KULPMONT - Nearly 50 years after he began an era in local music that remains unmatched today, Paul Semicek is still earning accolades for his inspiration and dedication.
Creator of the once famous "Festival of Stars" that brought some of music's biggest names to the coal region, and director of high school bands at Mount Carmel Area and Danville Area that performed at 110 NFL games, Semicek was honored in 2011 with induction into the Pennsylvania Drum Corps Associates Hall of Fame.
"Many high school bands now emulate the drum corps style. I've been doing it for years," the retiree said last week at his Kulpmont home. "The music is exciting and the showmanship is all about how well you perform it."
Semicik was considered a pioneer because he brought drum corps music to high school marching bands. It was a lofty label for someone who isn't sure why music became his career.
College and the Army
A native of Mount Carmel, Semicik's career in music began at age 13 playing the trumpet in orchestras.
"I have no idea where it came from, because no one in my family was musically inclined," he said.
But his interest and ability earned him a scholarship to Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove. Even before that, however, he had brought together a talented group of musicians from throughout the region to form the Paul Semicek Orchestra, which performed at Lakeside Ballroom, Barnesville.
Service to his country would interrupt the orchestra, but it didn't take Semicek away from music.
"The Army drafted me and I spent two years touring Europe with the U.S. Army 3rd Armored Division Band," he said. "That was Gen. Patton's division."
The Mounties are born
After his military service and graduating from Susquehanna, Semicek began teaching at Mount Carmel High School in 1958. Bringing the drum corps style to his marching band, the first in the country to do so, he would change the name of the band to the Mount Carmel Mounties. The students' uniforms were replicas of those worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
"We had a big hit on our hands, throughout the United States and Canada," Semicik said.
"In 1962, the Mounties was the first American band to play at a Canadian Football League game," he said.
In 1963, Semicek began a Mount Carmel tradition - The Festival of Stars drum corps show. It attracted the top drum corps to the area, along with a host of famous musical guests who performed with the Mounties.
"I had connections through our instrument manufacturers and was able to bring these great musicians here to perform," Semicik said.
They included drummer Gene Krupa and his orchestra; trumpeter Maynard Ferguson; members of the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson band, including Doc Severinsen; Tommy Newsome, Ed Shaughnessy, military bands and others. The Festival of Stars also included appearances by Miss America and Miss Pennsylvania.
In 1976, Semicek became band director and music supervisor at Danville Area High School, where the Festival of Stars continued.
Between Mount Carmel and Danville, Semicik's bands played at the Preakness, one of horse racing's triple crown events, in Maryland; and at the final career games of international soccer star Pele and Chicago Bears legend Brian Piccolo, of "Brian's Song" fame.
So noteworthy was Semicik's reputation that, while at Danville in 1985, the band was asked to take the place of Brigham Young University's band for the college football's 1985 Kickoff Classic game in East Rutherford, N.J.
Enormous popularity
In Semicek's hall of fame introduction, the DCA noted that, over the course of 35 years, this legendary director's bands performed for more than 1 million spectators.
Semicek in part gauges the popularity through some old film clips. One shows the Mount Carmel Mounties in the 1970s performing during halftime of an Atlanta Falcons game at Fulton County Stadium. As the band marches, its music loud and clear, majorettes dancing on the field and musicians performing tricks with their instruments, the crowd responds favorably, the loudest cheer coming with a rendition of "Dixie."
"We got over a minute-long standing ovation from the crowd of 53,000 people that day," Semicek said.
Not only that, but about 5,000 people stayed after the game to hear the band play, he added.
While retired, Semicek continues to arrange music and consult with various bands in central Pennsylvania.
At the induction last April, he was recognized for "inspiring others through dedicated service and contributions." But that wasn't the first time Semicik earned praise. One compliment from his hometown was of particular significance considering the comparison of his musical prowess to sports.
"Paul Semicek is an outstanding individual, a person who excels in creating musical extravaganzas with young people," Ed Romance said during a 1978 radio editorial on WMIM Radio. "A man with dedication and desire that matches or exceeds the best of the sports coaches in the entire region."