WHO ARE WE?

 

 

Pete and Ben Wade by Ashley Brobecki and William Howard

Pete Wade is a high school Calculus teacher who coaches soccer and track. His primary interest outside of education is to make low budget movies with the highest possible quality. Pete is an award-winning editor and director and the driving force behind The Pete Wade Show which airs throughout America. Despite critical acclaim, he has chosen to remain in the field of education maintaining his filmmaking only as a hobby.

He and his brother Ben have lived amazing lives almost too astounding to believe (read biography below). Both are record-setting world travelers. Ben is a college soccer coach and symphony conductor and an outdoorsman who seeks adventure.

The Wade Brothers Biography

Peter William Wade (born March 24, 1970) and Benjamin James Wade (born September 18, 1971), also known as The Wade Brothers, are very successful siblings from Knoxville, Tennessee who are alumni of Knoxville West High School and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Ben Wade is known as the conductor of the Susanville Symphony in Northern California and the head coach of the women’s soccer team at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. In addition, Ben is a record-setting kayaker. Pete Wade is best known as an award-winning writer, director and editor of independent films, serving as CEO of OFF Productions based out of Nashville, Tennessee. He is widely recognized as an actor and director on The Pete Wade Show, a popular television program airing in Tennessee, Washington, Oregon, Texas, Minnesota and Colorado. In addition, Pete is an acclaimed high school Calculus teacher and record-setting American traveler.

Ancestry

The Wade Brothers are direct descendants of historic figure Pocahontas as well as Lewis and Clark Expedition veteran Sergeant Charles Floyd. Their paternal grandparents Nelle Irene Wright and Willie Raymond Wade were born into impoverished families in Des Moines, Iowa and Bono, Arkansas respectively. Nelle grew up in Chicago in the 1920’s, making her mark as a classical violinist. Willie had a difficult upbringing, kicked out of his parents’ house at the age of 13 and at which point he illegally hopped a train to Los Angeles. Railroad security fired a shot as he boarded one of the boxcars, damaging his left eye badly enough to render him legally blind. He and Nelle married in the 1940’s and because Willie was an excellent cook, he opened three restaurants in the Los Angeles area while moonlighting as one of the top middleweight boxers in Southern California. Operating these eateries barely paid the bills and the family remained in poverty, raising a son William and a daughter Sheila.

The Wade Brothers’ maternal grandparents also grew up in extreme poverty. Bernice Irene Pitts grew up outside of Indianapolis, Indiana and worked in a meat packing plant from a young age. Claude Herschel Craig was raised in rural Boody, Illinois, later becoming a jig grinder in Indianapolis where he met Bernice. After marrying, they gave birth to a daughter Cheryl and a son Deryl. The family moved to Los Angeles in the early 1950’s to escape the harsh winters of The Midwest. It was here that Claude would start his company California Jig Grinding.

Parents

The Wade Brothers’ parents Cheryl Kay Craig and William Raymond Wade, II met in the early 1960’s in Santa Fe Springs, California while working at the Triangle Drive-In restaurant. William had been trained to cook in his father’s restaurants from the age of 10. Meanwhile California Jig Grinding, the company founded by Cheryl’s father, grew rapidly and brought the family unaccustomed wealth. Earning a patent on a number of inventions, most notably an early version of the pop top can, the business eventually landed major contracts with Boeing, General Electric, Motorola and Disney World. While attending the University of California, Riverside, William and Cheryl married on September 9, 1965.

William became an acclaimed trumpet player while Cheryl excelled as a pianist. Both played for California Governor Ronald Reagan before he became President of the United States. William also had a tremendous talent for mathematics, earning both his Masters Degree and PhD from the University of California. Offered a position as professor of mathematics at the University of Michigan and the University of Tennessee, the Los Angeles natives opted for the warmer climate of The South and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in 1968. In addition to his professorial duties, William also consulted scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory where his expertise in Fourier Series mathematics helped to develop the MRI in the early 1970’s. This mathematics would influence the development of modern satellite imaging as well. William would later serve as Associate Head of the mathematics department at UTK and would become known as one of the world’s experts in the specialized field of Walsh Series. William’s college Calculus textbooks are used throughout the United States and the world.

In the late 1960’s, as the Wades were making Knoxville their new home, Cheryl Wade’s brother Deryl Craig was fighting in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. He was shot down three times and miraculously survived all three crashes without serious injury. Despite orders, Deryl insisted on staying overseas to fight the war and refused to be sent home. He earned a number of medals for his acts of bravery.

The Wade Brothers’ Early Life (1970-1984)

The Wade Brothers were born in Knoxville, Tennessee in the early 1970’s but a great deal of their upbringing took place in Los Angeles, mainly in the Whittier area, which had a much greater impact on them than the culture of the Southeastern United States. Both boys astoundingly taught themselves to read and write at the age of two, displaying extraordinary intellect. The family lived in Communist Russia for six months in 1977 while William, fluent in Russian, worked at Moscow State University teaching and researching mathematics. As an American family, they were under constant surveillance by the KGB.

By 1978, their father had made a significant amount of money from his work at UTK and ORNL as well as the publishing of widely distributed college Calculus textbooks. He was able to move the family to prestigious Sequoyah Hills, the most affluent neighborhood in East Tennessee. In the early 1980’s, the Wade Brothers enrolled at Tyson Junior High School, an inner-city middle school in Knoxville known for producing an unusually high number of successful graduates during its years of operation. Ben had already started trumpet lessons in the 5^th grade following in his father’s footsteps while his older brother Pete followed his grandmother in choosing the violin, beginning lessons in the 8^th grade. Both boys demonstrated natural ability and remarkable progress with their respective instruments, surpassing most of their peers who had many more years of experience.

Throughout Middle School their personalities began to materialize, both emerging as highly competitive, athletically and intellectually gifted students who were even more driven to succeed than their parents. Both were tested to have an IQ above 140, widely accepted as the level of genius. Both began exhibiting an obsession for setting and achieving lofty goals in all areas of their life. It was during this coming of age that Pete’s aptitude for mathematics, language, poetry and art became quite evident while his comedic timing and athletic ability (especially in track and hockey) developed as well. Meanwhile, his younger brother Ben was showing tremendous talent in the fields of business, communication, musicianship and athletics, garnering special attention as an exceptional trumpet player.

High Schools Years (1984-1988)

The Wade Brothers attended Knoxville West High School and excelled academically while participating in the Knoxville Youth Symphony Orchestra.  The family frequently traveled throughout the world, allowing perspective on numerous cultures and shaping their educational experiences. Having already lived in Communist Russia in the 1970’s, the family lived in India for 3 months in 1984 and toured Europe in 1985, settling in Hungary for 3 months. Some travels were purely for pleasure while others were a necessity as their father worked with mathematics professors at prestigious institutes of higher learning. While away from school, the boys were educated by their mother, a school teacher, in the fields of classical music, English, French and History and by their father in the fields of Mathematics and Science. Both boys were eager to learn from their parents while showing equal diligence in their music rehearsals. Ben served as first trumpet in the marching band all four years of high school and was even named the best trumpeter in the world under 18 by the International Trumpet Guild in 1986.

It was also at this impressionable age that Pete discovered a new form of music emerging from inner-city New York known as Hip Hop, something completely different from his classical violin training. He and a small group of friends became captivated by this unique style of music that was still years away from becoming mainstream. These friends would later form their own rap group in college. Pete and Ben would graduate from West High School in 1988 and 1989 respectively, both selecting to attend the University of Tennessee where their father taught mathematics and both receiving substantial scholarships from the music department despite the fact that neither were music majors.

College Years (1988-1994)

Pete, like his father, excelled at mathematics and selected this field as his major at UTK in the fall of 1988. He had started proving theorems as early as elementary school and had earned several awards in the Calculus program at West High School. During his freshman year of college, Pete was uncommonly diverse. He was simultaneously a classical violinist with the University of Tennessee Orchestra, the leader of the locally popular hip hop group Pete’s Posse and one of the top students in his Calculus courses. He would also be recruited by several other departments because of his academic success, most notably in the fields of Geography, Geology and Russian Language. During the early 1990’s, Pete’s Posse released a number of local radio hits, performed concerts throughout Tennessee and were even showcased in the dance clubs of New York City.

Ben would enroll at UTK the following year, majoring in Business. Shortly thereafter, the Wade Brothers would found the intramural athletic team known as I Eta Pi that eventually won two hockey championships and a football championship on campus. Ben would become first chair trumpet in both the UTK Orchestra and the esteemed marching band, The Pride of the Southland Band, while Pete would become the student concertmaster of the UTK Orchestra.

Pete had planned to become a professional sports statistician or to work with computer codes in the NSA or CIA, but after graduating in 1992 his plans changed. He felt called to become a mathematics teacher, as his father had, at which point he was offered a generous scholarship for graduate school. Ben graduated in 1993 with a degree in Marketing and opted to move back to Los Angeles to work in the family business at California Jig Grinding, now owned by his uncle Deryl Craig, Cheryl Wade’s younger brother.

It was 1993 when the Wade Brothers began taking road trips together without the supervision of their parents. A World Almanac given to Pete at the age of 9 by his grandfather Claude Craig had inspired him to visit the 100 most populated cities in America as well as all 50 states and the state capitals. With his list of travel goals growing to 20 categories by his college years, and his brother Ben equally anxious to continue the family legacy of traveling, they embarked on a path that would unexpectedly lead to a shot at the title of most traveled human within the United States.

Pete’s teaching career begins (1994-1996)

In 1994, with a Masters Degree in Mathematics Education, Pete was hired by prestigious Martin Luther King Magnet School in Nashville, Tennessee (currently the 8^th best public school in the United States) after a successful interview with then-principal Dr. Samella Junior Spence. She commented that Pete’s academic and athletic success were very reminiscent of her son, a professional American football player named E.J. Junior. Relocating to the Donelson area of Nashville, Pete was employed for a year at which point the tenured teacher whom he had replaced returned from a 2-year leave of absence. Still employed by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools but needing a school to which he could transfer, he applied at numerous public schools with an impressive résumé and high recommendations from Martin Luther King administrators. However, he was inexplicably turned down by prospective employers, likely because of his lack of experience, including Nashville School for the Arts, Pearl-Cohn Comprehensive High School, Hunters Lane High School and Cameron Middle School. He finally landed a position at inner-city Wright Middle School under the stipulation he teach Pre-Algebra and Algebra I and also coach the girls soccer team.

Ben’s coaching career begins (1996-1998)

For Ben, 1996 was a landmark year. He was serving as Vice President of Sports Leagues of America in Los Angeles while working for his uncle at California Jig but he wasn’t passionate about his career choice. He decided to do some soul searching in a most unique way. Starting in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, Ben embarked on a kayaking voyage along the Pacific Coast that would set a Guinness World Record for the longest distance ever traveled in a kayak at 6,132 miles, fraught with shark and whale encounters, boredom, loneliness and delirium. The trek ended when Ben was poisoned by drinking water he had purchased in a village that had apparently been stored in a gasoline drum. Near death, he was found floating in his kayak off the coast of South America by relatives of recording artist Linda Ronstadt who were navigating a yacht in the area.

Ben would make a drastic career change that fall. Leaving California Jig in Los Angeles, he moved to Northern California and the small town of Redding to become the women’s soccer coach at Simpson University. He would lead the team to the National Tournament in 1997 and 1998, ranked #2 at their peak in the NCCAA. Returning to the waters of South America, Ben became the first kayaker to solo-navigate the full length of the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers in 1998, later inspiring him to compose a tone poem debuted by a professional symphony. His name became synonymous with adventure after significant newspaper coverage in California and Tennessee told his story and Ben received a number of invitations to Hollywood parties. At one such get-together, as he spun tales of his escapades on the high seas, one celebrity partygoer became a very intrigued eavesdropper. Unbeknownst to the public at that time, Actor Tom Hanks was gathering ideas with writer William Broyles, Jr. for the script of the motion picture Cast Away (2000). As Hanks listened intently, occasionally asking questions, he was apparently inspired by a number of fascinating details experienced by Ben during his weeks of profound solitude without human contact during his journeys. Some of these ideas that eventually made the final movie script included the scene in which Hanks’ character Chuck Noland looks directly into the eye of a whale beneath his boat, the scene in which Noland sleeps on the floor after returning to society and the scene in which Noland hears coconuts dropping from trees in the distance, unsure of the source of the noise.

Pete’s career develops (1997-1999)

During this time, Pete was enjoying tremendous success in the field of education. Despite his placement in a low-income neighborhood at Nashville’s Wright Middle School, his students were making remarkable achievements. In a community with a 67% high school dropout rate and 8^th grade test scores ranking in the 25^th percentile nationally, Pete’s students were routinely scoring in the 80^th percentile in mathematics and were being accepted to prestigious high schools outside of the school zone. But he was growing restless, preferring to teach high school, and he applied for an opening at his former place of employment Martin Luther King Magnet School in the summer of 1997. Now under the leadership of a new principal, he did not get the job and would spend one more year at Wright Middle. Undaunted by this setback, Pete would forge ahead, making two major accomplishments that fall.

On August 13, 1997, his independent film Takin’ it to the Streets would be selected to air on Nashville’s Community Access Television channel, heralding the beginning of “The Pete Wade Show” that would quickly grow to iconic status locally spoofing pop culture and airing independent films and travel documentaries. It would also catch the attention of cinematographer Jack Hooper who to this day remains Vice-President of Pete’s film company OFF Productions. Even more impressive would be Pete’s mathematical discovery during the week of November 23, 1997. While tutoring one of his former students, he noticed a link between two Pythagorean Triples (specifically the triples 6, 8, 10 and 8, 15, 17). From the time of the discovery of the Pythagorean Theorem, most likely 4,500 years ago in Egypt, no mathematician had been capable of producing a theorem that would generate a list of every possible Pythagorean Triple, lists of infinite triples but not the all-inclusive list. Working on a pattern he noticed, Pete relentlessly hammered out the massive problem over the Thanksgiving holiday until he had a recursion that seemingly created this all-inclusive list that the most famous of mathematicians had not discovered. Pete’s father William, the brilliant math professor, had his doubts that this was indeed a breakthrough of enormous proportions and set out to disprove it. In the process, he found a loophole that was quickly fixed and indeed proved the theorem to be true. The Mathematical Association of America then verified that this was a unique theorem that had never been discovered and it was hence named the Wade-Wade Theorem.

In the fall of 1998, Pete was recruited to teach at Fred J. Page High School in Franklin, TN just south of Nashville. The school was part of the Williamson County Schools system, academically the best in Tennessee. In his first year, Pete had the highest Geometry scores in the county and in 1999, Page High’s AP Calculus teacher and future State Department director of curriculum Dr. Scott Eddins personally selected Pete to take over the Calculus program. Eddins knew the program needed new blood, disappointed that the Calculus enrollment was very low in this rural corner of Williamson County (at the time, only 5 to 7 students annually of the 900+ enrolled were completing Calculus). His decision would reap tremendous rewards for the school. Pete targeted students who typically would not have taken an AP course and convinced them to accept the challenge of college-level curriculum. By 2001, Calculus enrollment was averaging 50 students per year, the first school in the county to reach that mark despite being the second smallest high school in the system.

Ben’s career develops (1999-2001)

After 3 seasons at Simpson University, Ben moved to the Bay Area of California in 1999 to start the men’s and women’s soccer programs at Patten University. Within a year, the women’s team would be ranked #5 in the NAIA. In the offseason, Ben was assisting the Cameroon National Men’s Team as they prepared for the 2000 Sydney Olympics in which they won the gold medal. As his body of international work grew, he would coach the national soccer teams of The Bahamas and The West Indies as well as professional teams in England and Argentina. In 2001, Ben left Patten University for a remote section of Northern California. He accepted a position at Lassen College in Susanville, California, again building a women’s soccer program from scratch. Ultimately, the move would be much more critical to Ben’s career outside of athletics.

It was here that Ben would be drawn back to classical music and the performing arts after a long hiatus. He would realize his dream of starting a symphony orchestra, despite the fact that no American town as small as Susanville had ever supported a full-time orchestra unaffiliated with a university. Ben began the task of gathering musicians and support for his mission, hoping to revive the days of his renowned trumpet performances. Instead, with no one interested in leading the fledgling group, it was Ben who would be forced to take the reins. Becoming conductor by default while maintaining his trumpet skills, he discovered a new passion.

Pete continues success (1999-2003)

Running OFF Productions in what free time he had outside of teaching, Pete’s talents at writing and directing independent films were blossoming. Boosted by an upgrade in computer equipment, his creative mind was finally able to explore enumerable possibilities in the world of video editing. In 2000, the maverick filmmaker began shooting Pro$ & ConS with the intention of creating the world’s best action movie for under $1000. With most of that budget used to explode a Pontiac Grand Am, the cast and crew created what is widely argued as the greatest movie of its genre with a nonexistent budget. The 2^nd unit under Pete’s supervision even shot one of the scenes at the base of the World Trade Center in Manhattan on August 11, 2001, exactly 1 month before the September 11^th terrorist attacks. It was his 27^th visit to the city and obviously his last trip with the World Trade Center towers still intact.

Meanwhile, Page High had become the first public school in Tennessee at which over one-third of their graduates were passing Calculus (excluding academic magnet schools). In addition, 100% of the students taking the national AP Exam were receiving passing scores. Pete had also become very active in the athletic program, accepting head coaching positions in girls soccer (4 District and Region Championships) and boys and girls track & field (32 state medalists in his first 4 seasons including 4 gold, 7 silver and 7 bronze medalists). He became the first coach of a male sport at Page High with a #1 ranked team in Tennessee (boys track & field in 2006). Pete also took assistant coaching jobs with the successful boys soccer and ice hockey teams and became the television announcer for the football team and the public address announcer for the girls and boys basketball teams as well serving one year as Athletic Director.

The Wade Brothers increasing success (2003-2004)

Ben had received numerous accolades in his coaching career, but his greatest strength was his ability to recruit. By 2003, he had transformed the novice soccer program at Lassen College into one of the top 10 teams in the nation, peaking at #3 and qualifying for the National Championships. Simultaneously, he was conducting the local symphony orchestra he had formed in 2002. On May 7, 2003, the Susanville Symphony Orchestra debuted in front of a sold out audience. Reviving his music career, Ben would eventually compose more than 50 original symphonic works and the town of less than 10,000 would lend tremendous support to the orchestra, booking hundreds of season tickets and selling out every concert to this day. Ben received his Masters Degree in Music with a concentration in conducting in 2004 from nearby University of Nevada, Reno.

At the same time, Pete found a new outlet for his independent films. In 2003, he helped orchestrate the debut of the world renowned 48 Hour Film Project in Nashville and in 2004, he became a participant. Writing, filming and editing a short film in 48 hours seemed a monumental task for any group, even more so for the two-person team of Pete Wade and Jack Hooper. But the duo, selecting the genre of horror, dazzled the judges with their entry Oneonta Road placing 3^rd of 33 teams while Pete singlehandedly collected 7 awards, a record at that time for a single participant in the film festival’s history.

Two new high schools had opened in the Williamson County Schools system by 2004 and Pete offered to start the Calculus programs at both Ravenwood High School and Independence High School. Despite his incredible success at Page, he lost out both times to Calculus teachers from nearby Centennial High School, a school that typically enrolls fewer than 15 of their 1300+ students in Calculus. Without the opportunity to move to more modern facilities, and happy in his current position, he decided that he would teach at Page High School for the remainder of his career. During this time, he was named to “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers” for the 16^th time in his career and was named Page High School teacher of the year as well.

The Wade Brothers’ recent achievements (2005-present)

On February 8, 2005, Ben’s Symphony #1 in D Minor "The Russian" was premiered by the Susanville Symphony. Months later, after being named Coach of the Year for the 6^th time in his 10-year career, Ben was hired to coach the women’s soccer team at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, his first coaching position in the NCAA. By 2006, his team would be recognized as one of the most improved athletic programs in any sport in NCAA’s Division II, breaking into the top 20 rankings in soccer. Upon his departure from Lassen College, the soccer program was discontinued. Remarkably, Ben continues to commute to Susanville to conduct the symphony despite his job in Missouri. On March 16, 2006, the music department at SBU began a unique relationship with their soccer coach as the orchestra debuted Ben’s composition “Sunset over the Pacific.”

In the summer of 2006, the Wade Brothers entered North Dakota completing their visits to all 50 states. After this point, Ben began traveling less within the United States and more abroad. This was only the beginning for Pete, his sights set on the loftier goal of becoming the most traveled human within the Contiguous United States by 2015. To earn this title, Pete had over 9000 places to visit within the 48 states and mapped out a plan to conquer this monumental task in 10 years. His friend Jack Hooper replaced his brother Ben on domestic road trips, but the Wade family continued to travel together internationally. It was around this time that they began taking frequent cruises throughout the world.

In 2007, with their second entry in the 48 Hour Film Project, OFF Productions’ film Abandon was named runner-up for best picture among 46 teams. Pete was named best video editor in Nashville and Jack Hooper was named best special effects editor. The video company began focusing less on independent films and more on documentaries.

In late 2007, the Wade Brothers collaborated on a project for the first time. As their diverse talents led them to pursue vastly different interests over the years, their two career paths finally intersected when Ben invited Pete to Northern California to film a documentary on the Susanville Symphony Orchestra. The project was premiered to a packed house at the Sierra Theatre in downtown Susanville on June 16, 2008, well received by symphony members and local residents.