By Leonard E. ColvinChief ReporterNew Journal and GuideEmery Lewis Fear, Jr., 97, who was an inspirational marching band director at I.C. Norcom, Manor High School, and Norfolk State University passed January 12, 2023. His death created a huge outpouring of sadness and reflections on his career and legacy for the man known affectionately as Chief” by family, friends, and former students. Fears was born in 1925 on the campus of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama. He was the son of Evadne Inez Angers Fears and Emery Lewis Fears Sr. He graduated from Tuskegee High School and then joined the United States Navy as a musician during World War II (1944-1946). After he left the Navy, he enrolled at Howard University and earned a degree in music. He later earned a Master's Degree in Music at Michigan University. According to his obituary, he is “noted for his phenomenal ability to implement musical excellence, self-discipline, and ‘Esprit de Corps’ into the hearts of many students fortunate enough to be under his tutelage.”“He consistently developed leaders who have proven themselves in many professions,” his obituary continued. Lavoris Pace, Norfolk's Deputy City Manager, oversees a portfolio that includes youth initiatives, arts, culture, and community partnerships.He is a 1987 graduate of NSU with a degree in Graphic Design.For two years, he was a member of the Spartan Legion percussion section known as the “Million Dollar Funk Squad.”“Even though he (Mr. Fears) was about music and musicality, he was a change agent,” said Pace. “He recruited and worked with those marginalized students in high school who did not know if they would graduate. At NSU, he recruited students who had few options forenrolling in college. Once on campus, he taught students, in the thousands, not only about music but life.”Fears’ concert bands at I.C. Norcom and Manor High schools in Portsmouth earned 18 consecutive Division (Superior) ratings in Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association Festivals. His high school bands were recognized as being “of a particularly high standardof excellence at the national level from 1960 to 1972 by the John Phillip Sousa Foundation. Sousa Foundation elected the I.C. Norcom School band to the Historic Roll of Honor of High School Concert Bands.” He was also a member of the Prestigious American Bandmasters Association and was actively committed to the improvement of bands throughout the United States and Canada and served as an adjudicator, clinician consultant, and conductor.*** After many successful years as a music educator at the high school level. Fears accepted the position as Director of Bands at Norfolk State University in 1974. He earned the respect and admiration of his peers in the world of collegiate and military bands as they createdthe “Spartan Legion” Band which was instrumental in catapulting NSU to national recognition. “Behold, the Green and Gold” originated with the Spartan Legion under Professor Fears’ directing and is heralded to this day at the university’s athletic events and other gatherings.F