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1975, What a Year


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21 hours ago, Fran Haring said:

Great question.

You're right... they've had some very good corps since then, but never been back in championship contention. That run from '64 to '74.... wow. 

One cannot discount the fact that a major portion of their instructional team (Emmons, Megan, Sanford) shifted over to BD during that period - no?

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"Go West Young Men":

If my memory isn't completly gone. I recollect that after  Pete Emmons aged out of the Troopers, he migrated to the Kingsmen before his many years stint with the Santa Clara Vanguard, and then to Blue Devils, wher he he has been in an admin capacity ever since.

Several other Trooper alums, Fred Sanford, Jack Megan among them also departed for California's drum corps.

I'm sure Frank D can set us straight on all of this "Westward Migration".

Elphaba     :flower:

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I don't know about who came through Anaheim.  I was just a kid starting in drum corps and all I knew was that they won.   I do remember...

In Santa Clara, Pete Emmons did drill, Fred Sanford and Bob Kalkofen (Trooper alum and solo snare champion) taught percussion during their dominance 72-75 iirc. 

Ron Mokler, also from the Troopers taught the Royalairs of San Leandro which is the corps that grew one Scott Johnson. 

The Blue Devils became great because of a combination of home grown talent, Odello, Strattons, and that from Commodores (the Otts)  as well as Santa Clara, Wayne Downey, Ron Menke, Mike Moxley, and in the early days, Miss Modesitt (sp?) I believe her name was Ernie. 

Ernie and her sister Marilyn were bad a$$ Santa Clara Rifles.  Ernie, Marilyn, and Pete and Bob all worked with the Conquistadors at times when I marched there.  There were other SCV alums that worked with us too.   Bob Kalkofen is the reason I played snare.  Cool thing ended up happening....  He taught me in fall '71 after my first summer in the S.S.F. Conquistadors and he came to BD in 78, my last year there.

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  • 1 month later...

Very interesting reflection on some tremendous corps, from a wonderful era in the activity.

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1975 was the first time I had ever seen a drum corps.  Allen Kristensen who was also playing snare in the Vanguard and I were in the Leigh High School Band.  He brought a movie called "Competitive Drum Corps" to play which was a mini documentary movie on the activity.    Later that year, my father who was a (local band director in the San Jose area) and I went to see the Pacific Procession show at San Jose State University.  He had some brass students in the Vanguard (Mel Canales and others).

At that time the annual Vanguard show was at Spartan Stadium.  I distinctively remember the Blue Devils opener and the Latin feel to their show (Timbales) and the Vanguard opener "Hary Janos" both of which were tremendous.  Caught them again while channel surfing on PBS and saw Madison and Santa Clara at Finals from Franklin Field in Philadelphia.  From that moment on I was sold on Drum Corps.  In 1976 Madison came out west and performed at Pacific Procession with a their opener "Theme from Shaft" which of course they later scrapped mid-season for  "Stars and Stripes".

The 1975 Vanguard percussion line was one of the finest ever to march.  It's also interesting to note that many of them were percussion majors studying with Anthony Cirone at SJSU including Fred Sanford, Allen Kristensen, Curt Moore, Bob Kalkofen, and Mike Laporta.  I remember going to Allen Kristensen's graduate finals performance at SJSU and he had written a piece for an entire snare line on stage!

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  • 1 year later...

Actually, SCV’s m&m in prelims was terrible, the result of a late arrival (practically sprinted up the hill) and some changes that included sets relying on yard lines (which Pete had been incorrectly told would be there). The finals scores reflected a host of changes to take out persistent ticks (changing a front of 8 to two fronts of 4, etc). I remember one of the judges who always ticked at the end of a push just walking away with his clipboard. 

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