By Ron Gower

I wonder if Panther Valley High School students can name the most famous musician to ever attend school within their district.

The musician had 17 No. 1 hits, a whopping 25 songs that made the Billboard charts, was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1989 and even has a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.

His name is Tommy Dorsey and surely there are a lot of students who never heard of him.

Dorsey attended Lansford High School, which was one of four schools that combined for the joint Panther Valley School District in the 1960s. He was born in Mahanoy Plane (Shenandoah) but moved to Lansford with his family - including his equally famous brother Jimmy Dorsey - when he was 12 in 1915. The family’s home at 227 E. Abbott St. is still standing.

Known as the “Sentimental Gentleman of Swing,” his genres were mostly big band and jazz.

He and Jimmy were famous as The Dorsey Brothers for a number of years until a falling-out between them led Tommy to a solo career.

His theme song was “I’m Getting Sentimental Over You.” He also had a big hit with “I’ll Never Smile Again” which had Frank Sinatra on vocals.

Tommy’s father worked in the coal mines, earning $10.20 a week when he moved to Lansford. He always had visions of a better life for his sons. He taught Tommy and Jimmy clarinet when Tommy was just 5 and Jimmy was only 7.

It was Jimmy who gave Tommy his first break. Jimmy belonged to a territory band called The Scranton Sirens and had Tommy join the band at the age of 15. The brothers formed The Dorsey Brothers Band and the rest, as they say, is history.

They signed with one of the largest record companies in the world, Decca, in 1934, and a year later Tommy formed his own band and continued with it until 1953.

On Dec. 26, 1953, he appeared on “The Jackie Gleason Show” on national TV. He made rock music history by introducing Elvis Presley on his national TV debut.

Dorsey’s sweet style gained its peak of popularity in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

One of his most famous orchestrations was “Boogie Woogie,” which sold over 4 million records.

Much of his music was destroyed in a spectacular fire at Universal Studios in 2008.

Tommy’s father had to quit the mines when he became disabled, but proved to be quite the musician himself. He became the music supervisor at Lansford High School.

Nov. 26 is the anniversary of Tommy’s death. He died in 1956, in his sleep at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut. The cause of death was listed as choking after eating a heavy meal.

Honorary pallbearers at his funeral included bandleaders Guy Lombardo and Paul Whiteman, Jackie Gleason and singer Dick Haymes.

He is buried next to his wife, Jane, at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

So tomorrow, if you go trick-or-treating, nobody would probably even know who you’re representing if you dress as Tommy Dorsey despite how renowned he had been. Of course, nobody would probably identify a Jackie Gleason costume, either.

That was a previous generation.

But it’s awesome that such talented, respected and famous individuals like Tommy Dorsey had their roots in the local area.