Name/Title
Moffit Coast Guard Band Postal CoverScope and Content
This envelope was sent to the Registrar of the University of Michigan from Wm. C. Moffit, Mus 3/c in the U.S. Coast Guard, postmarked 1945.
Wm. C. Moffit is William C. Moffit, an Ohio native, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard Band during World War II. Following his service, he utilized the GI Bill and attended college, after which he taught public school music in the 1950s. In 1960, Moffit was hired by Michigan State University as Assistant Director of Bands under Leonard Falcone. Moffit was responsible for the drill, music arranging, and most day-to-day operation of the Spartan Marching Band. Among his major contributions to the SMB are the composition of "Eat 'Em Up" and arrangement of "Pregame Fight," the fight song arrangement played during the spinning of the block-S. In addition, he invented and published the Patterns of Motion marching method in the mid-1960s while at MSU, which created the SMB's now traditional pregame show utilizing Moffit's squad system from Patterns of Motion. He remained at MSU through 1969. He subsequently directed the University of Houston marching band and the Purdue University "All-American" Marching Band.
He led an exemplary career in college music. Highly accomplished and lauded across the country for his Soundpower series of music arrangements and conducting, Moffit remained active in music for the rest of his life and often returned to MSU for Alumni Band gatherings. He died in 2008.