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some old corps photos


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Saw them once in about 1972 or so in Illinois. I will never ever forget their rendition and portrayal of West Side Story and the fight scene.

I was lucky enough to see them in 1968 at the North American Invitationals in Toronto. Vanguard's 1968 show that year was, in my opinion, one the best products ever to grace a football field. That show in Toronto was recorded, not by Fleetwood, but by another company who I think put out a much superior product with far better sound quality. I think it was Super-Records(?)...they did a few drum corps recordings in that era including the Shriner's International and I believe they were a local Toronto company. If you compare them to Fleetwood I think you would have to say they were a much better product...

If I remember right, the Vanguard used to practice in an aircraft hangar at a Chicago airport. I am not sure of the year, but I recall that an aircraft crashed into the hangar shortly after most of the corps had gone home but there were a few members or staff that were still there who were tragically killed or injured. I think this was around 1972?

Des Plaines Vanguard...loved the classic red and black uniforms...HUGE guard at one time with about 20 girls and 20 guys working together...great charts and, to me, one of the classic sounds of the late 1960's corps scene.

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I was lucky enough to see them in 1968 at the North American Invitationals in Toronto. Vanguard's 1968 show that year was, in my opinion, one the best products ever to grace a football field. That show in Toronto was recorded, not by Fleetwood, but by another company who I think put out a much superior product with far better sound quality. I think it was Super-Records(?)...they did a few drum corps recordings in that era including the Shriner's International and I believe they were a local Toronto company. If you compare them to Fleetwood I think you would have to say they were a much better product...

If I remember right, the Vanguard used to practice in an aircraft hangar at a Chicago airport. I am not sure of the year, but I recall that an aircraft crashed into the hangar shortly after most of the corps had gone home but there were a few members or staff that were still there who were tragically killed or injured. I think this was around 1972?

Des Plaines Vanguard...loved the classic red and black uniforms...HUGE guard at one time with about 20 girls and 20 guys working together...great charts and, to me, one of the classic sounds of the late 1960's corps scene.

The hanger incident was in '68--I've cut and pasted the story from the DPV web site---

In 1968, adversity once again haunted the corps. In the previous year, a key member was lost in a tragic accident just prior to a show in the Chicago area. In 1968, there were more very traumatic events that that had a definite impact on the corps. During music practices at the new Vanguard Hall, the Color Guard held practices at a large aircraft hangar for one of the major airlines just a short distance from Vanguard Hall at O'Hare Field. During one particular evening an airliner crashed into that hangar during practice. Although an alert member of the Guard found an emergency exit very quickly and saved many lives that night, lives were lost. Ironically, it was just 10 years later (1978) that the infamous American Airline DC-10 crash at O’Hare occurred, also a short distance from the new Vanguard Hall. In a separate incident, two Color Guard members who were walking home after an evening’s practice were hit by car and both were killed. So even with all of the Vanguard’s success in 1968, it was also a very sad year for the Vanguard.

Geez, can you imagine that happening?

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We were at their show in 1976, I believe July 4th weekend. Not sure how they were doing at that time...all I remember was Cavies were there and my favorite all-girl corps...The Capitolaires

Where are you getting all of these gems? I am envious but thanks for sharing! I marched those guys in '73--A rough year for us.
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I was lucky enough to see them in 1968 at the North American Invitationals in Toronto. Vanguard's 1968 show that year was, in my opinion, one the best products ever to grace a football field. That show in Toronto was recorded, not by Fleetwood, but by another company who I think put out a much superior product with far better sound quality. I think it was Super-Records(?)...they did a few drum corps recordings in that era including the Shriner's International and I believe they were a local Toronto company. If you compare them to Fleetwood I think you would have to say they were a much better product...

A GREAT recording. Still, one of the best ever made.

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So ... maybe one of the RA people on here could comment about the different uniform? The satin blouse in the pic is not the cadet style jacket they started wearing 63-68 ... any ideas?

:-)

Great minds think alike. I was just thinking the same thing. Andy, take a close look at the french horn player right behind the head of the middle bass drum. There seems to be a collar up around the neck area. French horn might mean very early 60's before mellos. Perhaps the drum line had the satin and the horn line had the cadet jackets for that particular photo, although none of the pics on their historic site show this.

Edited by gsksun4
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Where are you getting all of these gems? I am envious but thanks for sharing! I marched those guys in '73--A rough year for us.

I attended finals where I obtained the ‘1976 DCI Championship guide to the contests at the University of Pennsylvania’; 16 pages including cover and back, 7 pages of advertisements, 1 page is a synopsis ’16 years of drum corps memories’, and a 5 page article entitled ‘In Retrospect’ written by Steve Fain accompanied with photos by Moe Knox with the heading ‘Looking Backwards, Ten years ago…the 1966 drum corps season’. As an aside, the photos in the guide are 2 ½ X 3 ¾ inches. Hope this answers your question.

The intent of the guide was to know who was performing when. Hope you don’t mind that I scanned both floor and field as below. I participated with winter guard for 20 years; my first competition ever was late 1968 as a member of our indoor guard, my roots; followed by 8 years of marching in competitive summer junior drum corps; then 3 years marching in a non-competitive drum corps…

1976-guide1-a.jpg

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I still remember that day......

We were on at 10:50 am, had to be up early for breakfast and rehearsal. We didn't get settled in to our hotel until 3:00 am due to some breakdown at the hotel we were suppose to be in. 3 hours of sleep, director resigned the day before and NO staff members present.....it was a lackluster performance. We should have scored higher.

1976-guide2-a.jpg
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I still remember that day......

We were on at 10:50 am, had to be up early for breakfast and rehearsal. We didn't get settled in to our hotel until 3:00 am due to some breakdown at the hotel we were suppose to be in. 3 hours of sleep, director resigned the day before and NO staff members present.....it was a lackluster performance. We should have scored higher.

I quit marching September 74 but was asked to help out summer of 75; quit marching Sept 75 but was asked to fill a flag spot summer of 76 and then aged-out; marched an additional 3 years with AAG as co-dm, baritone and on the cymbal line; no regrets.

Keith, I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you. Had I quit the first time, this scan wouldn’t be seen. There’re 8 more scans from 66 but I’ll step away from the keyboard for a while; got a bout of forum fatigue…ahchoo! Excuse me.

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