Van Cagle hailed from Elvis Presley's hometown of Tupelo, Miss., and he came to worship the King, as well as such princes as David Bowie and Lou Reed. He championed the Champaign music scene before going on to a professorship at Tulane University, where his rock course made the pages of the Rolling Stone.

Mr. Cagle, who died in his sleep last week at the age of 55 in Tupelo, was also the author of a well-received book, "Reconstructing Pop/Subculture: Art, Rock and Andy Warhol" from Sage Publications.

The book combines a scholarly analysis of trends since the 1960s in art, music and gender issues, with fascinating details about artists and bands like the Velvet Underground and the MC5.

A second project explored the cult of Elvis, with special emphasis on British fans who make pilgrimages to Maui as part of their worship of his film "Blue Hawaii" and choreograph special dance steps for each of Presley's hits.

Mr. Cagle was a tall, elegant man who spoke in a Southern drawl deepened by tobacco.

Local rocker Don Gerard, late of the band Moon Seven Times, took a University of Illinois class with Mr. Cagle.

"He looked cool, he sounded cool, every word that came out of him was cool," Gerard said.

"His taste in music – impeccable," said Phil Strang, a former owner of Campustown's Record Service.

"Van gave substance and respect to the scene in those days. He was almost like a one-man support system, championing local groups like the Vertebrats, the Outnumbered, Screams, the Elvis Brothers," said Greg Springer of Urbana, a former entertainment writer for the now-defunct Courier as well as the Daily Illini.

"He embodied the joy and enthusiasm and could back it up with an intellectual understanding of the music, its roots and its social impact. He was everybody's friend."

Though he was born in Tupelo, the king's hometown, Cagle said he was late in appreciating Presley.

"I was a victim of the '70s and enjoyed '70s music," Cagle said in a 1995 News-Gazette article, when he was working at the Developmental Services Center. His previous job was cataloging Presley memorabilia for a mammoth auction.

For a boy who grew up in Tupelo, where Elvis was a living god, and soul, gospel and blues music were ubiquitous, Mr. Cagle had limited early ambition to actually make music, his sister says.

"I think he once played the kazoo beside a creek and a saxophone in seventh grade," said Libby Cagle Pollard. "He played Jesus in 'Godspell' at our local church in high school, more so because he looked the part with his long hair than because of his singing ability. Someone else did the vocals from off stage."

She said Mr. Cagle always saved his allowance to buy albums.

"The kids in our neighborhood performed Beatles songs on various front porches and charged our parents a quarter to watch us perform. Our first live concert to attend was the Animals and the Herman's Hermits in Memphis when I was 6, and Van was 9. We were the envy of the neighborhood when our parents took us to that concert!"

Mr. Cagle saw the Rolling Stones in Memphis when he was about 16 or 17, then an Alice Cooper/Suzi Quatro concert, then David Bowie in college at Mississippi State, his sister said.

By the time he came here to earn advanced degrees in sociology and communications, he was promoting bands, hanging out with the bands, and writing about them for the Daily Illini.

Matthew Brandabur of the Vertebrats, arguably the most popular Champaign-Urbana band of the '80s, first met Mr. Cagle when he was hanging with Brandabur's older sisters.

"He was always around my big, loud Irish family," Brandabur said. "He was extremely funny and charming. Very smart, well-read, And he did a lot for our band."