Inducted into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame in 2013

NAHS 1948 Graduate

McMahel became IU Southeast’s first music director in 1963. He taught music appreciation and served on the planning committee for the Paul W. Ogle Cultural and Community Center. In 1997, McMahel partnered with James Poteet, a former student of his to start the IU Southeast Concert Band. During his 50 years at IU Southeast, McMahel did extensive work with the IU Southeast music program.

NAHS 1956 Graduate

Larry Kinzer attended New Albany High School from 1952 to 1956, where he was a trumpet player, participated in band all four years, and was the first recipient of the John Philip Sousa Award. He attended Eastern Kentucky College as a music major from 1956 to 1960, receiving scholarship support and earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. He later earned a master’s degree in music education from Indiana University Bloomington. Kinzer taught band at Woodford County Schools in Versailles, Kentucky; Paoli Community Schools in Indiana from 1960 to 1963; and Madison Consolidated Schools from 1963 to 1965. He then joined New Albany-Floyd County Schools, teaching at Scribner Junior High from 1966 to 1970 and Floyd Central High School from 1970 to 1988.

Inducted into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame in 2008

NAHS 1957 Graduate

Jamey Aebersold was born July 21, 1939, in New Albany, Indiana. He attended college at Indiana University and graduated in 1962 with a Masters Degree in Saxophone. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Indiana University in 1992. He also plays piano, bass and banjo.

In 1989, the International Association of Jazz Educators inducted Jamey into their Hall of Fame at the San Diego convention. With this award, Jamey joins other jazz luminaries such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and others.

Jamey is a internationally-known saxophonist and authority on jazz education and improvisation, and has developed a series of Jazz Play-A-Longs (book and cd sets (now numbering almost 130 volumes) as well as various other supplemental aids for the development of improvisational skills. The Aebersold book and recording sets allow a musician the opportunity to practice and improvise with well-known jazz personalities at home as well as in the classroom. The recordings employ some of the best jazz musicians in the world. This concept has been responsible for changing the practice habits of thousands of musicians around the world.

NAHS 1957 Graduate

Butch Neeld was born in 1939 in New Albany and began playing drums and trumpet in the sixth grade. He graduated from New Albany High School in 1957 and continued his studies at Eastern Kentucky College, graduating in 1961, and Indiana University in 1962. He taught band for 32 years in New York, Madison, Indiana, and New Albany, and also taught jazz band at Hanover College. After a dental accident in 1984 ended his trumpet playing, he transitioned to electric bass and performed hundreds of professional engagements, many in jazz.

Inducted into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame in 2007

NAHS 1958 Graduate

A retired Army Colonel with a total of 38 years of active and reserve duty, Bill’s distinguished military career led him through the Infantry School, Command & General Staff College, and the Army War College. During his time in active duty, he served with USAREUR (the U.S. Army in Europe) and even escorted President John F. Kennedy when he visited the troops. During the first Gulf War, he served at the Joint Operations Center for NATO.

Inducted into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame in 2022

NAHS 1962 Graduate

Annabelle worked as a cartographer with the Office of the U.S. Army Topographic Command.  One of the programs she worked was to develop the 13 lunar landing sites for the Apollo 11 mission.  She also helped to develop maps used by Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf during his daily Desert Storm briefings.

Inducted into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame in 2022

NAHS 1962 Graduate

Being the recipient of the A. Fielder Myers Scholarship allowed Carolyn to be the first in her family to attend college.  Studying education, she began a 40-year-long career as a teacher, much of which was spent working at NAFCS.  She was awarded the NAFC Teacher of the Year Award in 1985.  She continued to advocate for education long after her retirement by remaining active in the Indiana State Teachers Association.

Inducted into the New Albany High School Hall of Fame in 2016

NAHS 1964 Graduate

Taught choir, hand bells, and general music at Floyd Central Jr. High for 35 years

Music director at Central Christian Church for 25 years

Helped create The Chalice Hymnal

Membership in several music clubs and associations

NAHS 1966 Graduate

Bill Albin attended New Albany High School from 1963 to 1966. He was a member of the NAHS Marching Band during those three years and served as the band’s drum major during the fall 1966 season. He attended Indiana University in Bloomington earning the Doctor of Music Education degree in 1979. Bill served as the Director of Percussion and World Music Studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio where he taught from 1975 to 2016, retiring as a full professor. In addition to overseeing the percussion program, Bill created and taught the first course in jazz history at the university.

NAHS 1969 Graduate

Jim Baker graduated from New Albany High School in 1969. During his senior year at NAHS, he won an audition as a percussionist with the Louisville Orchestra and later became the LO’s Principal Percussionist in 1972. He graduated from the University of Louisville School of Music in 1973 with a Bachelor of Music Education degree. During his senior year at UofL, he was a student teacher with Bud Chambers at New Albany High School. After college and before pursuing a full-time career in real estate, he served as the Assistant Band and Orchestra Director at Jeffersonville High School.

NAHS 1971 Graduate

Jim Stanton graduated from NAHS in 1971, where he participated in All-State Band, served as Drum Major, and received the John Philip Sousa Award. He was introduced to the bassoon by Don McMahel, which led to numerous opportunities with orchestras and youth ensembles. Stanton joined New Albany-Floyd County Schools in 1979, teaching band alongside mentors Don McMahel, Bud Chambers, Rubin Sher, Steve McKinley, and Larry Kinzer. In 1984, he transitioned to elementary music and became Music Chair for the corporation. He developed piano keyboard programs at Grant Line and Slate Run Elementary Schools, contributed to various ensemble and building dedication projects, and supported theater programs at NAHS and Floyd Central High School.

NAHS 1973 Graduate

Pat Harbison was Professor of Jazz Studies at Indiana University, where he joined the faculty in 1997. At IU he teaches jazz improvisation, jazz history and directs the jazz combo program. He has been on the faculty of the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Workshops since 1976. He travels internationally as a jazz trumpet artist and educator and has performed at jazz concerts and festivals and taught around the world. From 1984-97 he taught Trumpet and Jazz Studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

NAHS 1973 Graduate

Dave Rogers is a professional trumpet player residing in New York City, where he frequently performs in the pit on Broadway and routinely fills in for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.  On Broadway, Rogers is credited in the following Playbills:  Chess, The Producers, Bring in 'Da Noise Bring in 'Da Funk, Hello Dolly!, City of Angels, Cabaret, and Sweet Charity.