The Outstanding Bandmaster award is presented annually by KBA to Kansas Band Directors who have distinguished themselves through their musical accomplishments, service to bands, and excellence in teaching.
Selection Considerations
- Kansas Bandmasters Association past membership
- Service and impact to the Kansas Bandmasters Association
- Nominations for Outstanding Bandmaster can include: Current or Retired KBA Members (award may be received posthumously)
- Service has helped “Build Better Bands for Kansas”
- Contributions to instrumental music education within the state of Kansas.
How to nominate a candidate:
- Please fill out your name, e-mail address, and phone number in the fields below.
- Click the “Add” button to enter your nominee’s information.
- Once you have entered the first candidate, you may enter additional candidates by repeating the process above.
- When you have finished adding candidates, click “Submit Nomination(s)”
2025 Outstanding Bandmaster – Steve Gordon
Steve Gordon attended the University of Kansas for his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education. He taught twelve years in public schools at Ellinwood, Olathe, Caney and Coffeyville, Kansas prior to coming to Maranatha Academy in 1991, where he has taught Bands and HS Vocal Music for 34 years. In 2015, he received Teacher of the Year awards from both the Kansas Association of Independent and Religious Schools and the Shawnee Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was named Maranatha Christian Academy Teacher of the Year in 2021, and the Great Plains Alliance of Christian Schools Teacher of the Year in 2022. He directed the Kansas Lions Band in 1991 and has served as district representative to the State Executive Board of K.B.A., Secretary of the K.B.A. State Board, K.M.E.A.Southeast District Honor Band chair, Southeast District President-elect, Northeast District honor band chair, and he founded the Great Plains Regional Honor Band and Choir for the Association of Christian Schools International in 1996. He has served on the KSHSAA Contest Rules Committee, and his writings have been published in “The Instrumentalist” and the “Kansas Music Review”. His Bands have performed at KMEA ISW three times, and both Bands and Choirs have received superior ratings at State Festivals for several years.
Past Recipients
2024 Will Cooper
2023 Don Buhler
2022 Dennis Kerr
2021 Randy Crow
2020 John Cisetti
2019 Avian Bear
2018 Dean M. (Mike) Connell
2017 David Will
2016 David Beckham, Sr.
2015 Bryce Luty
2014 Dana Hamant
2013 Johannah Cox
2012 John Taylor
2011 Ray James
2010 Marion Roberts
2009 Don Farthing
2008 Walter “Bud” Meisel
2007 Clifford Manning
2006 Gayle McMillen
2005 Bill Clausing
2004 Larry Blocher
2003 Melvin “Bud” Schuette
2003 Tom Stidham
2002 Victor A. Markovich
2002 Frank Tracz
2001 Joseph Ray Boley
2000 Jerry Stone
1999 Larry Norvell
1998 Glen Goering
1997 Robert E. Lee II
1996 Wendell Hicks
1995 Richard Strange
1994 James Kerry
1994 Berle Willis
1993 Stan Fink
1992 Gary Fletcher
1991 David Stuewe
1990 Gary Corcoran
1989 Donald Corbett
1988 Robert E. Foster
1987 J.B. Webster
1986 William Lilly
1985 Les Sperling
1984 Ed Craig
1983 William Beck
1982 Robert Hollowell
1981 Kenneth Thompson
1980 Elmer Snell
1979 Wendll Hodges
1978 Clarence Sawhill
1977 Lyle Dilley
1976 Hal Palmer
1975 Russell Wiley