Dave Hogg was strolling through one of The Villages’ town squares when he spotted The Villages Twirlers Drum Corps.
“I saw them playing and said ‘I can do that,'” he said.
That was all it took for him to rediscover a passion he’d put aside for nearly 40 years.
Hogg, of the Village of Polo Ridge, said he jumped at the chance to join the band as soon as he saw the drummers, and he’s been having a great time performing with them ever since.
However, Hogg’s journey to drumming was not a straightforward one. In fact, his entire career took a detour into the area of teaching.
Hogg studied business administration at the University of Miami, but it wasn’t until he witnessed his fraternity brothers graduate and enter additional training programs after graduation that he realized he needed a backup plan. He changed his major to teaching, knowing that if he still wanted to pursue business after college, he could enroll in those training programs.
It wasn’t the case.
“As I got into it and student teaching, I thought I really liked it and went on to pursue it from that point,” Hogg said. “I went on teaching in high school and went on really enjoying what I was doing.”
Hogg remained in South Florida until the early 1960s, when wrestling was just getting started in the state.
When the school’s principal inquired whether anyone was interested in forming a wrestling team, Hogg decided to give it a go, having experimented in the sport before.
“The sport took off, and I stayed with it for three years and became a wrestling official as well,” he said.
Soon after, he decided to pursue education at a higher level, and he abandoned coaching to attend graduate school, where he eventually became an assistant administrator.
“I moved into administration from there,” he said.
For 43 years, Hogg worked for Broward County Public Schools.
“During that time, I held numerous positions, including teacher, dean, counselor, guidance director, assistant principal and principal of both middle and high schools,” he said. “I also held two district-based positions.”
Hogg, on the other hand, spent the majority of his career as a high school principal. “I also became very active in professional associations dedicated to the delivery of quality education to the students of Florida,” he said. “I was a member of the Florida Association of School Administrators Board of Directors, The Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors and served as President of the Florida Association of Secondary School Principals.”
Later, he was honored into the Principal Hall of Fame by the Florida Commissioner of Education.
It wasn’t until he retired that he returned to a passion he genuinely enjoyed: drumming.
“Of course, I like to play golf, too, and that opportunity I knew was going to be here,” he said of moving to The Villages.
Hogg stated that he played drums throughout high school and a small amount in college. He claimed he got into the instrument because he’s a competitive person, but he couldn’t play sports because of vertical issues – “I’m a short guy,” he joked.
Drumming lets him release some of his pent-up energies.
“It is a great opportunity to do that and be involved in school,” he said. “When you put them down, you think, ‘Well I’ll never do that again.’ Then, lo and behold, I’m at Drum Corps and think ‘I can do that. I can do that.'”
And that’s exactly what Hogg has done for the past seven years, with performances in Eustis, Orlando, Lady Lake, Fruitland Park, Leesburg and, obviously, at the town squares and Villages events.
Members are training and organizing a Memorial Day program, despite the fact that the group hasn’t performed as regularly as normal recently because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Hogg has been playing the drums since he was in high school.
“(It) was an opportunity I never envisioned having again before moving to The Villages,” he said.