12th CALLERLAB Convention 
Milestone Award
Presented by Skip Smith
It was entirely appropriate that, when searching a theme for the 1985 CALLERLAB Convention, the Executive Committee selected “Music-Our Greatest Ally”, suggested by Dick Leger. A favorite expression of Dick’s is “the common denominator between the caller and the dancer is the music.” Music, friendship, and fellowship are and always have been an essential part of Dick’s philosophy when calling for a club, teaching a class, or when working with callers.
Dick worked his way into the square dance world via his wife Sue, who played the piano in her mother’s square dance orchestra. Because Sue did not drive, Dick did the chauffeuring from one end of Rhode Island to the other and while attending dances he began learning some the routines. Before long he had carved out an avocation of his own. This was back in the early 1950’s and within the next decade Dick Leger became known in the area as “the man with the guitar.”
Endowed with a good musical background, Dick is a self-taught caller. With the introduction of western square dancing into New England, Dick set the course he believed necessary for the perpetuation of present-day square dancing- a blending of the intricacies of the western figures with the time-tested fun philosophy of the eastern dancing.
A specialist in timing, Leger, is frequently called upon to conduct clinic on the subject at conventions, festivals, and institutes. He served at president of the Narragansett Callers Association and was chairman of the CALLERLAB Timing Committee. He has recorded for Grenn and TNT. Two of his best-known releases were “Mary Ann” on Folkcraft and “Marina” on the Top Label and he has been featured several times on the Documentaries in Sound for the American Square Dance Society. A man of multi-talents, he calls quadrilles, contras, traditional, and modern square dances and also cues rounds.
Dick Leger became a member of the Square Dance Hall of Fame in 1979.