Atherton Award Recipient
Guy Dee, 2013

Guy Dee
Trombone & Baritone

Guy Dee is an Eau Claire native who joined the Blugold Marching Band as a high school sophomore in 2004, during the band's rebuilding years. The BMB of that era was energetic, exciting, and expanding rapidly, and to encourage that growth the band recruited enthusiastic musicians from local high schools to march in the BMB over a period of several seasons. In addition to filling out the roster, these high school members would spread the word about the BMB experience to their classmates, building the band's reputation among the next generation of incoming university students.

During his ten seasons as a marching member of the BMB Guy played trombone and baritone, beginning with four years in the trombone section before serving as the baritone section leader for two years, and then trombone section leader for four years. Over that time the band more than doubled in size, from 134 members in 2004 to nearly 300 members in 2013, and firmly established itself as a true institution both at the university and in the broader community.

After marching his last season in 2013, Guy volunteered to return to the BMB to serve as the band's announcer and as support staff beginning with the 2014 season. If you've attended any field show performance of the Blugold Marching Band since 2014 you've heard his announcements booming over the stadium PA system. Guy also contributes to the band in many other ways, including loading the equipment truck, setting seating charts for football games, coordinating the BMB Alumni Band, helping manage the band's Facebook page, and recording and publishing performance videos.

As of 2023 Guy has been associated with the Blugold Marching Band for 20 seasons, and has now spent just as many years on staff as he did on the field. Over those 20 years he has never missed a regular uniformed performance of the BMB, and attends every band camp and international tour, too. When not volunteering with the band, Guy lives in the Madison, Wisconsin area and works as a technical trainer in the software industry.

“It's not an overstatement to say the Blugold Marching Band made me the person I am today, and continues to make me the person I will be tomorrow. It's a tremendous joy to get to know the students every year, to work with them, to share stories, and to offer my mentorship and support to them. I've always said I'll continue to participate in BMB as long as it's fun, and if anything, it's more fun now than it was when I started. As much as the BMB has changed through my many years with the group, one thing has never changed at all: This is a place where everyone is welcome, everyone is valued, and everyone is important, and I can't imagine anywhere else I'd rather be.”