Honoree: Ham N’ Wry (Quartet)
Sponsor: David Speidel
Ham N’ Wry was one of the first quartets I got acquainted with when I first joined the Oshkosh Chapter back in 1975. They were members of the Oshkosh & Appleton Chapters. Ham N’ Wry would rank as one of the funniest & best entertaining quartets in the history of the LO’L District.
Never having won a district championship, but often finishing in the top 3. If the district had an award for most entertaining quartet at district contests, they would have won that award many times over. Ham N’ Wry finally did qualify to compete at international in 1985.
They were noted for staging contest sets that were original compositions by their first tenor, David Gillingham, who went on to be a professor of music at Central Michigan University and a respected BHS Music Judge.
They were a very active quartet, in demand and singing at many shows throughout the LO’L and other districts. I was a rabid follower of theirs in my early years of barbershop, and even had them sing at our wedding in 1980. The baritone, Bob Haase, was one of my early mentors when it came to Barbershop Quartetting and directing. He was a great friend, and he hired me to teach two of his kids how to do basic springboard diving. Bob scripted most, if not all of their act. The fact that Bob was a circuit court judge, in my mind, made their act even funnier. They were true entertainers!
