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Larry B. Dendy
Roger Dancz, who was born May 25, 1930, in Ludington, Mich., began playing trumpet when he was six years old. By the time he was 14, he had formed a nine-piece band that played at dances.
He received a bachelor’s degree in music from Stetson University, where he was captain of the band, and a master’s in music from George Peabody Teacher’s College. He also studied trumpet under Everett Kissinger, Donald Yaxley and Robert Bays.
Dancz came to UGA in 1955 after playing with the Third Army Band at Fort McPherson in Atlanta and writing arrangements for the Georgia Tech band. Twenty-five people showed up for his first rehearsal of the Redcoat Band.
By the time he retired in 1991, the band included some 300 musicians, twirlers, dancers and support staff. During his tenure, the Redcoats made several records, appeared many times on national television at bowl games and marched in President Jimmy Carter’s inaugural parade in Washington, D.C.
“He was a friend, a teacher, a mentor and a father figure to thousands of students,” says Tom Jackson, executive director of University Communications, who announced band performances in the stadium for 25 years.
A hallmark of the Redcoats under Dancz was spectacular halftime shows at football games. Working with his late wife, Phyllis, who directed the twirling and dancing units, Dancz created shows marked by intricate marching formations, soaring music and colorful costumes and props.
In the early 1970s, he established a jazz studies program and formed several jazz groups. He directed Jazz Band I, which performed throughout Georgia. He also organized the Jazz Festival of Champions, an annual competition for high school bands that brought top professional jazz musicians to UGA as teachers and clinicians.
Dancz created a weekly radio program of jazz music and commentary called Invitation to Jazz that was broadcast statewide over the Peach State Public Radio network. The first program aired the week Athens public radio station WUGA went on the air in August 1987. Dancz subsequently broadcast more than 500 programs, missing only one because of illness.
He started an annual music festival, held each January, and a summer music workshop for high school students--programs that helped recruit many of the state’s best high school musicians for UGA’s band program.
For many years, Dancz directed the UGA Symphonic Band,  which performed classical and semi-classical music. He was nationally recognized as a pioneer in the programming of original music for wind instruments.
Thousands of students played in UGA bands during Dancz’s tenure, and in 1974 he began giving them a chance to perform again in an alumni band. From an initial group of 130, the alumni band has grown to more than 300 musicians who perform at the Homecoming football game each year.
Dancz served as president of the Georgia Music Educators Association, the southern division of the College Band Directors National Association, and the Georgia chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators.
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