may 1, 1972 - Sumner High School Jazz Band

Description:

In May 1972, The Sumner High School Jazz Band was invited to participate in the International Jazz Festival in Paris France, July 4-5, 1972. Twenty five thousand dollars was necessary to cover the expenses for this event. The Northeast community raised approximately eighty percent of this amount. U.S. Senator Robert Dole was very helpful in this venture.
The Sumner High School Jazz Band was one of only seven bands invited from the United States and the only one from the Midwest.
Leon Brady was the Band Director, and the band members were: Freddie Allen, Felicia Smith, Jeffery Lewis, Michael Gregory, Orlando Bryant, John Washington, Mark Stafford, Craig Lindsey, John Weatherspoon, David Bailey, Ronald Henderson, Steven Duncan, Charles Williams, Eva Cage, Reginald Watkins, Roger Bettis, Richard Wilson, Don Davis, Harold Dwight and Russell Hornsby.
The following persons served as principal of Sumner High School: J.E. Patterson 1904-1908; John M. Marquess 1908-1916; John A. Hodge 1916-1951; S.H. Thompson, Jr., 1951-1972; Jerry Collier, 1972-1973; James Boddie, 1973-1978.
Sumner High School was closed in 1978 by a Federal Court Order. The name was changed to Sumner Academy of Arts and Science. The mascot was changed from the Spartans to the Sabres.