Lee's Summit High School
Class of 1972

HALL OF FAME

The Lee’s Summit High School Hall of Fame was formed during the 1995-96 school year and was initiated by LSHS English teacher Mildred Mitchell.  The Hall of Fame was formed to celebrate Lee’s Summit High School rich history and many distinguished graduates.  The Hall of Fame is an ongoing project and individuals are inducted annually.

At Lee’s Summit High School graduates become eligible for the Hall of Fame 10 years after their graduation.  Nominations for this year’s inductees were accepted during last fall and winter.  A committee of alumni, students, staff and community members select the Hall of Fame inductees and coordinate the recognition activities.  If you would like to nominate someone for the Hall of Fame, visit  the school’s website for the nomination form -  lshs.leesummit.k12.mo.us/.       

The Hall of Fame honors alumni who have distinguished themselves through their accomplishments and service and who have brought great credit to LSHS.  The Hall of Fame also provides current students with positive role models.  A permanent display featuring all alumni inducted into the Hall of Fame is at Lee’s Summit High School.

Below are the individuals for the Class of 1972 that are members of the Hall of Fame.

Belser1

Dr. Robert S. Belser
Director of Bands
University of Wyoming

A native of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, Dr. Belser began his musical training on  trumpet then on euphonium as a student Keith House.  He earned the Bachelor of  Music Education degree from Central Missouri State University studying with  Russell Coleman and Robert Gifford.  Following his undergraduate studies, he  taught instrumental and choral music in Central Missouri.  Dr. Belser served as  a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Illinois where he studied  with Harry Begian, Gary Smith, and Dan Perantoni, and earned the Master of  Science in Music Education degree.  He was Assistant Director of Bands at  Eastern Kentucky University directing the concert band, athletic bands, and  teaching music appreciation.  Dr. Belser was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts  in Conducting from The University of Iowa where he was a student of Myron  Welch.  He has also studied conducting with Craig Kirchhoff, John Paynter, and  Mallory Thompson.

Methany

 

Pat Metheny

Pat Metheny was born and raised in Missouri. Following his graduation from Lee's Summit High School, he briefly attended the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. Metheny dropped out of the University of Miami in his first semester and was immediately offered a teaching position there.  Metheny came onto the jazz scene quickly in 1975, at the age of 21, after joining Gary Burton's band and then recording a trio record with Jaco Pastorius called Bright Size Life. Metheny's next recording, 1977's Watercolors, featured pianist Lyle Mays. Metheny's next album formalized this partnership and began the Pat Metheny Group, featuring several songs co-written with Mays; the album was released as the self-titled Pat Metheny Group on the ECM record label. Pat Metheny also has released notable solo, trio, quartet and duet recordings with musicians such as Jim Hall, Dave Holland, Roy Haynes, Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Charlie Haden, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Bill Stewart, Ornette Coleman, Brad Mehldau, and many others.  Pat Metheny has also joined projects of all kinds both as a player and a writer, notably the record Song X with Ornette Coleman; Parallel Realities; and Jazz Baltica, with Ulf Wakenius and other Nordic Jazz players and plays with some great female musicians such as Silje Nergaard on Tell Me Where You're Going (1990), Noa on Noa (1994) and Anna Maria Jopek on Upojenie (2002).  Pat Metheny has been touring for more than 30 years, averaging 120-240 concerts a year. Metheny has written over 200 pieces and continues to push musical limits in both his composition and performance.

 

 

Jan Winburn
Enterprise Editor
Atlanta Journal-Consitution

In three decades of editing, Jan has worked on stories that have won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, the ASNE writing awards, the Ernie Pyle award for human interest writing, the APME International Perspective Award, and the Scripps-Howard award for environmental reporting. Before joining the Atlanta paper, Winburn spent a decade at The Baltimore Sun. She also worked at The Hartford Courant, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune. She is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and the author of "Shop Talk and War Stories: American Journalists Examine Their Profession." She frequently teaches writing and editing workshops at newspapers in the U.S. and abroad, and she has served on the visiting faculty of the Poynter Institute for journalists. She is married to the writer Gary Dorsey and has one daughter, Ella

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