The well-known Catamount “Fight Song” has been a staple of Western Carolina University since 1981. Since then, it is often performed at WCU football games, convocations, basketball games and other university events. The song was written and composed by WCU long time music professor, Robert Richard “Dick” Trevarthen, who passed away in the summer of 2022.
Born in 1933, and growing up in the small town of Bessemer City, Trevarthen had a passion for music from the start. After graduating from the University of Michigan and obtaining his master’s degree in music, Trevarthen found his way to the beautiful mountains of Cullowhee and soon had a home among faculty at WCU. His students remembered him as a stern but engaging professor of music theory and he easily earned their respect. Beyond the classroom, his accomplishments were significant. Trevarthen, aside from his time at WCU, composed music for high school marching bands who won national competitions. He is also credited with starting the Blue Ridge Big Band, the Smoky Mountain British Brass Band, the Haywood County Arts Council, numerous music reviews, singing groups and creating and producing theater plays for HART (Haywood Arts Regional Theater).
Trevarthen’s biggest accomplishment to WCU was the composition of the “fight song.” During the fall, football fans who attend home games get a taste of Trevarthen’s music from the Pride of the Mountains Marching Band. You know the melody. You know the lyrics.
“Fight on! you Catamounts. Fight for purple and gold. Fight on to victory, True warriors bold. Wave the royal banner high, and let it fill the western sky. So, fight on! you Catamounts, Fight to victory. Western! Western! Go…Western! Go…Cats!”
Since Trevarthen’s contribution to the university, the song has been Western’s voice of pride and will undoubtedly continue to serve as such for years to come. Aside from the Catamount Fight Song, Trevarthen’s legacy remains immortalized through a small brass ensemble, the Smoky Mountain Brass Band, that he founded in 1981.
As the story goes, told on the Smoky Mountain Brass Band website, a group from Haywood County secured an arts grant for the purpose of founding and funding a community band. This core group attended a weekend workshop promoting British-style brass bands held at N.C. State University. Workshop participants used a complete set of brand-new instruments provided by the Yamaha Instrument Corporation. A Yamaha sales representative announced during the first day of the workshop that any group with a charter to establish a brass band in hand could lease to own a complete set of instruments and that the company would waive the first payment due for twelve months.
That night, over dinner in a Raleigh restaurant, the Haywood County group drew up the initial charter for the Smoky Mountain Brass Band. They presented their charter the following morning and left that afternoon, bringing the very set of instruments from the workshop with them in a rented U-Haul truck. A number of these original instruments are still being used by the band today. Trevarthen was the first director of the band among many others through the years. Dr. John West, who formerly taught at WCU, once held the baton before serving as Director of Bands at the university.
Trevarthen’s immortalization doesn’t stop there. Not only does WCU have ties to the composer through his Catamount Fight Song composition, but one of Western’s own students actively plays in the Smoky Mountain Brass Band that Trevarthen founded over 40 years ago. Bryan Clingerman, currently a sophomore at WCU studying Engineering, has had a love of music since his early years. A trumpet player from East Gaston High School in Mount Holly, Clingerman is a two-year veteran of the Smoky Mountain Brass Band. The band regularly practices in Asheville at Groce United Methodist Church every Tuesday night and Clingerman commutes weekly to the rehearsals. Now comes the “icing on the cake” so to speak. Clingerman has the privilege of performing on a Cornet (similar to the trumpet but distinguished by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality) that Trevarthen once used.
“It’s exciting to me that I get to play in an ensemble that has ties to not only my university, but to Trevarthen,” Clingerman said. “It’s even more exciting to play an instrument he used back in the early days of the band.” Clingerman has no plans to leave the ensemble anytime soon.
The Smoky Mountain Brass Band has an impressive track record of performances. Over the past 30 years, the band has performed many concerts throughout the area as well as notable performances in Toronto, Ontario, Pittsburgh, Columbus, the Knoxville, TN World’s Fair and the 1987 inaugural ball of former North Carolina Governor Jim Martin. The band won first place in the “Championship” category of the 1983 North American Brass Band Association competition, in which the band won the Cornet that Clingerman now plays as a prize. The group also won the 1989 competition in Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium is presently preparing for its next performance on March 26, which is open to the public and is held at the “Redeemer Episcopal Church” in Shelby, NC.
Although Trevarthen passed last year, one thing is certain. The accomplished musician had a positive impact on the Western North Carolina region through his composition work and creativity. He will live on in the hearts and minds of those who enjoy his musical impact on the community.
