Tom Range/Special to The Gazette
UNIVERSITY PARK — Some would think that the position of feature twirler of the Penn State Blue Band started at the same time the Majorettes started. However, the Blue Band Majorettes were founded in 1972 and the official feature twirler position did not start until 1974.
Judy (Shearer) Lawrence would be credited as the founder of the Blue Band Majorettes, which would be named the Touch of Blue a few years later. As the first majorette, Lawrence would be featured in some of the shows, but she would wear the same uniform as the rest of the majorettes.
In 1974, Feature Twirler Lori Donaldson would earn the distinction of being the first of the Penn State Blue Band, being announced at games as such and to wear a different uniform from the other majorettes.
Donaldson explained how she was accepted to the Mount Alto Campus of Penn State but still wanted to twirl for the Blue Band. She was urged to still audition for the majorette squad during the spring of 1974 at University Park and she was indeed talented enough to make the squad, so she transferred to University Park so she could perform in the Blue Band — a process called “special admit.”
During camp in the fall of 1974, Director of the Blue Band James Dunlop was looking over the majorettes and pointed to Donaldson and said, “You, I want to see you twirl!”
She was fortunate to still know her high school competition routine and performed it. At the end of the routine, Dunlop stated, “Great, you are going to be our first feature twirler.”
The feature twirler would wear a different uniform from the rest of the majorettes, but Donaldson had only one week before her first performance. Not enough time to have a new uniform made. So, she was fitted for a new uniform but asked her mother for her high school competition uniform to be sent to her. The uniform was blue but not Penn State blue. She noted she was a little embarrassed to wear it, but she thought it would only be for one game and the crowd would forget about it.
Unbeknownst to her, a photographer took a picture of her at that first game and that picture was then used for the cover of the Beaver Stadium Pictorial for Band Day on Nov. 16, 1974. That uniform is now immortalized in the annuals of Beaver Stadium Pictorials.
Though Donaldson would hold the position for the next four years, the term Blue Sapphire would not be used until Lori Bowers took on the role.
When Dunlop passed away and the reigns of the Blue Band fell onto Ned C. Deihl, Deihl always wanted the feature twirler to have a special name, much like Purdue’s Golden Girl. After a discussion with majorettes Carol Kean and Sherry Erb, Deihl went with a suggestion by Erb to call the feature twirler the Star Sapphire.
In 1978, Bowers was introduced as the Star Sapphire, however after the first game, Deihl was asked that since sapphires come in many different colors, what color is the Star Sapphire. Deihl responded blue, and so, the feature twirler name was changed from Star Sapphire to Blue Sapphire.
The Blue Sapphire name would stay until 1989, when the Blue Band actually had two feature twirlers.
Lori Branley and John Mitchell auditioned for the position of feature twirler, and staff could not decide between them, so they asked both twirlers if they would be co-feature twirlers. They both accepted and for the 1989, 1990 and 1991 seasons, the Blue Band had two feature twirlers.
Branley graduated in the spring of 1992, so come that fall, Mitchell stepped onto the field as the lone feature twirler and the first male as well as first person of color to hold the position. Mitchell was a transfer from the University of Pittsburgh. He had planned to twirl there but he was only allowed to twirl a flag. He transferred to Penn State and became one of the most well-known feature twirlers in Blue Band history.
In 1993, another duo would become co-feature twirlers. Cheryl Smith and Jennifer Steward would hold the position for only one year.
Christine Wolfe then became feature twirler in 1994 and the term Blue Sapphire returned. Wolfe was the first person to be the Blue Sapphire for five years.
Bobbie Jo Solomon took up the mantel for the next five years, but for the 2004 season, the band had no feature twirler.
A feature twirler had been selected the previous spring, but a few weeks before band camp in 2004, she decided to go to another university. There was some thought of asking one of the members of the Touch of Blue to become the Blue Sapphire, but it was decided to just go the year without a feature twirler.
After a year, the Blue Sapphire position would return with PJ (Maiehofer) Burkin taking up the mantel. Burkin would be the first recipient of the Lori Bowers and Dave Uhazie Endowed Feature Twirler Scholarship. Bowers being the first Blue Sapphire and Uhazie having been a past Blue Band president created the fund.
After graduating, Burkin created the Blue Sapphire Classic, a twirling competition, that raised up to $100,000 for the scholarship fund.
Uhazie continued to be involved with Penn State and recently released the children’s book “Nittany and Me.”
In 2010, the term Blue Sapphire would be discounted for a few years as Matt Freeman would become the second male feature twirler for the Penn State Blue Band. Freeman would hold the position for the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons. He would marry former Touch of Blue member Meredith Semion and create the M Twirling Team together. In 2017, Freeman returned to Penn State as the feature twirler coach.
In 2022, a first in the annuals of Penn State Blue Band history, but perhaps College Marching Band
history, occurred. Mackenzie Bronk took on the role of Blue Sapphire with her sister, Maddie Bronk, performing as the feature twirler for the University of Maryland’s Mighty Sound of Maryland marching band. On Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, the two football teams competed at Beaver Stadium, and the two sisters performed together during halftime. The next year, the University of Maryland returned the favor and the two performed together at SECU Stadium.
Mackenzie went on to win the Teenage Miss Majorette of America at the 2024 National Baton Twirling Championship, while Maddie won the National Collegiate Solo Championship.
The Blue Sapphire and the Touch of Blue are currently under the direction of April Gable, assistant director of annual leadership gifts at Pennsylvania State University. Gable was previously a feature twirler with the University of Cincinnati Bearcat Marching Band.
