WGI’s 2014 Hall of Fame Inductees

Tom Aungst, Julie Davlia, and Jim Dwyer to enter WGI HOF on April 9, 2014

Tom Aungst, Julie Davila, and Jim Dwyer have been elected into the WGI Hall of Fame. These individuals will join 52 distinguished fellow honorees and will be inducted in a ceremony to take place Wednesday, April 9, just prior to the start of the 2014 Percussion World Championships in Dayton, Ohio.

The Hall of Fame is the highest honor presented to individuals who have influenced WGI history through their achievements and contributions. Each year, outstanding individuals who have made significant contributions to the activity are inducted.

Tom Aungst is the director of percussion at Dartmouth Public Schools in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, where he has taught for the past 22 years. Under Tom’s direction, Dartmouth has participated in the WGI indoor percussion activity since 1998, capturing four World Class Percussion Championships (1998, 1999, 2008, and 2009) and has consistently placed in the top three.

Aungst has also been involved in the Drum Corps activity for over 34 years. Tom got his start in the late ‘70s by marching with the Reading Buccaneer’s corps. He was also formerly with the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps. While with the corps, Tom was involved with capturing nine World Championship titles and seven percussion awards. Tom is a member of The Cadets and Drum Corps International Hall of Fame.

Julie Davila is a member of the WGI nationally recognized adjudication team and serves on the steering committee for WGI Percussion. As a percussion specialist in Nashville, Tennessee, many of her ensembles have medaled in all divisions of the WGI activity, and in 1996 the John Overton High School Indoor Percussion Ensemble won their class under her direction. Julie is a member of the chamber percussion ensemble the CAIXA TRIO, winner of a 2011 “Drummie” award by Drum Magazine, and is also an adjunct professor of percussion at MTSU. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Percussive Arts Society and served as the chair of the Marching Percussion Committee of the Percussive Arts Society from 1998 – 2007. She is currently the battery arranger for the Music City Drum Corps, Nashville, Tennessee and the percussion coordinator and arranger for the Middle Tennessee State University Band of Blue Drumline.

James J. Dwyer is the Visual Caption Head for WGI Percussion. He has served on the WGI Steering Committee and is a founding board member of the Mid- Atlantic Percussion Society. Having judged extensively throughout the United States, as well as in Japan and Europe, Jim has been involved in the marching arts for over 30 years. He was a snare drummer for the Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps from 1980 through 1983, and served as the director of percussion for North Penn High School from 1981 through 1987. Jim, along with Tom Kelly, were the directors of percussion for the undefeated Champion Conquest Alliance Drum Corps in England for the 1984 season. He is currently a sought after adjudicator and clinician focusing on indoor percussion, as well as the host of the WGI “Visual Buzz” educational DVD.