gmanbay41

I too wanted to add a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who voted for the 1980 Bridgemen!!!! 1980 was the best corps that the Bridgemen ever put out. That night in 1980 was an awesome night for me as a member of the corps and I have never forgotten the crowd reaction from the moment we came out of the tunnel!!!!!! It was a AMAZING!!!!! That year the top 4 was smoking!!!!! And anyone could have won that night. Look forward to seeing it on the BIG SCREEN!!!! Thanks Again!!!! Hype!!!! George Bayonne Bridgemen 1979-1983 Bayonne Kidets 1972-1978

Ed, We did a 9/11 gig with our mini-corps last year here in town. We did the gig with 15 members of the Bayonne High Marching band!!!! It went over really well( having the Bridgemen play with the kids!!!!) The kids had a blast and still haven't stop talking about it!!! It was a great moment for the corps and band. Hype!!!!! George

The show in Bayonne on June 10th, will be a exhibition show, hosted by The Bridgemen Alumni corps. Corps schedule to appear right now are, Emerald Grenaiders, Jersey Surf, Blessed Sac, Sky Alumni, Cabs Alumni, and the return for the first time to a football field in 19 years the BRIDGEMEN!!!!!!! We are still working on adding a few more corps to the lineup. More details will follow as they come. Thanks, Hype!!!! George

Okay to clear this up, it was a one tick show, with the other tenth coming form the PA sheet. I believe we had a 9.9 out 10. So thats how we got to the 19.8. Hype!!!! George

The plans for the 2006 Bridgemen are just about finalized!!!!!! Come be part of the exciting return of one of the greatest entertaining corps of all time!!!!! This Sunday the 2006 season gets under way with our first practice, which will be held at St.Andrews school ,in Bayonne New Jersey!!!! The practice will go from 12-6. Come play some of the classic songs that made the corps what it was....... ENTERTAINING!!!!!!!! Anyone needing info can e-mail me at Gmanbay41@aol.com. Hype!!!! George

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Of the 2006 season for the Bridgemen Alumni drum & bugle corps. It will all start with an open house which will be held on Saturday September 24th at 7:00 p.m. The open house will be held at the Senior Citizen building( old St.Andrews Chapel) on west 4th street(next to St.Andrews Church) in Bayonne. At the open house you will hear all of the great plans the corps has. From what it will cost to march, what we will be wearing, to what we playing and much more. The plans are to have 200 marching members & do 4 field perfomances. The corps is opened to anyone , no matter if you marched in the Bridgemen or not!!!! Our first practice will be October 9th at 12:00 p.m. The practice will be held at St.Andrews(which is located on 4th street and broadway in bayonne). Anyone wishing more info can visit our website at www.Bridgemen.info or you can e-mail at Gmanbay41@aol.com Come be part of something VERY SPECIAL as we recreate that o'l Bridgemen magic !!!!! Hype!!!!!! George

Jim, I'll second that!!! What they have accomplished since clifton is amazing and I wish them a GREAT PERFORMANCE this week as they do it 'One More Time'!!!!! George Lavelle Jr. Executive Director Bridgemen Alumni Corps Raiders Director 91'-97' & Co-Founder of the corps "WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS TO THE SHOW THAT NEVER ENDS" FROM BAYONNE N.J THEEEEEEEE BRIDGEMEN!!!!!!!!

The uniform we are looking at right now is a little longer then most uniform tops, it goes down past the knees and it will be something in Yellow & Black!!!!! ^0^ More info will follow!!! The corps is opened to anybody who wants to march, so you are welcomed to come on down!!!! And yes you can bring your own horn. We do have horns to hand out, but alot of members have their own. Yes we are playing on G bugles only!!!! Things are looking really good for us!!! We are expecting about 100 returning members from this years corps and hopefully we will get to 200!! We have a very good shot. Come on down to the open house and here all that we have planned for our return to the field!!! Hype!!! George

Thanks for asking, We are working on plans for the Bridgemen's 2006 return to the field as an exhibition Alumni corps!!! Right now the plan is to do 3-4 shows(including are own on June 10th in bayonne), & 4 parades. And yes we will be getting new uniforms for this year!!! ^0^ , our goal is to have 200 members. Our open house is planned for September 24th, 2006 at 7:00 p.m at the Bayonne Senior citizen building on 4th street, next to St.Andrews church, with our first practice set for October 9th, 2005 at 12:00 p.m. Practice will be at St.Andrews school on 4th street & broadway. Anyone wishing to signup or wants more info can visit our website at www.bridgemen.info Hype!!!!

Mike, In 1969 at the GSC championship, the Bridgemen had just won the show. At the buses the corps and their family members were around the corps moderator Fr.Donovan, who was speaking to the corps, when all of a sudden here comes St.Martin's. It seems they were marching around in parade formation until the Bridgemen got off the field. St.Martin's marched right at the Bridgemen and the fight was on. I was 5 and my mother grabbed me and we ran behind the baseball cage with the other family members of the corps and watched as fists, equipment and all were flying around. The cops were called and had to break it up . Many members of both corps went to the hospital. A real classic moment in Drum Corps

George you are correct, it was the Heart Fund show. It was at this show where on retreat things were out of control.The Bridgemen, L.I Kingsmen, & Crossmen members all were exchanging corps uniforms and all stood together. A bridgemen with a L.I. Kingsmen shako, and a crossmen cape on. The sponsor's of the show were not to happy!!! But hey what did they expect having the show after finals. p.s I do remember the corps from mass being there!!!

I have checked with fellow alumni who marched and I checked the video and they did announce the Bridgemen score. And you are correct, if the Bridgemen finished in the top 3 ,scores would not be announced. Could you imagine if they did finish in top 3 and DCI could not announce the scores of who won regardless who it was. George Lavelle 79-83' Bridgemen 2003- Board Of Director Bridgemen Organization

Dan, I believe they did announce a score and place. In finals it was in 4th place with a score of.... And Sue, I really do agree with you. Thanks for the conversation. It was nice, but I dont want it to get out of hand either and you know someone will come in here and take it to a new level. George

Sue, I have to disagree about Blue Devils had the total pakcage. There drumline was not very good that year. They were something like 2 -3 points behind Bridgemen & Spirit. I think they marched and played well but not to win that night. Not trying to start a big debate. That night in 1980 was the best performance the Bridgemen ever had. It should have won, because if you look at recap we were about 3 points behind BD in horns, and our hornline was very good that year, closer then the spread should have been(I am not saying BD should not have won horns ). The 80 hornline was better then 77(this according to people who marched in 77). 27th had a bad show that night. They peaked at DCI East the week before. They were the ones who should have won and were destined to win, but did not do a good enough performance. Spirit was great in prelims, had alot of emotions due to the Jim Ott death, (I give them ALOT of credit getting thru that. Glad I never had to do it.) But in finals they were not as great as that prelims peformance. We had beat them every show except prelims that year. If we had done a better job in prelims and didnt finish in 4th who knows, plus we did do someting wrong visual in finals. If you watch the exit, beginning of Civil war suite we make a circle, which we rotated, and if you look in the upper right it starts to come in more and wasnt round. Our marching wasnt as bad as you think that year. Side 2 M & M judge went and ticked the drumline 15 times that night because the horns were marching good. I think his name was Hank Grana. I didnt mean for this to go down this path and again I dont want to start trouble. 1980 finals to me was and became a 4 corps night where anyone corps could have won. I dont know of any other year that was true. On another note, we did have a few Oakland Crusaders come down and march in the corps during my years. Crazy bunch of people. Thanks, George Lavelle Kidets 72-78' Bridgemen 79-83'

QUOTE (gmanbay41 @ Nov 20 2003, 08:35 Am "DCI did not handle this right. It was brought to their attention and they let the corps continue on and once it still looked like the corps had a chance at winning is when they decided to do this. You have to remember that if the corps had won in 77 drum corps would have changed more then the powers to be wanted it. Bridgemen went against the old style and having it win would be the worst for the old establishment. " "From Byline "It's an intriguing theory . . . but I don't completely buy it. Here's my basic problem with the notion that Bridgemen were robbed simply because DCI was afraid they were going to win: Bridgemen had many wonderful things going for them . . . fantastic horn line, fantastic drum line, fantastic GE. (And the irreverent humor--the ability to not take themselves so seriously, and project that convincingly to the audience--was priceless.) But, IMO, M&M execution was a glaring deficiency. Not just inadequate, but noticeably inferior to nearly every other corps in the Top 12. It wasn't just the sloppiness in marching, but the relative simplicity of Bridgemen's drill design that bothered me. With an easier drill, Bridgemen should've been able to compensate for that and march more cleanly, but they didn't. This was true not only for '77, but every other year I've watched Bridgemen. As much as I love Bridgemen, I could never believe that a corps who didn't execute one of the fundamental elements of drum and bugle corps--marching--was ever going to win the DCI title. Not politically, but from a scoring standpoint. Every other corps would have to be so deficient in at least one of the other captions to score under Bridgemen, thus making up the difference in Bridgemen's low marching score. Maybe it was possible, but I just don't see it. Please don't misunderstand me. I adore Bridgemen. And I was one of those people who bristled back then whenever I heard the comment, "They aren't drum corps." I was one of their staunchest defenders . . . and still am. But, given their weakness in M&M, the thought of them winning the DCI title seems inconceivable to me. Now, if they had kept all their other qualities and brought their drill design and marching execution up to par with that of the other top corps . . . wow! They would have been unstoppable. And if that had been the case in '77, then I think you would have a good argument. " -------------------- Sue, I understand you are not slamming the corps. I agree with you about the weakness being M & M. However I dont think it was that far off from BD, PR, & Vanguard. The Bridgemen's thought process was be very strong in all other captions, which they were and get by with okay marching. It was working as evident to beating PR in fort collins(last show before DCI) except for the penalty that made PR win the show. The dci old establishment could not handle it if this monster they hated won. By getting DQ it should have and could have killed the corps. Which of course it did not. The corps did go on and have many more good years including another shot at the DCI title in 1980, but the corps choked in prelims and had no chance in finals, which was a show that many people think was the best show the Bridgemen ever did. Good enough to win , but in the position the corps put itself in had no chance. Imagine if that happen. It would/could have changed drum corps on the east coast. But we will never know. Thanks, George Lavelle Bayonne Kidets 72-78' Bridgemen 79-83'

"Interesting discrepancy, then, between what you've posted and what's on the "A Bit of Bridgemen History" site. (Just about the line-up. Everything else seems to match up.)" There are a few discrepancies with "A bit of Bridgemen History" that I know of. But for the most part its right on. As for my source, I talked to one of the people in question from 1977 just last week about it. She told me the info that I posted. I had asked her because of the discrepancies on here between the "bit of Bridgemen History " and what people where saying. I just wanted to clear it up. George Lavelle Bayonne Kidets 72-78' Bridgemen 79-83'

Okay, the real story is. The 2 people in question did not march past their 22nd birthday. At the DCI midwest show they were pulled before the show. The corps went out with 2 blanks that night. The corps did not even know that they weren't marching. They weren't going to let these 2 people march past & including their birthday's. They had replacements for these 2 people with them on tour ready to jump in. There was no lineup like muchachos. When the corps got to Denver is when they were told they weren't going to let them perform because those 2 people marched during the season. DCI did not handle this right. It was brought to their attention and they let the corps continue on and once it still looked like the corps had a chance at winning is when they decided to do this. You have to remember that if the corps had won in 77 drum corps would have changed more then the powers to be wanted it. Bridgemen went against the old style and having it win would be the worst for the old establishment. Another tid bit about DCI, the night of finals they made the corps park in a lot by themselves. Away from the other DCI corps, because they weren't a DCI corps now because of being disqualified.That is how it was put to the corps George Lavelle Bayonne Kidets 72-78 Bridgemen 79-83

There was a 1974 Bridgemen. They finished in 26th place at DCI's that year. Most of the members from 73 left and the corps had alot of kids from the feeder corps the Kidets. In 1975 the corps hit bottom. They did not even go to dci's and at the dream that year they lost to the St.Ignatius all -girl corps(this was unheard of back in the day). After this bad year, the admin brought in Bobby Hoffman and the rest as they say is History!!!! As for 1977. The corps IS NOT RECOGNIZED by DCI in the record books. In the 1978 DCI yearbook it has placements 1-13 except 3rd place(which the Bridgemen placed). there is an * at the bottom of the scores that states due to the disqualfication of the Bridgemen, NO 3rd PLACE WAS AWARDED. The same goes for finals score with NO 4th PLACE awarded. The corps was punished Financial the next year (1978). It did not receive any prize money that year. It is funny how now DCI choses to recognize the Bridgemen on their dvd collection and make money on a corps they pretended didnt exist in 1977. George Lavelle Bayonne Kidets 1972-1978 Bridgemen 1979-1983

Jim Brady from the Bridgemen 1977-1978. He played Land of Make Believe, Spanish Dreams, & Harlem Nocturne solo's . The guy was unbelievable!!!! He marched with the Saints from edison n.j before coming to the Bridgemen. George Lavelle Bridgemen 79-83

Hey Tim, I see you,ve found a new career!!! Great review!!! No more marching for you??? George