Clover High School names the successor to its outgoing Hall of Fame band director
Clover High School has a new band director.
The program will be led by Rick Langdale Jr. starting in the 2022-23 school year, per a release from the Clover School District.
Langdale is replacing Joe Gulledge, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Gulledge is a recent inductee into the South Carolina Band Directors Hall of Fame.
Some of the Clover program’s most memorable accomplishments under Gulledge’s supervision came this spring — including when Clover’s Trumpet Ensemble finished second at the 2022 National Trumpet Competition in Delaware and when Clover’s indoor drumline finished first at the World Percussion Championships in Ohio.
Langdale was introduced as the school’s next band director on Monday, at the Clover drumline’s encore community performance.
“It is truly a humbling honor to be asked to lead a program with such an enormous history of excellence and community involvement,” Langdale stated in a release, adding, “Mr. Gulledge has been a mentor and friend of mine since my freshman year of college; we won’t talk about how long ago that was. He and his team has led the Clover Band to massive heights of excellence in every facet of the program.
“I look forward to working with all the directors and staff to get moving on things as soon as they give me the keys.”
Langdale joins Clover from Easley High School, where he was the school’s Director of Bands for a successful stint.
His program was named the Class 4A state champion in competitive marching band in 2018. And since then, Easley’s been a perennial state finals contender and has traveled across the country for marching band competitions.
“The band program has recently experienced success unseen in our state,” Clover principal Rod Ruth wrote in a statement. “For that reason, and because of the hard work put in by our students, staff and Band Director Joe Gulledge, Clover High School emerged as the premier band vacancy in South Carolina. ...
“The expectations for our program are high, created not just by our recent success, but by the students themselves. Rick Langdale is the leader to meet these expectations and continue the tradition that is the Pride of Clover.”
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