On golden anniversary, meet the graduate who gave WVU its ‘Simple Gifts’
WVU alum David McCullough crafted the arrangement of one of the Mountaineer Marching Band’s most recognizable songs — “Simple Gifts” — when he was a student in the early 1970s. He was on hand for the recent dedication of the new Pride Practice facility and got to watch current band members perform. (WVU Photo/Brian Persinger)
It’s not just any song played by the West Virginia University Mountaineer Marching Band at Milan Puskar Stadium.
“Simple Gifts” is a cue that game day is officially underway, a clarion call that pulls the attention of Mountaineer Nation directly to “The Pride of West Virginia” with an arrangement crafted more than five decades ago by alum David McCullough.
McCullough, a 1976 and 1981 University graduate and former member of the Mountaineer Marching Band, arranged the version of “Simple Gifts” that is recognizable to so many as a student in the early 1970s, and the tune has been a staple during the band’s iconic pregame show every season for the last 50 years.
David McCullough, two-time WVU graduate and arranger of “Simple Gifts” (Submitted Photo)
The gold and blue faithful know the “Simple Gifts” circles and the sound that reverberates from them.
“Collapsing the band — like the tension created in compressing a spring, and then the tension release of those circles, each proudly proclaiming the pride of this band, this institution and this state — that drill was incredible and likely the reason this has become what it is,” he said.
McCullough credits composer Aaron Copland’s rendition of the song, part of his ballet “Appalachian Spring,” combined with his “Fanfare for the Common Man,” as inspiration.
An Irwin, Pennsylvania, native and current Indianapolis, Indiana, resident, McCullough doesn’t take credit for the mashup, though his interpretation is what was eventually used.
“The idea of the mashup of those two pieces was not mine but Pete Spadero, who arranged for the Pittsburgh Rockets Senior Drum and Bugle Corps,” he said. “I heard them play that mashup and, in 1973, when Don Wilcox was planning a show he called ‘Classical Music For People Who Hate Classical Music,’ I told him I thought I could create that piece for the show. I was a rank novice at the time, but it seems it worked.”
Wilcox, who was the director of bands from 1971-2005 and died in 2024, created the drill for “Simple Gifts.” Originally part of a halftime show, it became a permanent fixture of the pregame in 1975 when fans demanded to see it each game day.
The Mountaineer Marching Band performs “Simple Gifts” during a football game. This year marks the 50th anniversary of its addition to the pregame show. (WVU Photo)
As a fresh face in 1972, McCullough, a music education major, thought it was a good idea to “know something about marching bands,” so he joined as the band was going through a major social change.
Previously, the band had been an 88-member, all-male group, but with the passing of Title IX in 1972 and Wilcox’s ambition, McCullough’s first year was also the first year women were able to join the band. Twelve women signed up, creating the University’s first co-ed marching band.
McCullough played the trumpet, but arranging music became his biggest passion.
“I arranged 27 pieces the WVU band played, most while I was a student here. I know that number only because an alumni friend asked me, and I had no idea until I counted,” he said.
After graduating, he returned to the Mountaineer Marching Band as a graduate assistant. During that time, he wrote the last arrangement played in old Mountaineer Field, “The Way We Were/Auld Lang Syne,” and the first arrangement played at what is now Milan Puskar Stadium, Caesar Giovannini’s “Overture to a New Era.”
“The other graduate assistant at the time, the better one, was my wife, Kathy, who was our first female band graduate assistant. While here, she started the flag line,” McCullough said. “This band affords us all sorts of those extra step opportunities.”
McCullough returned to WVU in August for the dedication of the new Pride Practice Facility, where he was recognized for his contributions.
David McCullough attended the Pride Practice Facility dedication in August and watched as the Mountaineer Marching Band performed his arrangement of “Simple Gifts.” (WVU Photo/Brian Persinger.)
Despite the many ways he helped craft the Mountaineer Marching Band’s sound, it’s “Simple Gifts” that still holds a permanent place so many years later.
“My daughter loves both the WVU and Aaron Copeland versions of ‘Simple Gifts,’” McCullough said. “She did not tell me what piece would play when her mother and I walked her down the aisle, but if her intention was to make me cry at her wedding, ‘Simple Gifts’ did the job.”
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