Our History
Welcome to the official site of the Association of International Seniors Quartet Champions (AISQC).
Briefly, we are a group of mature barbershoppers who are dedicated to the proposition that even though you have silver in your hair you can still strive for the gold.
For contest purposes, a seniors quartet is described as one in which each member is at least 55 years old and the sum of the ages is at least 240 years.
Frank Lanza organized the effort to form what was to become the AISQC shortly after his quartet, The George Baggish Memorial Quartet became champions in 1986. He presented a proposal to form such a subsidiary organization to the Society in 1988. The Executive Committee considered and enthusiastically supported the idea.
AISQC Presidents and their terms of office:
1988-1990 Frank Lanza (November 8)
1991-1992 Bob Reidenbach
1993-1995 Marlin "Grif" Griffith
1996-1997 Thom Hine
1998-1999 Burt Staffen
2000-2001 Dick Bek
2002-2003 Pete Tyree
2004-2005 Dave Ewing
2006-2007 Darryl Cremer
2008-2009 Ken Buckner
2010-2011 Doug Watson
2012-2013 Greg Dodge
2014-2015 Carl Taylor
2016-2017 Tom Rouse
2018-2019 Ron Mason
2020-2021 Bobby Gray Jr.
2022- Daniel Heike
Our first contest was in Tucson in 1986 and in January of 2006 at the mid-winter in Sacramento we crowned our 21st gold medalist quartet. Pictures of all our champs to date are shown on another page. It all started in the early 80's when someone said, "Let's have a little seniors quartet contest at the mid-winter."
Some said it should be a good'ole boys contest in a relaxed atmosphere with no pressure. Some thought we should use retired judges or declare a winner by audience acclamation. Others were of the opinion that only women in the audience should be allowed to vote. A minority group thought it should be a real contest like the "juniors" have each year at the International Convention. An impromptu survey was undertaken and much to the surprise of the "vocal majority", the indication was that the seniors wanted a real contest.
In Tucson at the first contest there were 18 quartets from 10 districts and the prevalent theme was that these were old guys singing about the fact that they were old. Songs like "I Wish I Was A Kid Again", "Old Folks", "When Your Hair Has Turned to Silver", etc. You kind of get the idea. Even some of the quartet names set the tone. "Old Gold", "Sounds of Senility", "Yesteryear", "Sunset Four". We really didn't know any better. This was our 1986 idea of what a senior quartet contest should be. Things sure have changed!
Briefly, we are a group of mature barbershoppers who are dedicated to the proposition that even though you have silver in your hair you can still strive for the gold.
For contest purposes, a seniors quartet is described as one in which each member is at least 55 years old and the sum of the ages is at least 240 years.
Frank Lanza organized the effort to form what was to become the AISQC shortly after his quartet, The George Baggish Memorial Quartet became champions in 1986. He presented a proposal to form such a subsidiary organization to the Society in 1988. The Executive Committee considered and enthusiastically supported the idea.
AISQC Presidents and their terms of office:
1988-1990 Frank Lanza (November 8)
1991-1992 Bob Reidenbach
1993-1995 Marlin "Grif" Griffith
1996-1997 Thom Hine
1998-1999 Burt Staffen
2000-2001 Dick Bek
2002-2003 Pete Tyree
2004-2005 Dave Ewing
2006-2007 Darryl Cremer
2008-2009 Ken Buckner
2010-2011 Doug Watson
2012-2013 Greg Dodge
2014-2015 Carl Taylor
2016-2017 Tom Rouse
2018-2019 Ron Mason
2020-2021 Bobby Gray Jr.
2022- Daniel Heike
Our first contest was in Tucson in 1986 and in January of 2006 at the mid-winter in Sacramento we crowned our 21st gold medalist quartet. Pictures of all our champs to date are shown on another page. It all started in the early 80's when someone said, "Let's have a little seniors quartet contest at the mid-winter."
Some said it should be a good'ole boys contest in a relaxed atmosphere with no pressure. Some thought we should use retired judges or declare a winner by audience acclamation. Others were of the opinion that only women in the audience should be allowed to vote. A minority group thought it should be a real contest like the "juniors" have each year at the International Convention. An impromptu survey was undertaken and much to the surprise of the "vocal majority", the indication was that the seniors wanted a real contest.
In Tucson at the first contest there were 18 quartets from 10 districts and the prevalent theme was that these were old guys singing about the fact that they were old. Songs like "I Wish I Was A Kid Again", "Old Folks", "When Your Hair Has Turned to Silver", etc. You kind of get the idea. Even some of the quartet names set the tone. "Old Gold", "Sounds of Senility", "Yesteryear", "Sunset Four". We really didn't know any better. This was our 1986 idea of what a senior quartet contest should be. Things sure have changed!