Hall of Fame

Inagaral Class
Michael Gray
Jay Poole
Lenny Westmoreland

Michael Gray
Michael Gray is an acclaimed Impressionist painter with representation in 6 galleries throughout the United States. His paintings can be found in government, corporate and private collections throughout the world. Gray was a charter member of the Governor's "Canvas the Arts" committee and is a founding member of the Daedelus Workshop Theater and On Stage Theater.

Gray's involvement in winter guard in the Carolinas can be traced back to it's roots. He has served as designer, consultant and/or clinician for many notable units and a host of circuit champions. He held the post of the first Chief Judge and Judge's Coordinator in the circuit.

Gray went on to become the first judge in both South and North Carolina to be chosen as a WGI Judge where he currently serves in his third year as the Ensemble Analysis Facilitator.

Michael's clinics at WGI's SPINFEST were among the top rated and he has conducted designer and judges training clinics throughout the US, England, Japan and the Netherlands.

He enjoys his summers on the road as an Ensemble Visual, General Effect and Color Guard Judge for DCI (Drum Corp International) having judged finals in both Color Guard and Ensemble. This fall he will be seen in the judges seat at many BOA (Bands of America) Regional's and Grand Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In his long career Michael has also had the honor of judging WGI World Championships and the Japanese Drum Corp Championships and Marching Band Championships.

Currently, Gray is serving as Visual Coordinator at Wando HS, South Carolina 5A 2005, 2006 State Champions.

Mr. Gray is a resident of and maintains a studio in Charleston, South Carolina.

Jay Poole
Jay began his involvement in the colorguard activity in 1977 at Trinity High School where he was a member of the Marching Band until 1980.  After high school, Jay marched with the Vagabonds Drum and Bugle Corps for two seasons and then with Avant Garde Drum and Bugle Corps where he was awarded outstanding member of the colorguard in 1983.  After aging out of Drum Corps in 1984, Jay began teaching guard at Trinity High School and then at Cummings High School in Burlington, NC.  Jay remained on staff at Cummings until 1989 when Jay was invited back to Trinity High School to become the colorguard instructor and remained on staff there until 2005.  Jay and Lenny Westmoreland collaborated to produce East Lincoln High School’s winterguard Cheval in the late 1980s and out of that program, they developed Aubreata.  After several successful seasons including a fourth place finish in WGI finals in 1993, Jay focused on developing the winter program at Trinity with Jeremy Dale (a former Trinity student and marching member of Aubreata).  In the late 1980s, Jay, Mike Gray, and Lenny Westmoreland recognized the need for a competition venue in the Carolinas and the three long-time friends collaborated to form the first winterguard circuit in the area.  After several transformations, the current circuit, CWEA, was formed and Jay became the president in its second year of existence.  Currently, Jay continues to consult with several competitive groups including Aria winterguard, West Forsyth High School winterguard and the North West Guilford Indoor Percussion Ensemble and Jay is now seeing the third generation of students he has worked with progress through the activity to become instructors.  In his life outside colorguard, Jay is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Social Work Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he is also working on a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration in Cultural Foundations, which has taken him away from his former level of involvement in the activity.  Jay is delighted to see the growth of CWEA and above all, he is totally blown away by the talent and dedication of the performers, their instructors, and the parents who are involved in this life changing activity.  Jay extends his deep appreciation to the CWEA Board of Directors for all of their incredibly hard work and for this wonderful honor! 

Lenny Westmoreland
Mr. Westmoreland began his color guard career with his high school marching band, Northwest Guilford High School, in 1980 and has never looked back. He performed with the Pride of Cincinnati in 1986 and since then he has instructed numerous color guard programs throughout the Southeast. A graduate of Western Carolina University with a degree in Interior Design, he is currently the Interior Design teacher at Croatan High School in Morehead City, NC.

A student and teacher from the Carolinas, Mr. Westmoreland took his first winter guard, East Lincoln Cheval to a WGI regional in 1987 and then to the WGI World Championships in 1990. In 1991, he formed and instructed the Aubreata Winter Guard. Aubreata was the first winter guard from North or South Carolina to make finals at the WGI World Championships, placing 4th in Independent A in 1993. Since then, Mr. Westmoreland has been the driving impetus behind numerous successful winter programs including Carolina Visual Productions in 2003, Etude Winter Guard and Scotland High School, both in 2006. Scotland High School was the 2006 Scholastic A class Silver Medalist and Etude was the 2006 Independent A Champion.

Mr. Westmoreland currently instructs Croatan High School, where he began teaching in 2002. In 2003 Croatan High School was a WGI World Championships Scholastic A finalist and promoted to Open class where they were a WGI World Championships Semi-finalist in 2004. In 2005, Croatan High School was the WGI World Championships Scholastic Open Silver Medalist. In 2006 Croatan High School began competing in Independent Open where they were the WGI World Championships Independent Open Champions and were subsequently promoted to Independent World for the 2007 season. In 2005 Mr. Westmoreland also began writing marching band drills and is currently the drill designer for Croatan, East Lincoln, Scotland, and Wakefield High Schools.