The High School Band Directors National Hall of Fame

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The National High School Band Directors Hall of Fame was co-founded in 1985 by Dr. Watie Riley Pickens and Mr. Bobby Lee Cude. It was organized for the purpose of recognizing and honoring outstanding high school band directors. There are no fees, dues or costs to the recipients of the honors and awards.

The National High School Band Directors Hall Of Fame is a non-profit privately funded honorary society open to all persons who qualify professionally and show an interest in meeting the stipulations for membership regardless of race, gender, sexual preference or political affiliations. It is cost free to the honorees, and a laurel for their careers and an endorsement of their musical acumen and accomplishment. The National High School Band Directors Hall of Fame exemplifies significant achievement in band teaching. We are committed to the advancement of music education through research, the commissioning of band literature, performance, teaching and the educational development of the band director and the band student.

Dr. Watie Riley Pickens, co-founder of the National High School Band Directors Hall Of Fame, says"...."The world of music, made up of writers, arrangers, performers, conductors, teachers, and equally important the patrons, must seek its immortality in the young, for as greatness emerges, so does the final curtain--for us all. The National High School Band Directors Hall Of Fame exists for the primary purposes of honoring those that teach, guide, and lead young musicians in the formation of their musical interests--some to be appreciators, others to enter the world of music as a career--and make the world a prettier place for all of us to live".

Dr. Pickens served as the Executive Director of the NHSBD Hall of Fame from 1985 until 2004. He was previously the Director of Graduate Studies at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. He is a graduate from Oklahoma State University. He received the Doctorate Degree from the University of Florida.

Mr. Bobby Lee Cude, co-founder of the National High School Band Directors Hall Of Fame, says"...High school bands make-up the largest body of public performers in our nation , performing in every community all across America from coast-to-coast entertaining thousands and thousands of people every week, even millions of people around the world when their performances are televised by the major networks in such events as the Rose Bowl Parade . Beautifully costumed, well choreographed these high school marching bands are in show business in a big way! What would a parade be without them, they are an American tradition! "

Mr. Cude is a graduate from Murray College in Tishomingo, Oklahoma as well as Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. He established the Cude & Pickens Music Publishing Company in 1978