Dr. Alexander L. Pickard was the director of Marching Mizzou from 1966 through 1982 after serving as an assistant under Dr. Charles Emmons from 1961–66. His charismatic, loving-drill-sergeant style and his ability to inspire fun, hard work, and excellence resulted in a large number of Marching Mizzou alums who have an admittedly biased feeling that those years were Marching Mizzou’s greatest era. In 2011, Dr. Pickard’s students paused during the traditional Homecoming celebrations to celebrate his 50th anniversary of arriving at the University of Missouri. Also of note–2011 was Missouri’s last year in the Big 12 and we defeated the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners before a packed Memorial Stadium.