In Memory of Robert F. "Ted" Luce
I met Ted when he was the videographer for the marching band. Initially he was just this guy that hovered around during trips like the Rose Bowl. But, in 2006, I joined him as the assistant videographer for Purdue Bands. For 14 years I would meet him at his car every home game day morning and walk with him to the pressbox, riding the elevator up to the 6th floor.
We would tape the pregame and halftime shows, and, in between, we would sit next to each other on the South end of the pressbox, always in the same spot except when things were really busy. We ate together, we watched the games together, and we talked.
Ted Luce embodied the notion of serving others. He was always serving - he served in the army defending our nation, he served Purdue Bands as our videographer, he served fellow veterans with his honor flights, he served the Lafayette Citizens Band. I have no doubt that there are a bunch of other activities that I simply don't know about it.
He was an incredible man, and he was a complete bad ass. I will never forget him talking to me about his parachuting days with the army. He made it a point to tell me that he jumped with the old style, circular chutes. These chutes were not maneuverable. So, they would sneak into the hangars at night and cut their parachutes, creating flaps and attaching line to them so that they could actually maneuver in the air.
His resourcefulness was never in short supply - another of his stories that he would tell was about the Rose Bowl. He showed up there ready to film and they didn't have credentials for him - something had gone wrong in that process. So he somehow tracked down a Purdue alum that had seats in a pressbox suite and convinced them to allow him to setup in the suite and film the pregame and halftime shows.
And, he had an incredible attention to detail. I had the privilege of seeing his model railroad set on multiple occasions. He would also talk to me about how he would paint model railroad cars and engines for others. He had a huge collection of railroad magazines that he referenced to ensure he faithfully reproduced the appearance of anything he needed in exquisite detail.
His patience and kindness were unrivaled as well. I remember one evening when he had me and my family over for dinner. My son, Jefferson, spilled spaghetti on his clothes and so Ted offered to wash them. While my son was wearing a towel, he, being probably about 3 years old, decided to take it off, jump on the couch, and dance around. We were embarrassed. Ted wasn't phased at all. It was kind of funny in hindsight, too.
Ted was one of the good guys - his kindness, advice, and life stories have influenced my growth and development so much over the years. I love him, and I will miss him dearly, but I am absolutely honored to have gotten to share so much time with him.
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Please note that this is only a multimedia archive site for the band. The official website for Purdue University Bands can be found here!
