Frank
Terry Greer Frank
Terry Greer
Born in Columbia, SC June 21, 1914, Frank T. Greer, an American bandmaster, arranger and educator, attended Tennessee A & I State for a brief period before leaving because of financial difficulties. He later graduated from West Virginia State College (BA 1948) and Marshall State University (MA 1954). After playing the trumpet in the Air Force and various dance bands, he was appointed director of bands at Tennessee A & I State University in 1951, where he remained until his retirement in 1979.
Former TSU President Walter S. Davis, interested in developing a show band, read about Greer’s success with his West Virginia Band and asked him to join the TSU faculty as band director.
Greer’s greatest achievement was the building of the Aristocrat of Bands. One of the ways he developed his band was through travel by touring the nation. “In those days we always played pop music at half time football games, but I always included a classical number,” he said, remembering how the TSU band got its name, “One day, a sports writer heard us at one of our games and labeled us “the Aristocrat of Bands”.”
Greer’s accomplishments as band director were many. Under his direction the university’s band program developed a national reputation; the marching band was the first black college band to appear on national television (1955) during the Chicago Bears vs. Los Angeles Rams football game, and the first to march in a presidential inaugural parade (1961). A discussion of his works appears in C.E. Watkins: The Works of Three Selected Band Directors in Predominantly – Black American Colleges and Universities (diss., Southern Illinois U., 1975).
Greer spent the last seven years of his tenure at TSU as director of student recruiting, a position he was appointed to in 1973. “Recruiting is taking TSU’s story to the student,” he said.
His greatest personal reward was seeing his student’s progress. He had the privilege of producing more band directors than any other band directors of black institutions in the nation.
He also contributed to the design of the TSU Music Building, which at the time had one of the finest band rooms in the country.
Greer was married to Dr. Mary H. Greer, the former department head of the Home Economics Department at TSU. They had one daughter, Linda Greer Spooner, an attorney.