Northwestern lost one of its biggest fans yesterday in the passing of Bruce Paynter at the age of 67. Bruce and his wife Bonita were longtime season ticket holders and supporters. His father, John, was the longtime director of the Northwestern marching band. Visitation and funeral information will be posted on the Oehler Funeral Home Page in Des Plaines.
Bruce Paynter
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I'm sorry to hear that. If I am not mistaken, he was a fairly regular poster on these boards.
Bonita and Bruce are/we’re friends of mine. There were no bigger fans and supporters of NU than the Paynter’s. Bruce will be missed, and my heart goes out to Bonita.
I had the absolute privilege of meeting Bruce Paynter this season during tailgating at the Notre Dame and Illinois games, thanks to my good friend, HartlCat. How humbled I was when Bruce came to me and said he was excited of the book I was writing on the 1995 team and the offerings he gave to me in terms of helping with this endeavor. We talked for a long time about EVERYTHING Wildcats and the worst part of it all was that I had to politely and respectfully cut our conversations short due to game time, but man, was I blessed to have had those brief conversations. I can still see the expressions of passion and excitement on his face as we talked about our favorite subject.
This man was truly NU Purple through and through and I knew of his dad and his fame, and no disrespect to John, but I can honestly say that I was glad HE was the Paynter I got to meet. My sincere sympathies to his family- 67 is FAR TOO YOUNG. But I know that we now have another Wildcat overseer up in the REAL Big House and to any who didn't have the pleasure of knowing this man, he was one of the best; and those who DID,you know exactly what I am talking about. You will be missed Bruce.
This man was truly NU Purple through and through and I knew of his dad and his fame, and no disrespect to John, but I can honestly say that I was glad HE was the Paynter I got to meet. My sincere sympathies to his family- 67 is FAR TOO YOUNG. But I know that we now have another Wildcat overseer up in the REAL Big House and to any who didn't have the pleasure of knowing this man, he was one of the best; and those who DID,you know exactly what I am talking about. You will be missed Bruce.
When I first got to NU you went to the FB game to see the band under Paynter. It got better in 70 and 71 but that band was a lot of fun to watch
I was a friend of Bruce Paynter's and I marched next to his sister, Megan, during what I considered to be "NUMB's Heyday" in the mid-to-late 70s when I would frequently hear things from other competing bands to the effect that "they were IN AWE of the bands that Northwestern put on the field." Justifiably so. Northwestern bands of that era could go toe-to-toe with the finest bands in the country, and NU would come away on top.
Perhaps the best example of this was in my Junior year, when we traveled to Ann Arbor for our NUMB away trip. The Wildcat team took a drubbing during the game, but the Michigan crowd stayed long after the game JUST TO HEAR NUMB'S POSTGAME. We had a "stud" trumpet player at the time, Billie Worthen, who simply would not get tired of playing. In contrast, the Michigan Band put on a "Tribute to the Wizard of Oz" featuring students dressed up as Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, etc. and the Michigan fans loudly booed THEIR OWN BAND while calling on NUMB for encore after encore. A few weeks later, Michigan fired their own band director and offered the job to John Paynter, who turned it down. He was "Northwestern Purple" through-and-through, and his son Bruce produced a very inspiring book about his dad.
All of the Paynters just lived and breathed Northwestern Athletics and did a LOT (mostly unknown even by those familiar with NU) to advocate in favor of the football team in particular.
It was perhaps unsurprising that I was just told by a good friend that Coach Fitz was one of the FIRST people in line to attend Bruce's wake this morning, and I know that Fitz was one of the many players who had been positively affected by the support of the entire Paynter family, both as a student and more recently as a coach. As was mentioned above, Marietta Paynter passed away about a year ago, and the only surviving members of the immediate family are Megan and Bruce's son, Brett. (Bruce also had another son, Bryan, who attended NU and worked for the team doing videos of their practices. Sadly, Bryan passed away from bone cancer in 2008 when he was only 21 years old.)
I will miss seeing Bruce at NU football games tremendously, but I will continue to be inspired by the tremendous faith that he and his dad had in the future of the NU football program. May Bruce and his parents all rest in peace.
Perhaps the best example of this was in my Junior year, when we traveled to Ann Arbor for our NUMB away trip. The Wildcat team took a drubbing during the game, but the Michigan crowd stayed long after the game JUST TO HEAR NUMB'S POSTGAME. We had a "stud" trumpet player at the time, Billie Worthen, who simply would not get tired of playing. In contrast, the Michigan Band put on a "Tribute to the Wizard of Oz" featuring students dressed up as Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, etc. and the Michigan fans loudly booed THEIR OWN BAND while calling on NUMB for encore after encore. A few weeks later, Michigan fired their own band director and offered the job to John Paynter, who turned it down. He was "Northwestern Purple" through-and-through, and his son Bruce produced a very inspiring book about his dad.
All of the Paynters just lived and breathed Northwestern Athletics and did a LOT (mostly unknown even by those familiar with NU) to advocate in favor of the football team in particular.
It was perhaps unsurprising that I was just told by a good friend that Coach Fitz was one of the FIRST people in line to attend Bruce's wake this morning, and I know that Fitz was one of the many players who had been positively affected by the support of the entire Paynter family, both as a student and more recently as a coach. As was mentioned above, Marietta Paynter passed away about a year ago, and the only surviving members of the immediate family are Megan and Bruce's son, Brett. (Bruce also had another son, Bryan, who attended NU and worked for the team doing videos of their practices. Sadly, Bryan passed away from bone cancer in 2008 when he was only 21 years old.)
I will miss seeing Bruce at NU football games tremendously, but I will continue to be inspired by the tremendous faith that he and his dad had in the future of the NU football program. May Bruce and his parents all rest in peace.
In answer to an earlier question, Bruce's handle on WildcatReport was "Greylord." He tended to listen a lot and say relatively little.
Not to belabor the point, but the Paynters were among to the NU faithful who absolutely WOULD NOT TOLERATE the idea that Northwestern "could not be good at football," and they did not hesitate to take action to support that view. (The senior Mr. Paynter had been a football player in his youth and was an ardent sports fan and activist. As a band member, if you wanted to arouse Mr. Paynter's ire, just show the slightest sign of frustration at the occasional ineptitude of the 'Cats teams of the Dark Ages. It simply wasn't allowed!! In Paynter's view, the role of the Band was to be the most visible and ardent supporter of NU's teams, and we always KNEW that the rest of the world would eventually conform itself to the view that Wildcat Athletics should always be the BEST that our "small, geek school" could produce. The Paynter family quietly set up a scholarship for NU athletes, among the first recipients of which was Venric Mark. Not surprisingly, it was with great pride that the Paynters reveled in Mark's success. The family could have just advocated for the Band Program, but their real love was the success of NU Sports and they were fixtures in the Northwestern Gridiron Network and were extremely generous in donating memorabilia from their family's collection for the support of the team.
It is partly because NU has had TRUE BELIEVERS in what they saw as the inevitable success of NU Football that our Program is as good as it's become, and also why people like Coach Fitz understand and appreciate the ardent support of the Paynters. It is a model that other fans of NU football would do well to emulate, and it is why the football program's leadership feels the loss of John, Marietta, Bruce, and Bryan Paynter so very deeply. May they all Rest in Peace. (Notice that I haven't really said anything about John Paynter's most visible accomplishment, which was to become one of the most celebrated and skillful Band Directors anywhere, and the leader not only of the NU Marching Band but also of Waa-Mu and his signature Symphonic Wind Ensemble and North Shore Concert Band. All of these groups were absolutely at the forefront of musical excellence in their respective fields and are worth recognition in their own right.)
Not to belabor the point, but the Paynters were among to the NU faithful who absolutely WOULD NOT TOLERATE the idea that Northwestern "could not be good at football," and they did not hesitate to take action to support that view. (The senior Mr. Paynter had been a football player in his youth and was an ardent sports fan and activist. As a band member, if you wanted to arouse Mr. Paynter's ire, just show the slightest sign of frustration at the occasional ineptitude of the 'Cats teams of the Dark Ages. It simply wasn't allowed!! In Paynter's view, the role of the Band was to be the most visible and ardent supporter of NU's teams, and we always KNEW that the rest of the world would eventually conform itself to the view that Wildcat Athletics should always be the BEST that our "small, geek school" could produce. The Paynter family quietly set up a scholarship for NU athletes, among the first recipients of which was Venric Mark. Not surprisingly, it was with great pride that the Paynters reveled in Mark's success. The family could have just advocated for the Band Program, but their real love was the success of NU Sports and they were fixtures in the Northwestern Gridiron Network and were extremely generous in donating memorabilia from their family's collection for the support of the team.
It is partly because NU has had TRUE BELIEVERS in what they saw as the inevitable success of NU Football that our Program is as good as it's become, and also why people like Coach Fitz understand and appreciate the ardent support of the Paynters. It is a model that other fans of NU football would do well to emulate, and it is why the football program's leadership feels the loss of John, Marietta, Bruce, and Bryan Paynter so very deeply. May they all Rest in Peace. (Notice that I haven't really said anything about John Paynter's most visible accomplishment, which was to become one of the most celebrated and skillful Band Directors anywhere, and the leader not only of the NU Marching Band but also of Waa-Mu and his signature Symphonic Wind Ensemble and North Shore Concert Band. All of these groups were absolutely at the forefront of musical excellence in their respective fields and are worth recognition in their own right.)
The best John Paynter story (not witnessed by me personally) ...
Gotta set the stage. Mr Paynter had his first (second?) heart attack while I was an undergrad in the early 80's. By 1995, he was a year away from death & needed help walking. He still travelled to Notre Dame with the band, though. Darnell Autry was forced out-of-bounds on a carry, and crashed into Mr. Paynter. Probably horrified that he had knocked over the revered director, Darnell asked if he was okay. Paynter responded, "Don't worry about me, young man ... you get your ass out there and score another touchdown!"
Gotta set the stage. Mr Paynter had his first (second?) heart attack while I was an undergrad in the early 80's. By 1995, he was a year away from death & needed help walking. He still travelled to Notre Dame with the band, though. Darnell Autry was forced out-of-bounds on a carry, and crashed into Mr. Paynter. Probably horrified that he had knocked over the revered director, Darnell asked if he was okay. Paynter responded, "Don't worry about me, young man ... you get your ass out there and score another touchdown!"
This is a great tribute thread and so true! The band's support was noticed and much appreciated. I never saw your halftime shows but Band Day was cool! Senior Paynter was a legend.
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The story is indeed true and the year is correct, but it was in Ann Arbor, not South Bend. I was in NUMB and probably 20 or so feet away from the incident. We only traveled to one road game a year in those days and it was Michigan that year. I was a freshman that year and the ND win came a few days before NUMB even gathered to start rehearsing for the season.
I remember the returning band members being so excited/shocked that we had beaten ND and there was so much energy the following week ... then we lost our first home game to Miami OH. Thankfully the rest of the season went well.
John Paynter passed away about a month after the Rose Bowl. He seemed like a nice man but he was quite intimidating to me as a freshman kid. He gave a long, impassioned speech to the band the night before the Rose Bowl but the only thing I still remember is when he shouted “don’t screw up!” That was not a dude I was prepared to disappoint. Fortunately we pulled off a pretty good performance the next day!
I was in NUMB when John Paynter was Director, and performed with Flag On The Field, Pete Friedmann, and Mallory Thompson. NU football may have been entering the Dsrk Ages, but that was the Golden Age of NUMB. I am honored to have performed under his leadership, and to have come to know his amazing family. There were, and still are, no better supporters of Northwestern than the Paynters.
Indeed when John led NUMB their performances and enthusiasm were legendary. Think the size of the band was also a bit larger and who could forget their "Saints Go Marching In" rendition. Still have a lasting memory of the NU Band marching in the Rose Bowl Parade, something that I'd thought I wouldn't' t witness in my lifetime. RIP.
