History of the Krewe of Andres de Pez By Boyce White, Founding Father
 
Guided by my father- Charlie White, who resurrected the Mayoki Indians out of bankruptcy in 1967 and was their president for 2 years and inspired by Yvette Crooke, founder of the Hip Huggers, I decided there was a need for an all male krewe. After a few weeks of gauging interest from people I would talk with about the idea, mainly over a few discussions at poker night, I figured I had enough interest to make this happen. On September 29, 2000, Florida State University was playing Maryland on a Thursday Night ESPN game and we were playing poker at my house with the original ten members who would come to be known as the Founding Fathers: Andy Majewski, Boyce White, Charlie Wiggins, Eric Stevenson, Greg Tillery, Jay Saiter, Malcolm Williams, Robin Moore, Rick Finch, and Scott Covell.
 
At the conclusion of the game, I spent about 10 minutes presenting what has become our Krewe. I suggested that we each put in $150 and I’d open a checking account and get this started. I further pointed out that since I’d brought these nine others together, I asked that each recruit an additional five members by Halloween. Over the next few weeks, interest was gaining and a few of the members started asking if they could bring on more than five. By the end of the first year, we had recruited 102 members. While we’d completed the initial task of recruiting, we still had a lot of work ahead of us over the next three months, such as: coming up with a name for the Krewe, having an orientation party, registering for parades, building a float, coming up with a theme, having outfits made, and hosting a Mardi Gras Ball. The only way to accomplish these almost insurmountable tasks was to assign duties. Robin Moore, who was getting his masters in aquatic archeology, became our historian. He was instrumental in researching the history of Andres de Pez and the other names of figures that were significantly connected to Pensacola’s history. His research guided the board towards our organization being a living tribute to the history of our great city and its origins.
 
There were several names suggested for our Krewe: Knights to Remember, Crew of Alcaniz, Krewe of Ochuse, Krewe of Galvez, Crew of Sleepless Knights, & Krewe de Pez. Scott Covell and Charlie Wiggins became our legal team and set up our charter & incorporated us with the state. Andy Majewski took over the task of building the float, while Rick Finch handled the ball, and Greg Tillery hosted the new member orientation party and Malcolm Williams became the food chairman. Eric Stevenson, Jay Saiter, & I had to figure out how to get registered for the different parades, locate a facility for the ball, pick out materials for our parade tabards and support all the additional efforts that were ahead of us.
 
The board still had one vision that was still in developmental stages- the role of Siguenza. It had been decided that Siguenza would be the voice of the Krewe at board meetings, but not a voting member of the board. This way, Siguenza was impartial to different committee agendas, but was to be the "Chief of the Boat" (or COB) and look after the well being of the entire Krewe. The issue was how to pick this individual. We decided that the Krewe member that was the most stand out member at the Roll Call party would have the honor. Matt Adkins seemed to garner the Krewe support by showing the ladies of the Gregory Street Ballet his interpretation of a real "Roll Call." This landed Matt Adkins the only earned roll of Siguenza. Consequently, the lawyers on the current board thought it may be irresponsible to reward this kind of behavior, so the roll of Siguenza is still to represent the general welfare of the Krewe as a non-voting board member and is chosen by the previous Siguenza from the "swabbie" class and approved by the board. Over the next few months, everything coalesced as Krewe of Andres de Pez came to life through a uniformed Krewe of 102 souls, hosting a premier ball and riding the best float on the streets of Pensacola and Pensacola Beach.