Remember the Rhythm

To become a drum major for the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band, one must show remarkable skill, confident leadership and steadfast determination. Kevin Phillip Roberts ’89 possessed all these qualities and more as the first Black drum major in the Aggie Band.

From the moment he joined the B Company Infantry Band in fall 1985 as a freshman, eyes were upon the smart, confident cadet. Although drum major tryouts don’t occur until the spring of a cadet’s junior year, the selection committee of band directors, top commanders and former drum majors considers the entirety of a cadet’s time at Texas A&M University. “Drum majors are put through the mill,” stated Col. Jay Brewer ’81, former director of the Aggie Band. “They lead complex drills and countermarches, and they have to explain it all. If a mistake happens, the drum majors have to adapt and keep composure.”

Leading, adapting and keeping composure all came naturally to Roberts, who was quick to explore his passions in the Corps of Cadets and elsewhere on campus. Among the first to receive the prestigious, four-year President’s Achievement Scholarship, Roberts excelled academically as an economics major. Known as “the smartest one of the bunch” from Col. Brewer’s perspective, he was equally remarkable in his campus involvement in the Dukes Jazz Ensemble, the Black Airline Pilots and Alpha Phi Alpha, the first fraternity established for Black men.
 

Marching On

Roberts’ consistency was more than a talent he possessed on the field, as he was equally as persistent in his life aspirations. Possibly the biggest of those aspirations was becoming a pilot.

Upon graduating from Texas A&M, Roberts began pursuing his commercial pilot’s license. He had initially dreamed of flying in the United State Air Force, but health concerns forced him to find another avenue. His dream of flying came true on April 5, 1999, when Sky West informed him that he would be hired as a commercial pilot.

On April 27, 1999, Roberts was flying cargo to Oklahoma City for Texas Air Chartercraft, a company he was working for while he lived in Fort Worth to complete his pilot’s training, when his chartered twin-engine airplane crashed after a wing tore from the fuselage in a field near Goldsby, Oklahoma. Roberts, 31 at the time, passed away in the crash.