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THE STORY OF THE CADETS


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Hmmmm appropriate Gary... as it reflects the history of the activity overall and with the creation of Cadets2 they have a dual path...

I'll throw in my fondest moment in Cadets history - it's an old one... in 1965, they traveled to Portland OR to defend their title... unlike Cabs who knew they had competition from the upstart Rochester corps but had already beaten Rochester and everyone knew it would be close (Rochester won by the narrowist of margins)

anyway... Garfield didn't have a prayer... they knew they weren't in the same league with Chicago Royal Airs...

but the performance they did that night in multnomah stadium was one for the memory books... you could just feel this proud corps about to lose their title "give it their all" - what a magnificent performance they put on that night and yes, they lost... but it was still one of my fond memories of that evening, that decade, that century ...

Thanks for the "Late Review" :huh: That performance was the "Hatrick" in the Royal-Airs NEVER to be replicated 3 National Titles in a single year and unfortunately we were the ONLY Corp to lose to them at ALL 3 Contests!(What a way to make the record book).

Digging deep into the memory banks it was a very emotional performance for us as we had just learned that our Director "Uncle Eddie" had inoperable cancer and was facing the end of his all to brief Directorship. Uncle Ed worked At Raybestos-Manhattan Rubber along with my Mother and several other Cadet parents.......and Raybestos made .......asbestos products...........his legacy and untimely passing in early '66 was followed my many, many others, Raybestos got-off relatively free, closed the factory and moved to the south where environmental restrictions were far less onerous. We were left to bury(literally) their legacy. I still won't use their brake products on my cars.

One last quick story never told before................this one about Sie Lurye......

After the show as we had boarded our buses.....Sie jumps on our(Cadets) bus and yells out to us in that gravelly voice "Hey Guys, TELL EDDIE, TANKS FOR LO-SIN".........that just about started the biggest Drum Corp riot in History .......then, one of our Quartermasters, who was even bigger than Sie confronted him and told him about Eddie's cancer....and you could just see him deflate....he and Ed and all our Quarter-masters came from a similar background and had kidded one another for the past 5 years at the Legion Nationals about being the Cinderella Corp.(re-call that RA came in behind Garfield in '60, '61, '62) we all watched as he walked back to the RA buses slumped over, obviously adding some bitterness to his greatest triumph.......He was a great competitor and that little slip in sportsmanship was overshadowed by his generosity.....a few years later when I was in Chicago with my college band(we played at a Bears half-time show) I called him up, reminded him of the Portland quote(I was in the front seat)and he invited several of us to a Halloween Party for RA & Skokie by a Labor Union and sent his daughter out to pick us up!........the rest of that night is still only a blur......needless to say, those Chicagoans know how to party.

Oh, and we always have a prayer...........we say it every time before we enter the competitive field.......

FHNSAB.........AMEN!

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