Have Horn, Will Travel; Ole Miss Trumpeter Now Marches to a Tampa Beat

Remember him? Remember that “old” guy with the white hair running around Vaught-Hemmingway stadium from 2005-2013, dancing and playing on Hollingsworth Field most Saturdays, dragging a trumpet around like a kid as he kept perfect time and pace with other UM students literally a third – or less – his age? The oldest active marching band member in the U.S. at the time?

He’s the same guy that was featured on Fox News by Ole Miss alumnus and news anchor Shepard Smith during a 2007 Rebel football game versus Louisiana Tech. The same guy that could be found sitting in and playing with countless bands on the Oxford Square on almost any given night. The same guy who worked tirelessly in and around Oxford and, most importantly, Ole Miss as he volunteered his time and effort in all things Rebels.

Re-introduce yourself to Alex MacCormack and his wife, Linda, who, after 12 years in Oxford, recently relocated and “re-retired” to Tampa, Florida.

Their decision to move was one that was not taken lightly but made easier with both of their kids, Karen and Kevin (and grandchildren), now living in the Tampa Bay area.

A Clemson University graduate and band member in the early-60s, McCormack found his way to Oxford by chance in 2002 where he and Linda decided that, indeed, a postage stamp was as good of a place to live as any. Better, actually.

Always the entertainer, MacCormack lobbied the attention of Pride of the South Band Director David Willson and soon after that, a very close friendship began and his marching days commenced. That chance meeting with Willson cemented MacCormack’s popularity within Ole Miss and Oxford for the next decade.

After building a house on the West bank of Wellsgate Lake just outside of Oxford in 2002, the MacCormacks (the ‘Macs’ as they are affectionately known) settled in and literally became pillars of the community, dividing their time as volunteers in a number of endeavors from church to community to Ole Miss.

Never stagnant and with unwavering, unbridled passion, the Macs entertained with jokes and fervor and – without a doubt – left many in their wake with a ton of spare time on their hands after the move.

The MacCormacks are good, though. Still good.

“I found a mole in my house the other day that Fast Eddie, our cat, drug in,” Linda exclaimed in a recent phone interview with hotttoddy.com. “That was the most excitement we’ve had in a few weeks.”

COME ON! Any friend of the MacCormacks will have a hard time believing that a random mole provided even a second’s worth of “excitement” to a couple as active and philanthropic as they. Fast Eddie, however, is an entirely different matter.

Although Alex’s days of marching, practices, UM Jazz Ensemble and classes at Ole Miss have ended, his time is now spent expending roughly the same amount of energy chasing around grandchildren … not to mention his daughter, Karen.

Since moving south, that energy expenditure has morphed into one with a pretty regular aquatic theme considering their physical environment; the backyard pool and a secondary, really big pool with salt water just a few miles from their new home … the Gulf of Mexico.

“Were going kayaking with the family this weekend,” Alex said. “We’re a little worried about the temperature because it’s only 68 degrees right now but I think we’ll be OK because the weatherman says we’ll make it to 80 – or higher – later today.”

It’s 30 degrees here, sir, so we think you’ll be just fine, too.

These days, the MacCormacks’ allegiance is spilt between Ole Miss and Clemson – the latter being the number one football team in the land, after all.

The Maccs proudly display their allegiance every football gameday

Gameday Saturdays in Tampa are brutal, making split screen TVs and double-capacity flagpoles a necessity since both the Ole Miss and Clemson logos are flown proudly on a regular basis. No other option has been or ever will be considered.

However, when the Maccs are in Oxford, it’s all about the Red and Blue.

Staying true to form, Alex is now playing in a new Tampa ensemble and Linda is, well … being Linda. She occupies her time volunteering around the Tampa Bay area, caring for the house and property and chasing moles. She’s definitely the glue that holds the whole Macc cosmos together – keeping it running like a well-oiled machine.

Yep … the Maccs are good and everyone who fell in love with them over the last decade should catch up. That task, one that has historically proven to be harder than it sounds, just got easier as the they recently joined the Facebook universe.

Just do a search and look for blotches of Red and Blue and Orange and Purple. And – rest assured – you’ll probably find a good joke or two posted somewhere in there as well.

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Jeff McVay is a staff writer and graphic designer for Hottytoddy.com. He can be reached at jeff.mcvay@hottytoddy.com.

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