{"id":29272,"date":"2025-01-01T12:49:28","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T12:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dci.org\/?post_type=hall-of-fame&p=29272"},"modified":"2025-01-01T12:50:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T12:50:23","slug":"tom-blair","status":"publish","type":"hall-of-fame","link":"https:\/\/www.dci.org\/hall-of-fame\/tom-blair\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Blair"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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If you\u2019ve seen drum corps on television, in movie theaters, or on home video in the last three decades, you have seen the work of Tom Blair.<\/p>

Since 1984, Blair has edited, directed and produced Drum Corps International\u2019s broadcasts from TV to the cinema. A former percussionist with the Glassmen and Cavaliers, Blair has come through the ranks as a performer, arranger, instructor and judge; and that experience has forged a life-long commitment to drum corps.<\/p>

Throughout a diverse television career, Blair has worked on projects ranging from coverage of the NCAA Final Four to the Summer Olympics to the Super Bowl, and even \u201cThe Oprah Winfrey Show.\u201d Along the way he\u2019s cultivated contacts with talented individuals in the industry who now regularly spend the first part of August each summer joining Blair\u2019s production team for the DCI World Championships.<\/p>

\u201cThese are some of the best in the business who work for much less than their normal rate because of their respect for Tom,\u201d longtime DCI broadcaster and Hall of Fame member Steve Rondinaro said. \u201cOnce Tom gets them in, the performance excellence of the corps keeps them hooked.\u201d<\/p>

Focused not only on the current-day video production of DCI events, Blair also has made it his mission to preserve the legacy of Drum Corps International. \u201cHe values our history and has perhaps done more to preserve it than anyone,\u201d Rondinaro says.<\/p>

Blair was the force behind the DCI Legacy Collection DVD set, a project during which he painstakingly restored and re-edited World Championship performances from 1974 through 1999 from original broadcast tapes. In a time when video technology has progressed by leaps and bounds, he\u2019s also guided DCI\u2019s move from VHS tapes to DVDs and most recently to Blu-ray disc with high definition audio and video. At each step along the way he\u2019s spent countless hours pushing technology to bring new life to DCI\u2019s storied past.<\/p>

\u201cNever complacent, he works hard to innovate,\u201d said Mike Mabbott, a longtime producer and director on Blair\u2019s World Championship production team. \u201cHis extraordinary ideas percolate for years and soon enough Drum Corps International becomes the beneficiary of his innovations. After restoring ancient masters of DCI\u2019s greatest all-time performances he called me and talked like a proud father.\u201d<\/p>

With an exceptional commitment to excellence that Mabbott credits to Blair\u2019s formative years as a corps member, he continues to strive to make drum corps look their best at all times and in all media. Preserving and protecting drum corps\u2019 image has always been his first and utmost priority.<\/p>

\u201cTom believes what is on the air must faithfully represent what is on the field. The trouble is there\u2019s so much on the field and all at the same time,\u201d Mabbott says. \u201cHe stretches the limits of television to capture the essence of each performance.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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