The boys worked faithfully, their membership increased and their ability improved, but no one knew much about them. In 1920 the Joliet Rotary Club took McAllister and his band to Atlantic City to their convention. There they attracted much attention.
When the first national school band contest was held in Chicago, twenty-five bands took part in the affair sponsored by the Music Instrument Manufacturers. The Joliet, Illinois Township Band (Grade School) directed by A. R. McAllister, easily won first prize.
The Joliet Band continued to win first place in contests in 1925, 26, 27, and 1928. Then they were barred from entering to give other bands a chance. But when they re-entered they came out first in each contest.
The Joliet High School Band after having won many state and national contests was finally given an honor no other organization will ever have: the first national school band trophy ever awarded in the world.
Bandmaster McAllister took his band on many pleasurable concert trips, but the outstanding, unforgettable jaunt was a whole week’s engagement playing in Radio City Music Hall in New York in March, 1936. The Joliet Band also played at the Metropolitan Opera House, in Philadelphia and in Washington, D. C. on the steps of the East front of Capitol Building where they were cheered by Congressmen and Senators.
Many honors came to McAllister also. He was elected the first President of the National School Band Association, organized in 1926, and served for eight years. He was president of the American Bandmasters’ Association, and prominent in every organization connected with school music.
A. R. McAllister died September 30, 1944, loved and honored by many thousands of people, young and old. He was an extremely modest man, yet he had one of the most brilliant careers in the history of instrumental music education in America’s public schools.
McAllister was not a University man; he never graduated from a music school, never had a doctor’s nor a master’s degree. Yet he created one of the greatest high school bands in the world and was known and loved by millions of young Americans.
