - Doug Hauserman, Kevin Koopman, Jed O’Leary, Dwight Rose, Nolan Schmit
1999 - Mark Irvin, Jennene Puchalla, Greg Bergman, Kate Bergman
2000 - Nicole DiGiovanni-Kordik, Aaron Svoboda, Kim Wiedeman
2001 - Chris Johnson, Gail Carpenter-Johnson, Ron Hardin, Dan Sodomka
2002 - Chad Scharff, Mark Revell
2003- Mike Sindt, Brian Alber, Rebecca Wilhelm
2004-Darren Myers, Sandra Murphy, Brady Rohlfs, Todd Cook
2005-Nate Auman, John Schultz, Andy Walters
2006-None
2007-Nate Metshke, Michael Schlake
2008-John Furrow
2009- Kyle Haugen, Jonathan Jaworski, Andrew Johnson, Katie McCormick, Sarah Stratton
2010-Joshua Austin, Brandi Greenfelder, Michael Pollock
2011-Nicole Csipkes, Misty Prochazka, Shawn Oakes, Alex Wimmer, Erin Poe
The Outstanding Administrator Award was established in 1984 to honor an administrator for interest and support which enabled the instrumental music program to succeed. The candidate must be a Nebraska administrator.
Nominations for the award are based upon the following guidelines as stated in the nomination form:
1. How has this administrator demonstrated interest and support in the total band program?
2. In what ways have the administrator’s actions directly benefitted the band program?
3. How does the administrator exhibit a continuing interest and involvement in young people who are connected with the band program?
4. List the professional organizations in which the candidate is involved. Include offices held. Please indicate any individual awards and honors.
5. Please attach a letter stating the reasons you feel this candidate is a superior administrator.
1988 – Russ Hicks (Tri-County Schools)
1989 – Herbert Barrellman (Bellevue East High School
1990 – Dr. Ken Thomsen (Fremont High School)
1991 – Nicolas J. Marick (Bluffs Middle School, Scottsbluff)
1992 – None
1993 – Dr. Del Weber (University of Nebraska at Omaha)
1994 – Steve Shanahan (Blair High School)
1995 – Gary Anderson (Nemaha Valley Schools)
1996 – Roger Givens (Bellevue West High School)
1997 – Dr. Dennis Nosal (Norris High School)
1998 – Dr. Carole Matthes (Lincoln Public Schools)
1999 – Dr. John Deegan (Bellevue Public Schools)
2000 – Dr. Kevin Riley (Gretna Public Schools)
2001 – Dr. Donald Zeiss (Wayne High School)
2002 – Larry Parker (Lincoln High School)
2003 – Dr. James Loch (Adams Central High School, Hastings)
2004 – Dr. Pat Hunter-Pirtle (Lincoln Southeast High School)
2005 – Dr. Rick Werkheiser (Millard North High School)
2006 – Paul Sheffield (Shickley Public Schools)
2007 – Jim Landwehr (Adams Central High School, Hastings)
2008 – Rocky Ruhl (Wayne High School)
2009 – None
2010 – Stan Turner (Bennington High School)
2011 – Brad Stueve (Bellevue East High School)
The NSBA instituted this new award in 2003 to honor band programs that demonstrate a high degree of academic achievement. The award is presented at the awards banquet at the annual March convention to those bands that qualify.
To qualify, the cumulative grade point of all students in the high school instrumental program must be 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale. This must be verified by the high school principal or superintendent.
Nebraska State Bandmasters Association
NSBA Archives
Please send updates, errors, or omissions to historian@nsbma.org