Alexander “Sandy” Hain

-Pipe Major- (1929-2018)

Sandy Hain was born in Leslie, Fife, Scotland, the eldest of nine children. He had his first piping lessons at age 4, and began studing seriously with P/M John Stewart at age 8.

Piping was endemic to the Hain family. Sandy’s grandfather and father were Black Watch pipe majors. His brother was a Black Watch piper, and his sister became pipe major of the Lochgelly Ladies Pipe Band. It would have seemed natural at age 14 that he join the Black Watch Cadets. He enlisted in the British Army three years later. He took the Pipe Major’s course at Edinburgh Castle under Willie Ross in 1951 and was subsequently appointed pipe major of the Depot Black Watch and then the 2nd Battalion Black Watch, a post he held until 1957.

A tour of North America with the 1st and 2nd Battalion Blach Watch paved the way for his immigration to Ohio in 196?. A professional accordianist, he formed the dance band The Clansman and played for decades at events all over the country.

He helped form and has been pipe major of The Red Hackle Pipes & Drums in Cleveland, Ohio.

He lived in North Royalton, Ohio, where he passed on March 28, 2018.

JM, May 2009