Alumni Spotlight: Jeff Webb, Beloved Head Chef

From Marching Member to Beloved Head Chef

Jeff Webb (Buddha) 1999, 2001-2003 - Mellophone

Affectionately known as Buddha since his marching days, Jeff has become the heartwarming culinary leader of Spirit of Atlanta, consistently going the extra mile to accommodate members’ dietary preferences and allergies to ensure their health and happiness. Food is always an integral part of drum corps memories, good or bad. Oftentimes with hilarious backstories when the situations were lacking - to put it nicely. But for Buddha it’s different, members who eat from his food truck raise such high praise for many of his recipes they leave the season begging for them. (Maybe a Spirit Cookbook is in order?)

Creating meals for 200 members, staff, and volunteers for 4 meals a day is no small feat but Jeff steps up to the plate each and every day of tour. Spirit of Atlanta has a commitment to ensuring that the young members receive proper nutrition, and Jeff is committed to maintaining their happiness on top of that. The days are long, and often thankless, which often leads Buddha to be up before most members and going to sleep long after the members have gone to bed. Truly an unsung hero in so many ways.

Jeff’s background is in the culinary arts which means during his off time from Spirit, he sharpens his knives in the kitchens of some of New Orleans & Louisiana's most spectacular restaurants. Currently he’s serving up amazing dishes at Plates, a new restaurant in New Orleans. With the wealth of knowledge and skills Jeff has gained through his years of experience he brings a resilience to the food truck that allows him to persevere during the long, grueling summer days.

The connections and friendships that have been forged for over 20 years since his days of marching at Spirit have left a lasting impression with him.

However, one of the most pivotal, inspiring, and moving moments that he witnessed during his time with Spirit was watching the Charter Members and early alumni help keep the drum corps alive every day they were on the road during the summer of 2000. A year that should have ended Spirit forever. It truly showed the sense of family that Spirit always talked about being, it was putting words to action. Parents pausing their own businesses to become tour director and volunteers, alumni giving everything extra they had to give, the staff suddenly thrust into volunteers from paid positions, all of their selflessness has never been forgotten by many but especially not Jeff. The alumni didn’t give up because the 2000 members were now family and you always take care of family. 

If Jeff could give advice to current and future members of Spirit it would be: Just go for it. You’ll never know how much you can achieve unless you push yourself beyond your comfort zone, and you may just surprise yourself. After returning to the field for competition in 2023, he’s excited to see what the future holds for Spirit but he recognizes that the future is bright.