Many think it’s business as usual for the American Fork High School Marching Band, as it won first place at the Utah State Fair Jazz Festival on Sept. 11 and first place again last Saturday at the Mt. Nebo competition at Payson High School. After all, this is the band that performed at a presidential inauguration, at a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, at the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade and has won the state championship two decades in a row. (It is said that if Mitt Romney wins the election, the band will be playing at his inauguration.)

But as the American Fork High School Marching Band is preparing for the Rocky Mountain Band Invitational at BYU, on Oct. 9, nothing is business as usual: It was three years ago, just days before that annual competition, that a bus carrying the band crashed on I-15 in Idaho, killing one teacher and sending several students to the hospital.

The Oct. 10, 2009, night is described by band director John Miller in a podcast interview (please see Related Audio, above) as a “night of horror,” when he drove his car behind the bus, not knowing that the bus driver would begin to feel sick and pass out at the wheel. That’s when 33-year-old woodwinds instructor Heather Christensen grabbed the wheel to stop the bus, but was thrown when the bus crashed.

“We got all the kids out, found that they were okay,” Mr. Miller recounts. “And all of sudden, somebody said, ‘Where’s Heather?’ We went back and found her. It was just a tragic, tragic thing.”

As Mr. Miller shares rare details of the scarring event, his emotions are still raw, his voice shaky, describing the fear that someone else might be underneath the bus as they struggle to account for all students. “Heather was the only one who had the list, and no one could find it,” he said.

Mr. Miller would have to wait three agonizing hours to learn from the sheriff that when the bus was lifted, no students were found, calling it a “miracle.”

Mr. Miller would arrive home Sunday morning and meet with the students again that night. The BYU show was on Tuesday, and he assumed they wouldn’t do the show because they now had a funeral to plan. “But the kids wanted to perform,” he said.

In the interview, he describes the show with its slats honoring the Greatest Generation through World War II-era posters. The next to last slat displayed the words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his.” The last poster revealed the picture of Heather, as the color guard girls changed into whites and held their hands like crosses.

“The show was over. Nobody said a word. Nobody clapped. It was powerful as the kids walked off,” he said. “You can probably tell I’m still emotional talking about it.”

The band won the outstanding visual, music, color guard, and percussion awards and won first place over all. 

In a short period, a 225-member band from a small town in Utah would go from experiencing a horrific tragedy to winning the state championship, taking first place in a Western regional competition and going to the national championship. “It’s been the highest of highs I’ve ever been on — and the lowest of lows,” Mr. Miller said.

But to travel to the Bands of America national championship, in Indianapolis, the band had to raise $250,000 in a short time.

“Every single kid came up with the fund to go to BOA. It was just a miracle to me.”

You can follow the American Fork High School Marching Band on Facebook by clicking here.