[Off the left]

Just curious. I want to know more of the past lore or any myths or rumors. Not trying to dig up dirt on any corps I'm just curious.

This post has been edited by Off the left: 19 June 2012 - 12:38 AM

[drummer5485]

Bob Barker is dead

[skajerk]

Horror story? Here ya go.

Top 10 Reasons why 1983 Was A Horror Story::

1. Miami
2. The Orange Bowl
3. Miami
4. The flight path over the OB
5. Miami
6. Corps getting jumped outside the OB
7. SEVEN!
8. Miami
9. Measles vaccinations in Whitewater
10. Miami

This post has been edited by skajerk: 19 June 2012 - 01:47 AM

[84BDsop]

Randy beat me to it...and I didn't even march that year!

I'll throw out the death of Jim Ott on tour in 1980...a tragedy for the entire activity.

And of course, closer to home, was Joe Ricard's medical issue in 08 BD that could've easily killed him. Had the staff not been on the ball, it might have. Instead, he recovered and marched 2 more years.

[oldsoprano]

84BDsop, on 19 June 2012 - 02:04 AM, said:

I'll throw out the death of Jim Ott on tour in 1980...a tragedy for the entire activity.

Yes, indeed. That was by far the worst day in my 36 years in the activity. While I have forgotten a lot of the minute details of my marching days in 1976-79, I remember the morning of Jim's death just like it was yesterday - everything about how the staff was first told at our housing site in Memphis, everything about how we then broke the news to the corps.

The corps had enjoyed a free night in New Orleans the previous night, and the van in which Jim was riding had made an airport run before heading to Memphis, so they were an hour or so behind the rest of the convoy.

Spirit was traveling with two vans that summer, and I was driving the second van that night. When we got to our Memphis housing site and got settled in, we began wondering where the other van was, but just assumed they had had mechanical trouble or something along the way. This, of course, was years before cell phones, and we finally got word from our home base in Atlanta a little after daybreak that there had been a horrible accident.

Ralph Pace was on the visual staff and he was the one that broke the news to the rest of the staff and to the corps. I still remember his exact words: "The staff van was in a wreck last night....and Jim didn't make it."

[JimF-LowBari]

oldsoprano, on 19 June 2012 - 06:49 AM, said:

Yes, indeed. That was by far the worst day in my 36 years in the activity. While I have forgotten a lot of the minute details of my marching days in 1976-79, I remember the morning of Jim's death just like it was yesterday - everything about how the staff was first told at our housing site in Memphis, everything about how we then broke the news to the corps.

The corps had enjoyed a free night in New Orleans the previous night, and the van in which Jim was riding had made an airport run before heading to Memphis, so they were an hour or so behind the rest of the convoy.

Spirit was traveling with two vans that summer, and I was driving the second van that night. When we got to our Memphis housing site and got settled in, we began wondering where the other van was, but just assumed they had had mechanical trouble or something along the way. This, of course, was years before cell phones, and we finally got word from our home base in Atlanta a little after daybreak that there had been a horrible accident.

Ralph Pace was on the visual staff and he was the one that broke the news to the rest of the staff and to the corps. I still remember his exact words: "The staff van was in a wreck last night....and Jim didn't make it."

First I heard of the details and still hits decades later. And sadly not the only corps that had members pass away like this. Also won't name corps but on the other side of the fence know of two people who passed away during parades (one in the 60s and 1 one few years back) and one during a show.

And then there is the connection between one of the worst school fires in US history and the Chicago Royal Aires OLA-RA

Yeah read the title and was hoping for a more funny to OMG type of posts, but let's not forget that doing Drum Corps can be dangerous. Edit: just remembered seeing a car wreck my 2nd year in the corps. we were waiting for practice, heard the crash and saw the dust and pieces flying. Then someone said "hey that's one of our guys". He recovered but took a week or two.

This post has been edited by JimF-LowBari: 19 June 2012 - 07:43 AM

[bluecoats88]

How about the guy who got struck by lightning during rehearsal. It may have been a senior corps and not a junior corps but I think it is still appropriate with the turn of this thread.

[bluecoats88]

also - in 1982 we had a member who got hit by a motorcycle as he crossed the street after finals going to our busses. We left him in montreal and he was tranported back to ohio months later in a full body cast.

[Schickmeister]

George Hopkins.

[JimF-LowBari]

bluecoats88, on 19 June 2012 - 08:39 AM, said:

How about the guy who got struck by lightning during rehearsal. It may have been a senior corps and not a junior corps but I think it is still appropriate with the turn of this thread.

Know of a Sr corps member killed by lighting in the early 80s with other corps members injured. Last practice we had at home before DCA one year was stopped by a lightning storm. Couldn't figure out why staff was so frantic chasing us off the field to to a local HS band room (think we got permission later). Then we found out a local HS band member was killed that week at practice.

If anything good came of these stories, the corps and the shows continued.