Dr. Issac Greggs – January 3, 1928 – April 28, 2014
On April 28th, 2014, H.B.C.U. community lost one of it’s most iconic figures. The State of Louisiana lost one of it’s BEST ambassadors. The ‘craft’ (as we bandsmen and former bandsmen like to call it) lost one of it’s founders.
Dr. Issac Greggs was band director for Southern University for 37 years; In that span of time, he created an institution that became one of the visible faces of what the positive ‘Black College Experience’ is all about. Southern U’s ‘Human Jukebox’ has been on the cutting edge of entertaining audiences since his arrival in 1969. I could sit here for days listing all of the innovative things that Dr. Greggs’s bands brought to the art form of the halftime show. That’s only a SMALL PIECE of this man’s impact on music, and the people around him.
He loved teaching and he loved people…That’s evident from the long line of folks that he touched with music and lessons OUTSIDE of music. We often talk about what type of ‘legacy’ a person leaves when they pass on from this life. Dr. Issac Greggs’ legacy isn’t just measured in halftime perfection, or the fame and visibility that the Human Jukebox has gained for said perfection; It’s measured in joy. It’s measured in the happiness the regular fan experiences when looking at (or listening to) a Southern University performance. finally, it’s measured in the thousands of students that have sat in a band room and/or classroom with him and have emerged better men and women because of that exposure.
Yeah, folks talk about leaving lasting legacies all the time…THEN there are men that actually walk that walk, and then some…To say that Dr. Greggs falls under the “and then some” category is an understatement.
Thank You for YOUR legacy, Dr. Greggs…God Speed…