Dear Krok alumni, honorary members, and our well-traversed international friends,

On March 4th, 2016, the Harvard Krokodiloes of 2016 celebrate and commemorate 70 years of singing, tradition, and camaraderie. As Harvard’s oldest—and finest—a cappella singing group, the Kroks have much to celebrate in our seventh decade of existence.

Founding members David Binger, David Biddle, Francis Cabot, and Arthur Nichols III took inspiration from a stuffed crocodile that hung from the Pudding walls and, in true Harvard fashion, put a Greek twist on the namesake’s pronunciation. Thus, the first “Krokodiloes” were born, inadvertently ushering in seventy years of thorough mispronunciations and egregious spelling mistakes.

Truth be told, these four Kroks planted the seeds to something big. The quartet blossomed into a twelve-man singing group that continually delighted audiences here on Harvard’s campus, including composer Leonard Bernstein ’39 and jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald.

The Kroks of the ’60s, armed with the creative works of arranger and Honorary Krok Jeff Gutcheon, pioneered some of the first Krok expeditions abroad, including singing at Gandhi’s residence in India in ’64 and performing for American GIs in West Germany in ’68.

The Kroks of the ’70s witnessed a flowering of musicianship from arrangers such as Peter Mansfield ’76 and established the essential Krok repertoire—jazz, rock, swing, and other selections from the Great American Songbook.

The Kroks of the ’80s travelled to all corners of the globe with the help of planner extraordinaire Gordon Bloom ’82 on their first summer international tour—now an annual, eleven-week journey that fundamentally grounds the Krok experience. In 1986, the Kroks made acquaintances with Madame Taeko Matsuda in Japan and the Sayn-Wittgenstein family in Germany, solidifying the start of friendships between Kroks and friends abroad that has continued to this day.

The Kroks of the 1990s and 2000s birthed prolific Krok arrangers such as Todd Fletcher ’91 and Dave Liang ’00, whose works serenaded audiences around the world and propelled the Kroks into a new century of music.

On behalf of the Krokodiloes of 2016, it is a privilege and an honor to perform center stage in the group’s most present form. Though most who will be sharing the stage with K’16 tonight have associations with the Kroks that exceed our own lives as human beings, we are extremely proud and excited to be a part of something much, much larger than ourselves.

Despite the seventy years of growth, what it meant to be a Krok in 1946 still holds true today. Collectively bound by a simple yet shared love of music, tonight we celebrate with friends hailing from all corners of the globe in song. Thank you for being with us this evening.

Nunc Est Cantandum,
Peter Wu
General Manager of the Krokodiloes of 2016

70th Anniversary – The Harvard Crimson

70th Anniversary – Banquet Welcome and Introduction – Eliah Seton

70th Anniversary – Summary and Speech – Larry Wasserman