Charles Iwanaga’s relationship with the Santa Clara Vanguard spans more than five decades as a performer, educator, administrator, volunteer, historian, and advocate for the marching arts.

A native of San Martin, California, Charles developed his passion for music at an early age, beginning on clarinet before becoming a versatile multi-instrumentalist and student leader at Live Oak High School. Following graduation, he joined the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, performing for four seasons on baritone, trumpet, and tuba. He aged out with the corps in 1978, when Vanguard captured its third Drum Corps International World Championship.

Charles went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from San José State University, where he performed with the Spartan Marching Band, and later earned a Master of Business Administration from Santa Clara University and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of the Pacific’s Benerd College.

For more than four decades, Charles has remained an integral member of the Vanguard community. His service has included leadership with the Vanguard Booster Club, where he served as Treasurer and Chairman of the Board, as well as work on the organization’s finance committee that helped refinance the Corps Hall, retire existing debt, and establish reserve and endowment funds. He also served on the event management team for Pacific Procession and managed DCI West at Stanford University for thirteen years.

Charles helped establish the Vanguard Alumni Association and has supported the Vanguard Alumni Corps in nearly every capacity imaginable—as a performer, conductor, staff member, travel planner, and coordinator. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he was a project leader for the 2020 “Front and Center” campaign, which raised more than $153,500 in less than six weeks. In 2022, he assumed primary responsibility for editing and producing the Vanguard Historical Society’s Founding Years documentary, teaching himself video editing in order to help bring Vanguard’s early history to life.

His continued volunteer service has included work with the Vanguard Hall of Fame Committee, production of Hall of Fame induction videos, coordination of Gathering of the Green II and other alumni events, and countless behind-the-scenes contributions to the organization.

Charles’s influence extends throughout the marching arts. He has served on the instructional staffs of the South San Francisco Conquistadors, Modesto Valley Fever, Vanguard Cadet Corps, and Blue Devils A Corps. In 1999, he was a member of the Blue Devils instructional staff when the corps shared the DCI World Championship with Santa Clara Vanguard. He later served on staff and as backfield drum major for the 2007 Anaheim Kingsmen Alumni Corps and today serves on the Board of Directors for Blue Devils Performing Arts.

As an educator, Charles has devoted his professional career to music education, leadership development, and youth enrichment. He currently serves as a middle school band director at Jackson Academy of Math and Music in the Morgan Hill Unified School District. Earlier, as Band Director at Abraham Lincoln High School in San José, his marching band won the 1987 Class A Western States Marching Band Association Championship, and his winter guard became the first West Coast ensemble to win a Winter Guard International Scholastic A Class gold medal in 1988.

Charles has also served as Assistant to the Director of Athletic Bands for the San José State University Spartan Marching Band and as group tour planner and management coordinator for Na Koa Ali‘i – The Hawai‘i All-State Marching Band, coordinating the extensive logistics required for hundreds of students to participate in nationally recognized events including the Rose Parade and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Beyond music and the marching arts, Charles has contributed extensively to his community, including service with the Morgan Hill Haru Matsuri and Taiko Festival and the California Strawberry Commission Scholarship Selection Committee.

Through more than five decades of service, Charles Iwanaga has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to education, leadership, stewardship, history, community, and the values of the Vanguard. His influence can be found not only in the organizations and programs he has helped strengthen, but in the generations of students, performers, alumni, and colleagues whose lives he has impacted.

Vanguard Music & Performing Arts is proud to welcome Charles Iwanaga to the 2026 Class of the Vanguard Music & Performing Arts Hall of Fame.

Watch Charile’s HOF Induction Video Here: https://youtu.be/B7JiIM-jFUw