Program Greg Okonowski introduced our Speaker, Dr. Jesse McGuire. who is an American trumpeter who makes his home in Phoenix, Arizona. Famous for his execution of the Star-Spangled Banner, he has performed for three US presidents and at many major sporting events, including the 2000 Daytona 500, game 7 of the 2001 World Series, and the 2014 NFL Playoff game between the Panthers and 49ers, as well as at the 2018 Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl Parade. He was lead trumpet for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra of New York City and for the band Tower of Power. He toured worldwide with many acts including Tower of Power and Wynton Marsalis. For 30 years, Jesse's home was Ypsilanti, Michigan. His motivation to relocate to Phoenix came when his car broke down on Interstate 30 at 3 AM when the outside temperature was minus thirty degrees. His wife and children moved to Phoenix ahead of him as he had some performance obligations he needed to meet before he was free to move. When he finally arrived in Phoenix on August 2, 1988, he thought the move might have been the worst decision of his life. Once in the Phoenix area, doors opened up for him. His boss, Donna was the wind under his wings. They have three children, two of them completed medical school. Their son graduated from Loyola Marymount and went on to the Marquette School of Dentistry. When Jesse was playing in the River Room, every night on the way home as he passed Xavier College Prep, he prayed his daughter would attend school there. Instead, she graduated a year early from Mountain Point High School. Xavier couldn't challenge her. She now has a dream job as a doctor. Jesse has written a book - Raising Doctors on a Local Musician's Salary. Jesse and Donna's third child is a banker. Jesse likes being near his adult children and their families. He likes to visit their homes so he can eat up all their Captain Crunch. Jesse always wanted to be a speaker and has tried to be a role model in his community and neighborhood. The people he most wanted to reach, he reached with his performances from ballfields. When he performed at the Nascar Circuit, he would play for 100-150,000 people at a time. He considers many of the Winston Cup Series drivers his friends. He met Donald Trump once long before he was President and before he was married to Melania. He performed with Frankie Valli. He has played the Star-Spangled Banner at every major sport in this country - even the U.S.Open. In 1989, he heard that they were auditioning for individuals to perform the Star-Spangled Banner for Phoenix Suns basketball games. He called to schedule a time to audition and was told he was a day late. After some impassioned pleading, he was told if he could get a tape to Stan Richards by 5:00 PM that evening, Stan would listen to it and let him know if he could make an exception. Stan's office was on Missouri and Jesse's home was in South Phoenix at the time near 16th Street and Roeser. It was getting close to 4:30 in the afternoon. He didn't have quick access to a recording studio so he improvised. He quickly cleared everything out of the bathroom so that the hard walls would create ambient sound, he put a blank tape in a huge ghetto-blaster, and began playing the Star Spangled Banner. He didn't have time to listen and perfect his tape. He quickly removed it from the machine and took off driving to Stan's office. He said he probably broke every traffic law imaginable on the way. When he arrived, a man was walking out of the office. Jesse asked if he was Stan Richards and after confirming that it was, he gave him the tape with his name and phone number. After he left, he doubted he would ever hear anything after his frantic effort. When he got home, his phone was ringing. It was Stan Richards. He asked, "Can you play like that all the time?" Jesse was given the opportunity to play at 7:00 the next night for the Suns/Pistons game. That performance began a rich history of performing at sports events. Jesse related how his life was changed in 2001. He and some others who were very familiar with the Twin Towers in New York decided to go visit ground zero not long after the September 11 attack while the rubble was still smoldering. The smell of death and jet fuel was heavy in the air. There were people everywhere quietly holding onto each other. He had his trumpet with him and asked a security guard if he could play God Bless America for those who were at the site mourning. The guard allowed him to do so requesting that the performance be very respectful. Jesse did perform and he and many others were moved by the performance. He was approached by someone who asked that he repeat the performance so it could be on national news, and he declined saying he did it for those who were mourning - not to bring fame to himself. He tries to perform all the time honoring veterans with his music being his "Thank you!" He wants to honor all who have served whether in the military or our brave first responders. When asked how he got started playing, Jesse said that his school would provide instruments for children who wanted to be in band. He was nine years old when he took an interest in playing. The only instrument that was left was a trumpet. One member mentioned they had heard Jesse play at Trattoria D'Amico's Italian restaurant at 4902 E Warner Rd, in Phoenix, and asked if he was still playing there. He answered he would be playing there the first Saturday evening of every month this summer. Following the meeting, John Pennypacker had a conversation with Jesse about the rings Jesse was wearing during his presentation. John had his photo taken wearing one of the rings while shaking hands with Jesse. The ring John is wearing on his left hand is the Diamondbacks World Series ring. A photo of that ring was downloaded from Jesse's Facebook page so it could be shown at right. The ring Jesse was wearing on his right hand is his Arizona Rattlers World Championship ring.
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