Dr. Rich Crusenberry is 46 years old, a pharmacist in Johnson City and a member of ETSU’s Marching Bucs. He loves spending his extra time on campus participating with the marching band.
Back in April of 2022, he stumbled across a YouTube video of the Marching Bucs, specifically their halftime show, from back in 2018. He said he was amazed by what he saw.
“I watched the video and I thought ‘Wow, they’re really good.’ Because I have lived here for the past twenty years, and for most of that time they did not have a band. It was like inspiration to me. I wanted to do this,” Crusenberry said.
Crusenberry also spoke on his love of education. He graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology, along with a minor in music. He went on to graduate from Mercer University’s College of Pharmacy.
While attending Virginia Tech, Crusenberry was a member of their marching band, The Marching Virginians. While he fondly looks back on his years in college marching band, he told me he has a few regrets from his college years.
“While I was there, I was in the closet or buried in the chamber of denial, whatever you would like to call it,” Crusenberry laughed. “And I was a different person. I still have friends from college band, but they don’t really know me. I was looking forward to somewhere I could go in and just be my true self.”
He was looking to add onto his degree at ETSU, but when financial aid did not work out, he decided he solely wanted to be a part of the marching band.
He also stated a big reason why he decided to come march at ETSU was the band director, Dr. Joe Moore. He had known of Moore from when he was the band director at Sullivan East High School back in the 1990s.
“I had heard all of these stories about Moore, so when I found out he was the director, that just sealed the deal for me.”
Crusenberry explained he does not think that this year will be his last with the Marching Bucs, and he definitely looks forward to the future of the program.
You must be logged in to post a comment.