Sokol Greater Cleveland Band

SOKOL GREATER CLEVELAND BAND

Newspapers chronicled the opening of Bohemian National Hall with great fanfare by not only large crowds but several brass bands.

Music and bands are embedded in Czech culture. The influx of Czech immigrants brought many amateur musicians who would play as small tavern hall bands as well as marching and concert hall bands. It was Bohemian musicians like J. Mudra and Frank Hruby who organized prominent professional Cleveland bands in the last half of the 1870s and into the 1880s.

In the State of Ohio, non-profit organization archives is a registration for Bohemian National Band – Cleveland, Ohio. Dated December 12, 1900, the now inactive registration was filed by members James Sholle, Thomas Karas and Josef Stary. Sokol Greater Cleveland’s current band traces its beginnings to Sokol Tyrs, in the Mount Pleasant area of Cleveland, one of the merged Sokol Greater Cleveland groups. Originally, the band was a dance orchestra that played at the Tyrs Hall Sunday evenings in the late 1920s. They even did a weekly radio broadcast at WJAY, hosted by Wayne Mack. Over the years, many band leaders and members came and went. The depression years and WWII especially took its toll on members.

Bands had always been made up of musical friends recruited from the Czech neighborhoods. Two of those Sokol Trys friends were Ed Jirousek and Jerry C. Vencl Jr. The Vencl family opened their Corlett Movers garage for band rehearsals when nothing else was available. Jirousek and Vencl were instrumental in keeping band members together when many Czech societies and neighborhoods began to wane in the area.

After the merger of several Sokol organizations into Sokol Greater Cleveland and the purchase of Bohemian National Hall in 1975, Vencl and Jirousek brought the band to Bohemian National Hall. Thus, the band took on the name Sokol Greater Cleveland Band. Again, a number of conductors led the band until the 1980s, when Millie Darovec and her brother Joe Nohejl managed the band. They held the position for over 20 years until about 2003 when they retired. Lou Huml was asked to become band manager, with Lisa Forster Cormack as conductor. Upon Lisa’s departure, Lou Huml became not only the manager but conductor of the band, the position he holds to this day.

Most Sokol Greater Cleveland band members are not members of Sokol Greater Cleveland, but as in the past are made up of volunteer musicians who play just for the love of being a musician. So, Lou and the SGC organization welcome you if you would like to become part of our Band. Contact information is below.

Generally, our band plays at the Sokol Greater Cleveland Gymnastics Exhibitions in summer and winter, for the annual July Cesky Den (Czech Day), Obzinky (Harvest Festival), and a few other local events when asked to play.

Sokol Greater Cleveland members, who are also Sokol Greater Cleveland Band members:

Lou Huml, Manager & Conductor, tenor saxophone

Karl Kotlan, alto sax

Nikki Meyer, french horn

Mike Smith, trombone

For more information, and/or if you wish to be part of SGC Concert Band
contact Lou Huml, 440-248-9556; lhuml@att.net

Looking for people involved early on? — A more detailed history of the Band is available in the
SGC Cultural Center Library housed at Bohemian National Hall.

Our Concert Band and Director

We are proud to have this important piece of our heritage and cultural past here at Sokol. It is a great asset to keeping our very rich musical history alive and thriving today. We are very proud of all of our dedicated musicians who give of their time and talent and are committed to our concert band.