Bridgemen Placement - Early '70s

[sday88]

So I was poking around corpsreps and noticed something about the Bridgemen. They placed 9th in '73, 26th in '74, it shows no placement in '75, and 6th in '76. What the holy heck was going on? How do you go from 9th to 26th? Then what happened in '75? Then back to 6th? Just curious. I searched the forums and didn't find anything, sorry if this has been explained.

[Bob H]

So I was poking around corpsreps and noticed something about the Bridgemen. They placed 9th in '73, 26th in '74, it shows no placement in '75, and 6th in '76. What the holy heck was going on? How do you go from 9th to 26th? Then what happened in '75? Then back to 6th? Just curious. I searched the forums and didn't find anything, sorry if this has been explained.

Bridgemen History

1975

The exodus of talent continued into the next season. Changes in staff were continuous to the point that at the end of the season the corps was basically self-taught. The last place finish at the 1975 Dream Contest was the nadir of the corps existence. The Bridgemen elected not to travel to Philadelphia to compete at the DCI preliminaries. Summoning the very last vestiges of pride, the corps conducted a work weekend prior to the September NJ American Legion competition so as to break a score of 70. That was the only goal accomplished in 1975.

The winter of 1975-76 was one of intense soul searching for the organization. The demographics in the drum corps activity were changing. No longer was St. Andrew's Parish the lifeline for new members, although the Kidets were doing their best to promote their members into the ranks. Increasingly, the corps membership roster was becoming more reliant on new members from not only “out of town,” but out of state.

Our affiliation with St. Andrew Church was waning, as financial hard times across the country was taking its toll on arts programs in many forms. The Bridgemen had to scramble to find new avenues of fundraising.

Ed Holmes and Fr. Donovan, along with the support of the Bridgemen Booster organization, decided to roll the dice and give it one more go to secure a competitive corps for 1976. It was decided that the corps would advertise in local newspapers and drum corps publications and hold an Open House for prospective members. Knowing that publicity alone would not be enough to retain those willing enough to join the effort, a change in direction, show design, uniform and attitude was required.

Behind the scenes negotiations were under way to hire a Program Director that would not only change the direction and fortunes of the Bridgemen, but that of the activity itself.

[geritubo]

According to their homepage, bridgemen.com, 1975 must have been a tough season for them.

And 76 was the first year of those yellow coats.

1975

The exodus of talent continued into the next season. Changes in staff were continuous to the point that at the end of the season the corps was basically self-taught. The last place finish at the 1975 Dream Contest was the nadir of the corps existence. The Bridgemen elected not to travel to Philadelphia to compete at the DCI preliminaries. Summoning the very last vestiges of pride, the corps conducted a work weekend prior to the September NJ American Legion competition so as to break a score of 70. That was the only goal accomplished in 1975.

The winter of 1975-76 was one of intense soul searching for the organization. The demographics in the drum corps activity were changing. No longer was St. Andrew's Parish the lifeline for new members, although the Kidets were doing their best to promote their members into the ranks. Increasingly, the corps membership roster was becoming more reliant on new members from not only “out of town,” but out of state.

Our affiliation with St. Andrew Church was waning, as financial hard times across the country was taking its toll on arts programs in many forms. The Bridgemen had to scramble to find new avenues of fundraising.

Ed Holmes and Fr. Donovan, along with the support of the Bridgemen Booster organization, decided to roll the dice and give it one more go to secure a competitive corps for 1976. It was decided that the corps would advertise in local newspapers and drum corps publications and hold an Open House for prospective members. Knowing that publicity alone would not be enough to retain those willing enough to join the effort, a change in direction, show design, uniform and attitude was required.

Behind the scenes negotiations were under way to hire a Program Director that would not only change the direction and fortunes of the Bridgemen, but that of the activity itself.

[geritubo]

Oops, sorry.

[sday88]

Thanks, interesting information. Sorry if this topic has been beaten to death. I just couldn't find it anywhere.

[lp1955]

73 was the end of the ST. Andrews era a lot of kids aged out or went on with there lives after drum corps. 74 we brought a lot of kids up from the feeder corps and didn't start the season off that bad we actually were close to the Muchachos in the beginning of the year but as the season wore on the talent level of the corps wasn't there and we faded away. 75 we were just plane awful with DCI in our back yard only a hour away from Bayonne we didn't even bother to go we were that bad. 76 was my age out year and after 74 and 75 was very rewarding to me to see the corps back ready for prime time.