The Jags and their rockin’ music are remembered — 60 years later

For sure, 60th high school class reunions are special events. 

Quite possibly, a 60th is more significant than a 50th or 40th reunion because the number of potential attendees would have dwindled. 

Possibly, too, because of that, when the Storm Lake High class of 1963 staged its 60th reunion two years ago, Ron Mitchell and Jeff Pierce had made resolved efforts to be there.

And that had to do with more than the fact that Mitchell was student body president as a senior and Pierce was senior class president. In addition, there also was this nostalgic notion we might call “The Jags” re-connection. Which was all about the great sounds produced by the musical Jags (which included Jeff and Ron as guitarists) across four glorious summers in the mid-1960s. 

Given that, it probably came as no surprise at that 60th reunion when Pierce took Mitchell out to the parking lot to show him the license plate on his Mercedes-Benz convertible. It read: THE JAGS.

Some will remember “The Jags” with a sentimental fondness because during the summers of 1963, ’64, ’65 and ’66, this foursome of Ron Mitchell (lead guitar and vocals), Jeff Pierce (rhythm guitar and vocals), Jack Pilling (bass guitar and vocals) and Tim Pierce (drums) was a good-timing, in-sync rock group that achieved notoriety and a considerable following around the Great Lakes and other parts of Northwest Iowa. All four were Storm Lake High graduates.

Viewed now in retrospect, it is remembered as, indeed, the best of times.

Going back to the late spring of 1963, when the Jags first came together in the Pierce family's basement, they chose to call themselves The Jagmen because there already was a Le Mars-based group called The Jags. Later, when those Jags disbanded, the Storm Lake guys rebranded themselves as The Jags.

As lifelong friends, Ron and Jeff had begun strumming on acoustic guitars in junior high, playing the folk tunes of Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio and others because that genre was popular. By ninth grade, the two pickers had transitioned to electric guitars, and added classmates Jon Wiegand on conga drums and Doug Ireland on bongo drums, and anointed themselves as The Pawns. They progressed to some degree, acquiring gigs at high school events, before capping their brief career in style, at the Class of ’63 Senior Prom.

It was during that ensuing summer of ’63 that the Jagmen/Jags existence was born. 

Pierce, who after graduating from Southern Methodist University, went on to a career in the life insurance industry and now lives in West Des Moines, said he remembers rock ’n’ roll (with its  sub-genres of surf music, Motown, the British Invasion sounds and the tail end of Doo-Wop), was hogging the air waves. So, why not form a local rock band? Pilling was invited to come on board as the bass guitarist and Jeff’s brother, Tim (who already had a drums set), became the drummer.

“We learned the songs we liked, practiced them in the basement and, in the process, developed our own style,” Jeff now remembers. 

Of course, it was to be purely a summer endeavor each year because, during the academic year, the Jags had a geographic issue; they were scattered — Jeff at SMU in Dallas, Jack and Tim at the University of Iowa, and Ron at Northwest Missouri State in Maryville.

Yet from the band's beginnings in ’63, progress was made even though all four members had summer jobs and scrambled to make it to engagements. Some of the gigs were at West Okoboji’s Vacation Village (the resort’s name back then), where Jeff worked. “That first summer, we got the ball rolling recognition-wise,” notes Jeff. “And the feedback we received from people who saw us play was so positive that we knew we had something good going.”

Reunited again in the summer of ’64, that campaign gathered momentum, remembers Mitchell, who had been a standout high school athlete in football and basketball. There were multiple engagements at  Vacation Village. It offered a get-your-foot-in-the-door opportunity for building a following around the Iowa Great Lakes area.

But it was the following summer of ’65 when the band seemed to find its musical groove. With Jeff continuing to don his  second hat as the band’s booking agent, the primo highlight, stretching across July and August, was the Jags’ eventual runner-up finish in the well-received-publically “Challenge of the Bands” competition on Friday nights at the Roof Garden ballroom in Arnolds Park at Lake Okoboji. Seemingly blooming overnight, the Jags scored well in the audience-applause-driven balloting. They advanced through the early rounds and in mid-August found themselves in the finals against another Iowa-based band which proved to be just a little better, at least according to the audience’s collective applause-o-meter on that particular Friday night.

“Looking back, I suppose we were successful because we all cared enough to really push ourselves to become that,” remembers Mitchell, a graduate of Northwest Missouri State who went on to three careers as a teacher/coach, then with America West Airlines, and finally in real estate. “We also benefited because Jeff did a great job getting engagements. I would say things sort of came together for us.”

Then in 1966 in what would prove to be a summer-long farewell tour, The Jags somewhat fortuitously improved their all-around sound and versatility, and increased their play list of tunes, by adding a keyboardist in  Mike McCormick, a Storm Lake High student whose parents owned MidBell Music Store. 

“Adding Mike gave us a broader play list and different types of songs,” added Mitchell, a resident of suburban Phoenix these days, who still has the Gibson ES 330 guitar he embraced as a Jag. “Mike was blessed with perfect pitch, which made it a lot easier for us to learn new songs. But because Mike still was in high school, well, we had to promise his dad we wouldn't get him in any trouble.”

And ’66 was to deliver a jackpot run to the finish line. Largely because the McCormick-driven, momentum-gathering repertoire that now offered straight-ahead rock, rhythm and blues, the surf subgenre and whatever else, was well-received by ever-increasing crowds. Then came the crowning achievement on Aug. 2 as The Jags performed under even brighter lights at the Roof Garden — as the “opening band” for the iconic Everly Brothers.  

That night, for sure, it was wall-to-wall admirers and The Jags were able to share in it.  

The Jags had landed the gig because Darlowe Oleson, the Roof’s longtime managing director and masterful promoter, had become rightfully smitten with the Storm Lake lads and offered the coveted opening slot to them. (Tragically, seven years later, in 1973, Oleson was to perish in a plane crash.)

“I remember in ’66 for the Fourth of July three-day weekend, Darlowe booked us as the sole band for one of the nights, and then big-name bands for the other two nights,” recalled Jeff. “Then, less than a month later, there we were, opening for the Everly Brothers... wow! The Everly Brothers were outstanding and their band was fantastic. And both Don and Phil Everly were very complimentary of our band which, of course, made us feel great.”

“Opening for the Everly Brothers, that became our No. 1 highlight of all,” added Mitchell, who continued his deft guitar playing for more than 20 years with church worship bands before a neuropathy condition in his feet forced him to give up that joyful spiritual endeavor.

Alas, though, that summer of ’66 became The Jags’ last-hurrah, largely  because, in September, Ron and his high school sweetheart, Dorothy Hardyman, decided to get married. Indirectly, the development dissolved the Jags existence; their four-year run to success was stalled. Another summer campaign had ended and no real attempt ever was undertaken to find a new lead guitarist. The Jags' four-year magical mystery tour was finito.

But, oh, the memories...

Along the way, The Jags had performed their music at venues that included The Cobblestone, Vacation Village, Roof Garden, Carroll’s Starliner Ballroom, and teen hop sites in Jefferson, Remsen, Rembrandt and Atlantic. They also were the main attraction for Storm Lake's Crazy Days ’66 summer festivities.

“I would say ’65 and ’66 were the big years when our name recognition assured us of some really good gigs,” said Pierce. “Because we all had summer jobs, we were limited to the number of venues we could play. Getting to the Challenge of the Bands finals in ’65 definitely was a highlight. And it increased our ability to secure bookings in ’66. When we added Mike on keyboards, it improved our overall sound and our tightness as a band 100%. Trying not to brag here, but we really were good in ’66.”

Those youthful, steady-as-she-goes Jags of the 1960s have scattered a little geographically in the years since. Besides Mitchell in Arizona and Jeff Pierce in West Des Moines, Tim Pierce, an Iowa graduate whose career primarily was in the insurance business, passed away 12 years ago and is interred in Buena Vista Memorial Cemetery. Pilling, a ’66 graduate of Iowa now living in Cedar Rapids, was a high school history teacher at Cedar Rapids Jefferson and also was employed in the U. of Iowa’s student teacher program. Jeff also said that after The Jags “retired” in ’66, McCormick joined a band called the Noblemen and these days lives in Minneapolis.

Fast-forward the tape to summer 2025. We can remember the Jags for what they genuinely were — hard-working, talented, youthful, a clean-cut look, fortuitously blessed and polished sufficiently to win admirers and impress audiences.

“For The Jags, it never was about monetary success,” remembered Mitchell. “For us, it was about having some pure, clean fun  doing something that was really enjoyable for all of us.”

Rick Davis is a Laurens native and 1967 graduate of Iowa State University who lives in San Antonio, Texas. His Iowa memories include embracing The Jags’ musical offerings, especially during the summer of ’65. For him, too, competing for Laurens sports teams against Storm Lake teams that included Jags lead guitarist Ron Mitchell created other lasting memories.