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1975 Oakland Crusaders


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Keep the memories flowing. When did they cease to exist? What happened. Where did the members mostly go. Etc. You guys were my favorite 70s corps next to Troopers. ( they were the reason I fell in love with drum corps, they performed in Dubuque and I had my mom buy their record, I wore it out. A few years later and we, Sky Ryders, were in a dogfight with them for 12-14 places, trading paint down the stretch, but they walked away from us in the end) We choked really bad in our final performance, as did the rain, and fell hard. Fighting for top 12 and ending at 17 hurt, but we earned it. Memories are all fresh as yeasterday.

1975 Oakland Crusaders. Where did the members come from?

Mostly De La Salle 'Oaklands' and Etobicoke Crusaders.

The area's now named Greater Toronto Area, GTA.

What's frustrating to me is that I can't find DVD

or an audio of De La Salle 'Oaklands' from

1974, the year their music was great!

if someone has a recording of 74 Del, could ya please PM me :-)

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Keep the memories flowing. When did they cease to exist? What happened. Where did the members mostly go.

Are you asking when did Oakland Crusaders cease to exist? John Swartz and others can probably give a more accurate account of this than I can, but 1980 was Oakland's last season competing in Open Class. The corps continued to compete in the '80s in other divisions. According to corpsreps.com, "After the 1985 season, the Oakland Crusaders merged with the Ambassadors of Aurora, Ontario, to form Out of the Blue (though still announced and recorded as the Oakland Crusaders). That corps was active through at least 1995, a year in which they finished sixth in DCI Division II Prelims."

Why did this happen? Same reason a lot of other corps folded, but Canadian corps hit especially hard with the economic recession, inflation, escalating gas prices, etc., that hit American corps. Not to mention how far they had to travel, and how the exchange rate meant that they spent even more on many of the same items than corps in the U.S. The declining local corps base and so many other things created a real uphill battle for Oakland and countless other Canadian corps, and they were just never able to overcome that.

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1975 Oakland Crusaders. Where did the members come from?

Mostly De La Salle 'Oaklands' and Etobicoke Crusaders.

The area's now named Greater Toronto Area, GTA.

What's frustrating to me is that I can't find DVD

or an audio of De La Salle 'Oaklands' from

1974, the year their music was great!

if someone has a recording of 74 Del, could ya please PM me :-)

Its on its way! :tongue:

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  • 4 weeks later...
Its on its way! :tongue:

Thanks so much. I've listened a few times over the last few weeks.

It was as if I was at Del rehearsals and contests they attended.

This was a polished recording, maybe later in the season.

I remember all selections clearly except the last one.

It had a bit of Dixieland, big band and jazz, cool.

I know there's no visual tape of 1974 but

I'm pretty sure they did the big X form.

And the drum line was hot, ya...

...a wonderful blast from the past for me. Thanks again :-)

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  • 1 month later...
Thanks so much. I've listened a few times over the last few weeks.

It was as if I was at Del rehearsals and contests they attended.

This was a polished recording, maybe later in the season.

I remember all selections clearly except the last one.

It had a bit of Dixieland, big band and jazz, cool.

I know there's no visual tape of 1974 but

I'm pretty sure they did the big X form.

And the drum line was hot, ya...

...a wonderful blast from the past for me. Thanks again :-)

"The Sheik of Araby"

McD1975.jpg

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The corps continued to compete in the '80s in other divisions. According to corpsreps.com, "After the 1985 season, the Oakland Crusaders merged with the Ambassadors of Aurora, Ontario, to form Out of the Blue (though still announced and recorded as the Oakland Crusaders). That corps was active through at least 1995, a year in which they finished sixth in DCI Division II Prelims."

That 1995 corps became quite good as the result of a large influx of talent (both staff and membership), honed over the course of a full season. Unfortunately, the corps could not sustain that level of activity financially. Acknowledging that reality, in 1996 they partnered with another corps (Cardinals) that had the finances, but not the personnel, calling the one-year joint effort Northshore.

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