Barnette, longtime Central High Sugarbear Band director, dies at age 76

Bob Barnette, the longtime director of Central High School's Sugarbear Band who was revered for his insistence on excellence and precision, died Thursday morning. He was 76.

Barnette spent three decades at Central and its predecessor, Lanier High School, with a mission of turning high-schoolers into top-notch musicians. From 1965 until his retirement in 1994, the school's band earned "superior" ratings at marching, symphonic and jazz competitions.

"Thousands of boys and girls respect that tradition that he set," said David Carter, Central's former senior military instructor for ROTC. "You had to be a 100-percenter. You had to be dedicated to music and discipline. ... He demanded perfection. ... All he had on his mind was getting a top-notch rating."

In a 1993 article in The Telegraph, Barnette was quoted as telling the band: "Look at me! I see you people up here out of step. Out of step! We don't march out of step in the Sugarbear Band. We learned this in rookie week. It should be second nature by now!"

A Macon native, Barnette was hired at the age of 19 by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He traveled with professional bands before becoming a high school band director.

His first teaching job was in Hancock County, but in the early 1960s he was hired as Lanier High's band director in Macon. He left for a one-year teaching job in Florida, but he returned to Lanier, which is now Central.

Away from school, he directed the music program at Liberty United Methodist Church for two decades and was director of the Macon College Community Jazz Band and Pep Band.

The man who shared his music with so many through the years had a fondness for playing trumpet and bass, Carter said, and was a member of the Macon Symphony Orchestra.

"He was deeply loved by our musicians," said Sheryl Towers, the orchestra's CEO. "He was part of the orchestra for over 30 years, and he hosted some of the musicians at his home when they came here to play on concert weekends."

Towers said that when Barnette's health began to decline and he was no longer able to play, he was greatly missed.

"He was a great asset to the orchestra," she said.

Katie Collinsworth Wurstner was a freshman in Central's Sugarbear Band the year Barnette retired. Growing up, she wanted to be a Sugarbear member, she said.

"You wanted to be part of it because, for some reason, he knew how to get the best out of everybody," she said. "He may have been hard on you, but everyone wanted to do their best. He treated teenagers almost like adults. He would let you be a teenager, but when it came time to work, it was time to work."

She said Barnette challenged students to do more than they thought they could.

"He never picked easy pieces for us to play," she said. "He picked the hardest piece of music he could find. We'd play it, and then he'd say, 'Let's do it again.'"

On the football field, the hard work paid off with often spectacular results. Carter said Barnette "set the tone for band directors in the state" and sometimes planned elaborate halftime shows during football games. Among them was a James Bond-themed show that included a helicopter landing on the field. Another show paid homage to Batman.

"I told him on several occasions, 'Bob, you need to be in Hollywood.'"

Wurstner recalls the final halftime show of Barnette's career. The band changed the routine and played "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday," a Boyz II Men hit in the early 1990s, and the band members choreographed their performance to spell out "Bye Bob" on the field.

Although the students tried to keep those plans under wraps as a surprise to their director, there were rumors that Barnette made his way to the top of a nearby building to get a better view, Wurstner said.

"Even then, he was watching over us to make sure we got everything right," she said, laughing.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Andy M. Drury, call 744-4477.

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 9:21 PM with the headline "Barnette, longtime Central High Sugarbear Band director, dies at age 76 ."