[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15222-15223]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO MR. JAMES B. HUNT, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 26, 2002

  Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. James B. 
Hunt a gifted musician and native of Greenville, S.C. Mr. Hunt's first 
experience with music came at the age of six when his parents taught 
him to sing. In the 8th grade, unable to buy an instrument, he bought a 
toy clarinet from Kress ``five and dime'' Store. Mr. M.C. Lewis, 
Sterling High School Band Director, and some members of the band heard 
him playing Sousa marches on his toy instrument. They gave him an alto 
tuba, a fingering chart, and a ``march book''. On Tuesdays and Fridays 
he marched with the band at halftime.
  Upon graduating Salutatorian from Sterling High School, Mr. Hunt 
entered South Carolina State College, now S.C. State University, in 
1942 where he won a band scholarship and had the rare honor of being 
chosen as a freshman to play in the dance band known as the ``State 
College Collegians.'' At S.C. State College, he studied the trumpet. He 
earned a B.S. Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1946, and a Master's 
Degree in Education in 1958.
  Mr. Hunt is often called the ``First Band Director'' because of his 
many ``first'' achievements. He was the first band director at 
Wilkinson High School in Orangeburg, a position he held for 25 years. 
He was the first band director at Sharperson Junior High School, 
Brookdale Middle School and Bellville Junior High. With the merger of 
Orangeburg High and Wilkinson High Schools in 1971, he organized and 
became the first director of the Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School Band. 
He was the first director of an integrated band to march in the 
Railroad Daze Festival in Branchville, S.C., and in 1972 this band 
participated in the Shrine Bowl Parade and halftime show in Charlotte, 
NC.
  Mr. Hunt has placed more than 250 students in South Carolina All-
State Bands sponsored by the S.C. Band Masters Association. He served 
as president of the Band Masters Association for three years and was 
selected ``Band Director of the Year'' in 1962. His peers recognized 
him for his significant contributions to music education in South 
Carolina at the S.C. State College Second Alumni Band Concert in 1976. 
In 1987 he was inducted into the

[[Page 15223]]

S.C. State College Jazz Hall of Fame. Mr. Hunt is most proud of the 
accomplishments of his former students who include Johnny Williams, 
member of the Count Basie Band since 1970; Shellie Thomas, a retired 
music teacher in Los Angeles and currently the leader of the Original 
Honey Drippers Band; Horace Ott, Broadway composer and arranger and 
sometimes conductor for the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin; three of 
the famous Javis Brothers and Javis Sister, Priscilla; and 2000 Hall of 
Fame inductee Dwight McMillan.
  Mr. Hunt has been married for more than 50 years to the former Lerlon 
Hilton. They have two daughters: Mrs. Deborah Hunt Woods, a 1999 
Teacher of the Year in Lithonia, Georgia, and Dr. Marilyn Hunt Alim, an 
education analyst at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, 
Alabama. They have eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. 
Mr. Hunt is a member of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church where he serves on 
the Deacon Board and teaches the Merfts Sunday School Class. He is a 
member of Epsilon Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in honoring an 
outstanding South Carolinian whose dedication to his profession and 
family is unparalleled. I wish him good luck and Godspeed.

                          ____________________