MUSKEGON, Mich. - After 15 state championships, including this year, Reeths-Puffer Marching Band Director Chuck Hodson is retiring.
But before he left, he led the band in a final performance for a hometown audience Wednesday, Nov. 7, on the high school football field.
Hodson has been at Reeths-Puffer for 29 years. They won their first marching band state championship under his leadership in 1994. They have won the “Flight 3” title 11 out of the past 13 years.
Hodson and his students, past and present, say the secret to their success is attention to detail, discipline and hard work. “We work really hard to have the kids know what they need to do all of the time,” he says. “They get confident with what they are doing and then they are able to perform.”
“I think his legacy will definitely live on,” says 2018 drum major McKenna Bayne. “Everybody in the future generations will know his name. He built up this program and made it so amazing.”
Hodson is leaving Reeths-Puffer but not the marching band business. He is going to be the executive director of the Michigan Competing Band Association.
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