CONNORVILLE — For 30 years, Bill Stephens has been hitting all the right notes.

As a music educator, he’s pretty much done it all. But as he steps away from his post as Buckeye Local High School band director he does so knowing he gave everything he had. He also does so knowing he has so much more to give.

So, he’ll still be around, stepping back into the role of assistant band director, while Stacey Soos moves into his role this summer.

“I’m not leaving and I’m not retiring,” he stated. “I really want our program at Buckeye to continue the path it’s on.”

The plan is for Stephens to mentor Soos during his remaining days on staff, which is hopes will be another decade or so. That, he believes, will ensure a smooth transition.

“I had a great mentor during my younger years in Russ Armstrong,” Stephens, 53, said. “I’d like to do the same thing for her and our program here at Buckeye.”

Truth be told, Stephens loves what he does. He loves teaching students. He loves seeing the looks on their faces when they master a new song or a new note. And, boy, does he love Friday nights at World War II Memorial Stadium, or wherever the Panther football team might be playing that particular week.

Roger Herbert is heading into his second season of rebuilding the Buckeye Local football program. And Stephens liked what he saw from the Panthers last fall, even if the final record didn’t exactly show how far the squad had come.

For Stephens, Football Fridays are special, something he’s enjoyed since his days as a student across the river at Brooke High School.

“The way I look at it is, the band, the marching band, wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for football,” Stephens said. “Our role there is to support the team and to keep the atmosphere exciting and to provide the audience a halftime show they can enjoy and have fun with.”

Stephens said his goal was to always present a different show weekly in an effort to provide a wide array of entertainment.

“The pregame is pretty important, too,” he said, noting Buckeye Local has a special pregame show, complete with a coach’s show, etc. “It creates that ‘Friday Night’ atmosphere. It works out pretty well.”

Stephens has been blending sports and music since he started working in music education in 1987 at Newcomerstown. After a short stint there, he moved to Martins Ferry for four years before going to north to Kent State where he served a year as a graduate teaching assistant. The West Liberty State College graduate also earned his master’s degree there.

Upon learning of the Buckeye Local opening, he accepted it thinking he’d only be there for a short time.

“I was only going to stick around for a year until I found something I wanted,” he remembered. “But it ended up that Buckeye Local was what I wanted. I’ve been here ever since.”

In addition to working his magic with students at Buckeye Local, Stephens later branched out and began working with other students through the OVAC All-Star Marching Band.

“Dru Meyer called me and asked me to take a turn as director,” Stephens said.

That was in 2008. He was asked again in 2015.

“I had a great time with it,” he said, “and I’ve been involved with off and on ever since.”

When Stephens isn’t directing the band, he can usually be found during All-Star week at Bethany College acting as a chaperone for the director.

“I can’t wait until my next turn (to direct),” he said. “It’s just so much fun meeting all of the kids from the other schools.”

Stephens also has high praise for the OVAC Showcase of Bands, conducted annually at the Dave Bruney Football Complex in Martins Ferry.

“I’m of the thought that music is not a competitive thing,” he said. “We use music to bring people together. A lot of bands do competitions, but the Showcase of Bands isn’t a competition. It’s just all of the bands coming together and playing their shows. It doesn’t matter if they’re a small band, a big band or what. It’s just a showcase of everyone’s talents. We need that.”

As do we need more youngsters participating in any form of the arts, Stephens said.

“I’m not concerned with the songs being perfect,” he said. “For me, it’s getting to know all the kids. I’ve had thousands of kids since I started this and I remember all of them and all of them have something to bring.

“It’s been a real journey getting to know all of them and appreciating who they are.”

If you know of someone in sports in the Ohio Valley whom I could feature as an Ohio Valley Unsung Hero, drop me a line at rthorp@timesleaderonline.com or via Twitter @RickThorp1