Colonel Carleton K. Butler is best known as the long-time director of the University of Alabama “Million Dollar Band.” It was during his tenure this term was coined. He graduated from high school in Warren, Ohio. He attended Dana’s Musical Institute from 1924-1928, Kent State University from 1928-1932, and the University of Alabama in 1935.

Colonel Butler was band director at Ramsay High School (Birmingham) from 1930-1934 before becoming band director at the University of Alabama, where he remained until his retirement in 1969. From 1935-1946, he also served as band director at Tuscaloosa High School.  During his 34 years as band director at the University of Alabama, Colonel Butler was a driving influential force behind the band movement in Alabama. In 1939 he called a meeting of Alabama band directors at the University of Alabama to form the Alabama Bandmasters Association and served as its first president.

Colonel Butler was appointed Honorary Colonel in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (University of Alabama) in 1940, and was appointed “Honorary Colonel in the Great State of Alabama” by Governor John Patterson in 1959. At his retirement in 1969, he was appointed “Professor Emeritus of Music.” He was awarded the “Outstanding Bandmasters Award” by Phi Beta Mu, the national bandmasters honorary fraternity in 1969. In 1979, $10,000 was donated by former students and friends scholarships in the name of Colonel Butler.

In 1980, the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama dedicated and named the band practice field “Butler Field.” Colonel Butler was inducted into the Phi Beta Mu Alabama Bandmasters Hall of Fame in 1976.