sam

RIP. Drum Corps is diminished by your passing. SAM

"Best": My vote for the World Open. In 1964 and 65 it was at "Home" Bridgeport Conn, the inaugural was in Jersey City NJ at the old Roosevelt Stadium. The Mass shows were well within travel distance from Conn. Have many of the albums, and marched in the 1963, 65 and 66 Finals, and the 1964 Prelims myself. SAM

I just stumbled upon this old topic. VERY interesting info about many DC personalities who served in the Bolling Corps, the USAFA Corps, or both. I was Non Commissioned Officer in Charge and Musical Supervisor of the Lowry AFB "Golden Eagles" corps, 1969-1973. We performed pretty well as much as you did at Lackland, with invites to off base jobs including field shows for the 1971 and 1972 Drums Along the Rockies shows in Colorado and Wyoming. TSgt Keith Markey and MSgt Greg Lykens provided some charts for us as well as Dick Burns (Blessed Sacrament) and Fred Cartwright (Conn Hurricanes and Stratford Yankees). Our membership was guys going through USAF Technical Schools at the base and they rotated out when they completed training. This led to a constant turnover and recruitment of replacements arriving from basic training. We had quite a few drum corps vets (Fortunatly) from units that included the Conn Hurricanes, Casper Troopers, Madison Scouts, Racine Kilties, Skokie Vanguards, Rochester Crusaders, Santa Clara Vanguard, Chicago Cavaliers, and St Josephs of Batavia to name a few. I managed to squeeze enough money out of the base for a set of Olds Ultratone horns and Ludwig marching drums. The base and the corps are long gone, with the installation closed years ago and their mission transfered to other training bases. I rotated back to my USAF job late in 1973, and retired from the USAF in 1989.

I actually have copies of REALLY OLD DCW's from back in the 1950's. Before it was DCW it was called MidWest Drum Corps News. I have a few of them also. Quite revealing in the names of the movers and shakers of that era (St Vincents Cadets, Blessed Sacrament, Holy Name Cadets, .St Joseps of Newark, Audubon Bon Bons, Most Precious Blood (Boston) Crusaders, , Chicago Cavaliers, Madison Scouts, Norwood Park Imperials, Archer Epler Musketeers, Reilly Raiders, Hawthorne Caballeros, Norman Prince, Skokie Indians, Stratford (Conn) Yankees among many more) and the instructors of that era including Truman Crawford (USAF Bolling AFB Corps) Jim Donnelly, Mickey Petrone, Sal Ferrara, Frank Bergdoll, , Earl Sturtz, Frank Kubinak, Hy Dreitzer, and Jim Costello. Great history lesson. SAM

Jim Jones Casper Troopers. Founded a junior corps in the "Middle of Nowhere" and groomrd them into a National Champion.

Connecticut: St Raphaels Buccaneers, Marionettes & Musketeers, Bridgeport PAL Cadets, St Anns Loyalaires, Conn Royal Lancers, Milfors Shoreliners, Trumbull Troubadors, NDettes All Girl, Colonades All Girl, New Britian Grenidiers, Oxford Explorers, Stateliners, Hot Shots, Bengal Lancers, Fireettes All Girl, Golden Crusaders, Conn Classics, New London Surfers, and on and on and on..........☹️ Seniors: Stratford Connecticut Yankees, Bridgeport Troopers, & Torrington Vagabonds. Alumni Corps: Park City Pride SAM

I remember Charlie from my time in the Yankee Rebels Alumni corps, I was privledged to have marched in the 1994 recreation of the 1969 "Requiem" show. RIP Charlie, you did a fantastic job. SAM

My best guess is that it would be a "Money Thing" Almost all of the pre DCI corps were "Mom & Pop" volenteer units. As time wore on the cash flow dried up due to the crushing costs of touring and just maintaing the corps (Uniforms, instruments, busses, equipment trucks, etc) and they closed their doors. Also a decline in competitve success may have had an effect as recruiting fell off and the lack of memberships drove the units out of business. SAM

Remember them from the old Greater New York Circuit 1960 and 1961. They had a very good corps. Our parish, St Raphaels of Bridgeport Conn started an ll girls unit in 1962. They were named the "Marionettes". SAM

The Boston Crusaders were one of the original DCI corps. They were struggling competitivly in 1972 and passed on the innugural championship. SAM

Frank: I believe that Carver's ace rifleman, Ray Dandridge went to the New York Skyliners after Carver folded. SAM

Hugo Evarelli also taught the Cambridge Caballeros. That had to be a heck of a commute from New Jersey to Massachusettes.... SAM

I liked all of them St Ritas Brassmen CMCC Warriors St Josephs of Batavia Racine Scouts SAM

Junior Corps: 1965 World Open Prelims, 1966 World Open Finals. St Raphaels Buccaneers. Senior Corps: 1991 DCA Finals. Hawthorne Caballeros. Alumni Corps: 1995 Caballeros Alumni Corps, first performance at 199. We have arrived. SAM

My junior corps survived until 1968 at which time it was disbanded due to massive ageouts and the Viet Nam draft calls. The parish did pretty much as described above, with a complete loss of all the trophies and flags that the corps had won. Almost all of the memorabilia was thrown away. The unit was reserected in 1970 as the "Golden Buccaneers" with no "Church" affiliation and was, in 1975 merged with the New Haven bases St Aedens Cadets another "Church" unit. The merger survived for one season as the "Emerald Buccaneers" SAM

Frank: Modesty must have prevented you from letting the board know you marched wit the St Catherines of Sienna Queensmen, along with some drum corps icons as John Sasso, Ted Sasso and Billy Hightower, SAM

Bridgeport Conn sported several "Church" corps. St Raphaels Parish fielded three units: The Buccaneers (Of which I was a member 59-67), the Musketeers (The "Cadets" corps for the Buccs,) and the all girls corps the Marionettes. St Ann's Parish fielded the Loyalaires. SAM

The recaps are up on Facebook. One of the Buccaneers Alums had the records in his long term storage. Great memories. SAM

Marched there in 1960. Horrible field. SAM

Horlick Field Racine WI. Marched there with St Raphaels Buccaneers in 1962. Al Karls did a drum corps book about that storied drum corps stadium. Hinchcliffe Stadium, Patterson NJ. Home to countless drum corps competitions in the 1960s. SAM