The Cook family’s contribution to the drum & bugle corps and pageantry activity is huge. Carl first got Bill interested; then Bill jumped in with both feet. With an eye towards helping channel young people in a positive direction, Bill and Gayle are best known for starting the Star of Indiana corps in Bloomington in the mid-80’s. Star went on to become DCI World Champions in the early 90’s, with Bill often driving a corps bus. Star eventually morphed into the stage show “Blast,” which won a prestigious Tony award on Broadway. It has also given those young performers a chance to do what they love professionally as Blast still tours today. And a Star alumni group continues to perform as well.
Bill and the Cook company also financially supported Drum Corps International
and our championship telecast/cinecast that I’ve hosted for 35 consecutive
years. The telecast would have gone away in the 90’s without that
support. Bill also helped individual corps who were Star’s competitors
when those groups had financial troubles.Thousands of young people’s lives were positively impacted by the Cook contribution to the drum & bugle corps activity… and for that, Bill Cook is most deservedly going into the DCI Hall of Fame at the DCI World Championships in Indianapolis this August.
Steve Rondinaro