BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— Jack Waddell’s low baritone voice quickly commands any room he enters, whether in his vocal studio in New York, where he coaches Broadway stars to perfect their song, or in Tommy’s Grill on Illinois Wesleyan University’s campus, where he reminisces about his days as a Titan.
“When I look around, it seems like yesterday,” said Waddell, walking across the University’s Eckley Quad. “Ah, Presser Hall. I lived in Presser!” he said of his days as a music voice major practicing for hours in the hall where music classes and performances thrive.
The 1963 Illinois Wesleyan graduate returned home this week to Bloomington to be inducted into his high school’s Hall of Fame. His 50-year career has spanned the stages of Munich, New York, Amsterdam and around the world, but it started in Bloomington and with Illinois Wesleyan.
Waddell sang for the Bloomington High School choir, and joined a local community choir established by Illinois Wesleyan Professor of Voice Henry Charles. “He was amazing,” said Waddell, tapping a finger at a photo of Charles in the 1963 Illinois Wesleyan yearbook. “He volunteered his time and came down to the Twin City Community Center to start a choir for young, black men. Most of the other boys there would have rather played ball or hung out, but I listened and I sang,” he said with a deep laugh.