Collicott a "Madison Scout' once more
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By JEFFREY HAGE jeff.hage@lee.net
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 12:10 PM CDT
Chippewa Falls High School band director Brian Collicott got a part of his life back Tuesday night — his beloved Madison Scouts jacket.
Members of the Chi-Hi band presented their leader with a replica of the jacket Collicott earned as a member of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corp in the early 1990s.
The jacket was so important to Collicott that he wore it only on special occasions — like the night of October 15, 2005 when he and Doug Greenhalgh led the band to a third place finish at the prestigious state band meet on the University of Whitewater campus.
Hours later Collicott was wearing that jacket when the band bus crashed into an overturned semi on Interstate 94 near Osseo. Collicott was critically injured in the crash which killed five, including Greenhalgh.
“That jacket was a huge part of my life, and when they cut away my clothes that was one of the first things I thought about,” Collicott told his band students Tuesday during their Spring concert.
“Thanks for knowing how much this meant to me,” Collicott said.
Sophomore Ryan McDowell was instrumental in pulling the presentation together. With help from Patrick Hull, who first filled in for Collicott with the band after the accident, and music teacher Molly Nordin, he set out to replace the prized possession.
“I was put in touch with the Madison Scouts, and they were able to send us a new jacket,” said McDowell, an alto sax player.
That was no easy feat.
“It’s a members-only jacket,” said Hull, who marched in the band with Collicott.
“To be a part of the Madison Scouts, you had to be quite outstanding. You had to audition for the band and then meet certain criteria to stay,” he said.
On the sleeves of Collicott’s jacket were patches from the different competitions in which he was a finalist.
“That jacket, it was something that you earned,” Hull said. “It wasn’t just a jacket, it was something with a lot of history.“
But the jacket was ruined in the bus crash. It was left tattered after being cut from his injured body by EMS crews and was covered in diesel fuel.
But that didn’t stop McDowell from trying to save for Collicott the memories held inside that jacket.
The jacket had been saved from the crash scene. The remains of the jacket were dry cleaned. After the cleaning, the patches were removed and steam-cleaned separately, Hull said.
Just this week they were sewn on the new jacket and made ready for Tuesday’s presentation.
“This is the second jacket I’ve received from this band. I hope it’s my last, Collicott joked Tuesday.
He said he is moving along in his rehabilitation with the hope of playing again with the Madison Scouts in August when the band holds an upcoming reunion.
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