Jack Bevins - DCI Hall of Fame

Jack Bevins

Inducted in 2025

"2 COOL VK."

Jack Bevins was not your typical corps director. Then again, the Velvet Knights wasn’t your typical drum and bugle corps. They had that Southern California “cool” and a flair for the comedic. Former members and staff are quick to say that without Bevins, the VK that fans came to love in the ‘80s wouldn’t have happened.

Bevins went to great lengths to keep the Velvet Knights going when times got tough or when help was hard to find. 

“No job was below Jack,” former VK percussion staffer Matt Savage said. “He was under the bus getting his hands dirty, attending board meetings, opening his own home for housing staff members, cooking meals on tour, doing the shopping and driving vehicles. The list is a long one.”

Bevins started his tenure with the Velvet Knights as a parent volunteer in 1968, using his catering truck to help feed the corps. He then became part of the corps’ board of directors. After a challenging 1974 season, Bevins became corps director.
Under his leadership, Velvet Knights made the DCI Top 25 for the first time in 1977. However, lingering financial challenges did not go away.

“Despite facing financial constraints and perpetual challenges, Jack demonstrated remarkable resilience in steering the corps through adversity,” said VK alum Gary Lima.

After a reorganization and “right-sizing” of the Velvet Knight organization, the corps returned to the field in 1981 and the Velvet Knights that fans came to love began to take shape.

“By entrusting a young and motivated staff with the opportunity to shape their vision, Jack facilitated a sweeping stylistic evolution within the corps, propelling it from 33rd place in 1981 to tying for seventh place in 1987,” Lima said.

Red high-top sneakers and baseball hats, a shark eating an opera singer, an off-beat bullfight — just a few of the many “VK moments” cooked up by the legendary Bobby Hoffman and a creative staff assembled by Bevins and given free rein to make things fun.

Velvet Knights made the DCI World Championship Finals for the first time in 1984, starting a run of seven straight finalist finishes, followed by a return to the Top 12 in 1992. The corps never finished lower than 16th at the DCI World Championship through its final season in 1996.

After retiring from the Velvet Knights, Bevins moved to Colorado where he volunteered for many years with the Blue Knights. Drum corps was in his blood.

Jack Bevins was not a typical corps director. He wasn’t a “super smooth” businessman. He often looked like the short-order cook that he was at heart. He was a man who stepped off his food truck and stepped up when the Velvet Knights needed him. 

“Like the famous VK show ending ‘license plate’ sign stated, ‘Velvet Knights, a rare medium well done,’” the late DCI Hall of Fame member Michael Boo once wrote. “Jack Bevins was also a rare commodity, and though he took nothing at a medium pace, he (pardon the poetic grammar) done well.”

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