DiPardo's band ending longtime engagement at Arrowhead

Call it "the day live music died" at Arrowhead Stadium.

The TD Pack Band, originated by Tony DiPardo in 1963, will play its last Chiefs home game on Dec. 21.

Patti DiPardo Livergood, the band's director and founder Tony's daughter, broke the news to band members Monday.

She said her first inkling that the end of a tradition was at hand came last spring when she saw the architectural drawings for the new Arrowhead.

"There wasn't a bandstand in the east end zone anymore," she said. "At first I just wanted to think it was an oversight."

But it wasn't. The Chiefs couldn't commit to anything beyond this season because they don't know what remodeling changes will be made to the part of the stadium where the band sits, team officials said Monday.

"Tony is part of the fabric of the Kansas City Chiefs, as well as the Kansas City community," said Bill Newman, senior vice president of administration for the team. "We want to pay tribute to Tony, and we want to do it this year."

A stadium fixture

Enormous affection surrounds the 96-year-old DiPardo — known as "Mr. Music" — not only at Arrowhead but also in the community. The man who wrote "The Hank Stram Polka" will have a permanent place in the team's new Hall of Honor, part of the renovations under way at the Truman Sports Complex, Chiefs officials said Monday. More details will be released at a later date.

"It saddens me, mostly for Tony," said Craig Fuchs, who played trumpet in the band for 13 seasons and now leads the music department at Pittsburg State University.

"You can't find a better supporter and friend of the Chiefs than Tony DiPardo. It's the passing of a generation. It's run its course, I guess. But it won't be the same without him."

Even after his daughter took over the band about 20 years ago, DiPardo remained a fixture at the stadium for every home game. Much of this year, though, he has been ill. DiPardo slipped on ice outside his home late last year and broke his wrist.

His recovery was more difficult than his family had hoped, and even after his recovery, he could only stay through the first quarter at most games. Newman said that Chiefs officials had also been concerned about DiPardo's health.

The band, eight professional musicians who sit in the east end zone, plays before and during the game — when the team breaks huddles, when first downs are made, after great runs. The rest of the music at Arrowhead is recorded.

DiPardo Livergood said she "just knew it was going to be a matter of time … when the days of having our band play during the game would soon be out of the mix. I just knew there was going to be an emphasis on the new."

She got her confirmation a few weeks ago, she said, when Chiefs President and General Manager Carl Peterson called her. He told her this year would be the band's last, she said. "I said, 'OK, it's been a great ride.' "

Both father and daughter, in an interview Monday at their Lake Winnebago home, said they wanted to be positive about the change.

"We have been very fortunate," she said. "Not a lot of people can say they've done what we've done."

Said her father: "I'll have memories as long as I'm alive. I've always felt it was a great honor. And I'm very proud."

Screenplay in works

To this day DiPardo's band occupies a league of its own in the NFL, where most teams entertain fans with recorded music.

The founder of the Chiefs, the late Lamar Hunt, hired DiPardo with a handshake in 1963, when the team's first band was called the Zing Band. Lots of horns and brass were played by guys in suits and ties.

Hunt and DiPardo forged a close friendship, and, at a game a few weeks after Hunt died in 2006, DiPardo performed "Taps" on his signature Chiefs-red trumpet.

The band played at the Chiefs' first home at Municipal Stadium and moved with the team to Arrowhead, where Hunt made sure a special place for the band was built behind the field goal in the east end zone.

It is a priceless perch, so close to the field that band members can grab the ball after a field-goal kick. Earlier this season, Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson ran into the band's space and banged on DiPardo Livergood's conga drums after scoring a touchdown.

DiPardo Livergood, who plans to write a screenplay about her father's life — she wants Joe Pesci to portray him — said she would keep the band together to play at private parties and other events.

And it will keep the name.

"Just because we are no longer at Arrowhead," she said, "the spirit of the TD Pack Band will continue on."

1963: The year it all began

—The Chiefs begin their first season in Kansas City by beating Denver 59-7, but finish at 5-7-2.

—President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.

—Martin Luther King delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech.

—U.S. unemployment reaches 6.1 percent.

—A U.S. postage stamp costs 4 cents.

—"Lawrence of Arabia" wins the Oscar for best picture.

—Julia Child, "The French Chef," debuts on public television.

Auld lang syne at Arrowhead

—Tony DiPardo and his TD Pack Band will be honored at a ceremony on Dec. 21 when the Kansas City Chiefs play the Miami Dolphins.