Jim White

If it ain't snowin, I'm goin.......

Does anybody have any info on the Renegades? Are they coming back for the 2014 season in any way, shape or form or are they just another footnote in the history of Drum Corps? Their website looks like it hasn't been updated in a year or so and there is no mention of them on the DCA site. Inquiring minds want to know.

Geneva Appleknockers (Sr.) Rochester Grey Knights Rochester Phoenix Pittsburg Rockets Erie Thunderbirds Hamburg Kingsmen Interstatesmen

The Appleknockers also performed winter concerts in the late 50's into the early 60's. They frequently had more horn players during the winter concerts than they would have on the field. There are several concert albums from various years - '58, '61 and the Evening with the Corps recording from '64. They would play sit-down style with a trap drummer and also featured french-horn player Don Phipps on Upright Bass on several numbers. Jack Bullock arranged most of their music which featured a lot of Gerswin, show tunes and popular hits of the day. They also featured the first contrabass designed by Jack Bullock and developed by the Royce-Whaley corp. around 1958 which was too heavy to carry on the field (not an over the shoulder model) but was used in concert and can be heard on the recordings. Apple Blossom Time was their theme song and closer. Ace Petersen and Hardy Carrasas (sp?) were their principal soloists along with Don Phipps and others.

Various upstate New York corps of the 60's and 70's......... The Shortsville Shamrocks (NY) The Dynamic Duo (1-yr merger of the Shortsville Shamrocks and the Auburn Purple Lancers) The Grey Knights (NY) The (Hilton, Irondequoit, Rochester) Crusaders (NY) The Magnificent Yankees (NY) The Brigaders (NY) The Phoenix (NY) Mighty St. Joe's (NY Emerald Cadets (NY) Emerald Statesmen (NY) Greece Cadets (NY) Squires (NY) Grenadiers (NY) Pardee Pacers (NY) Alpine Girls (NY) Mellodears (NY) Hit Men (NY)

Ken "Ace" Peterson, originally with the Geneva Appleknockers in the 50's and 60's, is still marching with the Mighty St. Joe's Alumni Corps at 82 years old. I saw him marching last week at the Clifton Springs Sulpher Springs Festival with St. Joes.

Shortsville Shamrocks picture from 1958 Snare drummer first row 2nd from left is Ron Schaefer.....played with the Sr. Appleknockers 2nd row 3rd from left is Tom Fogarty next to Dave Baroody and 6th from left is Rich Hudson (Sr. and Jr. Appleknockers) 3rd row 2nd from left is Phil Fogarty and 6th from left is Tom Hesseny top row with rifle is Dick Pronti This was the parade corps for the Citizens Hose Company and the Turner-Schrader Post 34 American Legion. In 1963, the Shamrocks began field competition in the NY/Penn Circuit with Dick Pronti as Drum Major and Drill Instructor/Drill Writer

At the time of the picture, the corps was an all-age parade corps marching for the local Citizens Hose Company and American Legion Turner/Schrader Post 34. It became a junior corps in 1963 when it joined the NY/Penn circuit and began field competitions......back then legal drinking age was 18 and he could pass at around 13 without showing an id......

He was a 1961 graduate of Red Jacket Central School whose other famous classmate was Phil Bredesen, former mayor of Nashville and governor of Tennesee..........

I remember the Ridge-Culver Statesmen merging with the Emerald Cadets becoming the Emerald Statesmen for a couple years in the 60's......

I personally did not go on to instruct after I aged out of junior drum corps in 1966, but several members of the Shortsville Shamrocks did go on to instruct: 1) Dick Pronti - color guard, horn player, drum major and drill writer/instructor for the Shamrocks also wrote drill for several corps, became a DC judge, founded the DCA I&E and became an advisor to several corps and was a WDHOF member. 2) Jack Bullock grew up in Shortsville and is most known for his work with the Geneva Appleknockers. He was also an advisor/instructor to the Shamrocks and wrote/taught in the early years. Also a WDHOF member and original founder of the Gorham Pagent of Bands. 3) Dave Baroody and Tom Hessney started as horn players with the Shamrocks and later moved to the senior Appleknockers. Dave and Tom were instructors with the junior Appleknockers. 4) Brothers Tom and Phil Forgarty began their drum corp careers in the drumline with the Shamrocks and both moved on to other corps as drum instructors. Tom was also a drum major for the Shamrocks. 5) Bill Decker began his drum corps career with the Shamrocks and later instructed drum lines for several corps and also became a DC judge. 6) Brady Rouse played horn with the Shamrocks in the mid-60's and went on to do drill instruction with several drum corps and colorguard units. There was a lot of talent that came out of the little towns of Shortsville and Manchester......maybe you recognize some of these names......

Some of us old guys remember the Rochester Grey Knights being a pretty good corps.......

In the late 1950's, Jack Bullock of the Geneva Appleknockers worked with the Whaley Royce company to develop the first contrabass used by a drum corps. The only flaw with the horn was that it was designed to play up front and not as a shoulder model. It was too heavy to use on the field, but the Appleknockers used it in their winter sit-down concerts and it can be heard quite distinctly on some of their late-50's/early 60's concert recordings. They also had Don Phipps play an upright string bass during one of their Gershwin medleys......... I've always wondered what happened to that horn....I would think that it would have some historical value.

There was another Emerald Cadets out of Rochester NY which competed in the Penn/York circuit in the 60's....attached is their history from corpreps..... The Emerald Cadets of Point Pleasant Incorporated Irondequoit, (Rochester) New York The Point Pleasant Fire Department of Irondequoit, a suburb of Rochester, New York, sponsored a fire tournament team, marching band, color guard and parade drum & bugle corps in one form or another from 1899 to 1958. These groups collectively were known as the “Point Pleasant Pea Pickers” at least from 1946 to 1958, incorporating the nick-name used by the fire department. By the mid and late 1950’s many fire departments were no longer capable of sponsoring drum & bugle corps since corps were getting larger and more expensive to maintain and were disbanding at a quick rate. The Point Pleasant parade corps and color guard was led by Kenneth VanWuyckhyuse, who was their Drum Major and Corps Director. At a weekly rehearsal Mr.VanWuyckhyuse announced that the Fire Department was no longer financially capable of sponsoring the corps and that they were considering folding. William A. McGrath Sr. had just brought his three oldest children to join the Point Pleasant corps from another unit across town, known as the Chili Crimson Cadets who had just experienced a similar fate. Rather than see the Point Pleasant corps fold, Mr. Van Wuyckhyuse asked Mr. McGrath, who had earlier drum corps experience, to manage the corps. Mr. McGrath had been the Drum Major and Acting Commander of the 344th Cadet-Training Squadron Army Air Corps Drum & Bugle Corps of Oklahoma City in 1944 and later Director of the Barnard Fire Department Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps of Greece (Rochester) New York from 1949 to 1961. Mr. McGrath reorganized the unit as an independent group, remaining with the Point Pleasant Fire Department as a parade corps, also continuing on as a field competition corps. The name was changed to the Point Pleasant Cadets. The corps went on to become the Monroe County and Western New York Parade Champions from 1959 to 1961. The Point Pleasant Cadets grew in size and scope and Mr. McGrath felt that the name of the unit needed to be changed to reflect competition status. He held a staff meeting to get some ideas as to what to name the corps. Several good ideas came up! The one that stuck was from his daughter Karen. Since the majority of the membership of the corps had two favorite corps, the Garfield Cadet and the St. Kevin’s Emerald Knights, it was her suggestion to take the first name of each corps and combine them into the Emerald Cadets. Mr. McGrath liked the idea, as it also fit in with his Army Air-Corps training days where the training unit that he was in was known as the “Air-Cadets”. The corps, still affiliated with the Point Pleasant Fire Department, officially became the Emerald Cadets of Point Pleasant Incorporated, better known as the Emerald Cadets. In 1961 Mr. McGrath along with his wife Irene, who worked in the capacity of publicity director, had aspirations of changing from a parade corps to a competitive field marching and maneuvering corps. Irene wrote a monthly article for the old Drum Corps World informing drum corps enthusiasts of the latest developments of the Emerald Cadets and what was happening in Western New York. From 1961 to 1965, the horn line was instructed by Armand Bruni (no relation to Vince) and Ed Cozzolino. The business manager was Phil Smith. The marching instructor was Fred O’Connor. The drum-line was instructed by Guy Iannello, Larry Saxman and John Russi. The quartermaster was Ray Cody Sr. The Drum Majors were Kenneth VanWuyckhyuse and Richard (Dick) Jarvis. Color Guard Captain was Carol Fox. The corps Chaplin was Ray Hafner and the corps mascot was Shirley McGrath. In order to maintain operations and meet the objective of being a field competition unit the corps maintained its parade schedule, operated a bingo game and held an annual indoor winter standstill competition known as “Sound Off”. The idea for the name “Sound Off” came from Mr. McGrath’s Army days in which a “Sound Off” segment is contained in a “Pass In Review” ceremony. The Emerald Cadets sponsored the “Sound Off” shows from 1960 to 1969, making it the main fund-raiser for the corps. These “Sound Off” shows were well-known in drum corps circles as being unique and innovative. The main idea behind the show was to perform an outdoor show scaled down for an inside arena making the corps ready for summer competition. Each unit was informed ahead of time of the restricted floor space available and that they were required to make a marching entry then perform the rest of their field music in a standstill format then make a marching exit. Two separate prizes were awarded, one for the marching performance and one for the music standstill. The itinerary was usually a junior-based competition with a senior exhibition featuring corps from all over the U.S. and Canada. Better known guests of “Sound Off” were the Garfield Cadets, Boston Crusaders, Blue Rock, St.Mary’s Cardinals, Toronto Optimists, De Lasalle, Phantom Regiment, Selden Cadets, Marion Cadets, Hawthorne Caballeros, Skyliners, Crusaders, Reilly Raiders. Up and coming corps were encouraged to participate to give them opportunity for more exposure on a large scale. We were particularly proud to have the Reilly Raiders in their debut performance back from their 1963 stand-down season. The show was always very well attended and something the fans looked forward to every year! The Emerald Cadets were members of two competitive circuits, the New York Canadian, and the Penn York. We were occasionally guests of the Hudson Berkshire circuit, and maintained an independent competitive status as well. The corps had the proud distinction of being the Penn York circuit champions from 1963 to 1967 and New York State American Legion Seventh District champions in 1966. They were also winners of the Marion Ohio “Cavalcade of Music” in 1963, placed third in 1964 and won again in 1967. The drum quartet and competition color guard were both well-known in competitive circles. The drum quartet won the New York Canadian Individual and Ensemble Competition in 1963 and 1964, as well as taking second in the VFW Nationals in Chicago in 1965. Bill Morrison won third place individual snare drum in the Archer Epler American Legion National Individual Competition in 1963, and Bill McGrath Jr. won the New York Canadian individual snare drum title in 1968 just five weeks before his age-out date. The color guard was the Canadian International Champions in 1962 and the Penn York Circuit champion color guard from 1963 to 1967. The competition guard was also members of the International Color Guard Circuit from 1965 to 1969 and placed fourth in the World Open Championships in Boston in 1968. This corps had the proud distinction of performing as the Emerald Statesmen in 1966 and 67 as a result of a merger between the Emerald Cadets of Irondequoit and the Irondequoit Statesmen. With the Emerald Cadets, having a drum-line and color guard of supreme excellence and the Statesmen, having a great horn line of superior skills, the benefits of merging were quite evident. The Corps was co-directed by Bill McGrath Sr. and Vincent A. Bruni. By this time the horn line was instructed by Truman W. Crawford and Ray Shahin. The drum-line by Doug Kleinhans and Bill McGrath Jr. The marching instructors were Bill McGrath Sr. and Vincent Bruni. The business managers were Irene McGrath, Joseph Guadagnino Sr. and Bob Davis and Harvey Martin. The Color Guard Captains were Sally Short in 1966, Janet Hafner in 1967. The Drum Majors were Steve Guadagnino, & Ron Bowks. The bingo chairman was Betty Short. The corps secretaries were Sandy Buck and Anne Spencer. The Irondequoit Statesmen who appeared in the finals in the World Open in 1965, placed 10th. The Emerald Statesmen placed 10th in the World Open in that same Boston Mass championship competition in 1966. At the end of the 67 season the corps went back to their original name of Emerald Cadets and continued competitive endeavors in 1968 placing second in the Penn-York Championships. New instructors that were added to the brass staff for 1968 were Alex Molinich and Jack Bullock. The Color Guard Captain was Mickey Short, the Drum Major was James Gleason and Color Guard Instructor was Karen McGrath. Thirty-Seven members of the Emerald Cadets / Emerald Statesmen served in the U.S. armed forces between 1965 and 1968. Six of these soldiers served in combat status. All came back except for William Seiler who died in service to our country in Vietnam. Mr. McGrath’s two sons were also military bound, William to the Marine Corps and later Thomas to the Air Force. At the end of the ‘68 season McGrath Sr. suspended operations of the corps and gave all of the legal documentation to his sons. When McGrath Jr. returned home from the Marine Corps he had the legal authority to re-start “The Emerald Cadets” but chose not to do so until an age-line could be established between Senior & Junior Corps. William Jr. appealed to many of the nations top Senior Corps leaders to establish a permanent age line between Senior and Junior Corps but his pleas were largely ignored. This common sense age-line proposal was never adopted by the Senior Corps community therefore he never restarted the corps! This corps was and is a tight knit unit with its membership holding occasional reunions, picnics as well as participating in weddings, baptisms, confirmations and other special events. This corps was like a family who stuck together through thick and thin and is still very much involved with each other to this day!