Jump to content

SCV 1989 over age members


Recommended Posts

Brad's account is very accurate - good memory!!! :laughing: We were definitely in Ohio when we were told. I recall Ralph coming to us and explaining what had happened. We all liked Mark and were sort of dumbfounded by the whole thing. The one thing that stands out vividly is that, while there was obvious disappointment, there were no blatantly hostile feelings expressed by the staff or my fellow drumline members. Like I said, everbody liked the guy! I remember hearing that it was a former girlfriend in the UK that tipped off DCI.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned..."

The french horn player was indeed named Kevin. The corps and staff were definitely irate at this point, being that the honorable thing to do would have been to fess up when his buddy was discovered a week earlier. We also had 1 or 2 more hornline members, of age, from the UK that year. I seem to remember a sop or french horn player named Lee.

So long ago, but also seems like yesterday

Yeah, especially in a drum line it would have to be impossible to suddenly dislike a guy to which you have become so bonded. I had heard at some point there was a "girlfriend" component to the whole thing. Imagine if that hadn't happened before finals and the 1989 championship would forever have that pesky asterisk next to it. Eventually the truth would have to come out. Still nobody out there that has spoken to them since?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I remember, two European members had forged birth certificates and joined the corps. Gail was completely fooled by these guys. He believed they were or legal age going by these false documents. DCI found the Vanguard completely faultless. The two members in question quietly sneaked out of the country and Vanguard went on to compete sans two less people.This unfortunate situation could have happened to anyone. Case closed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Spike!

Not sure what their ages were, but I seem to recall that they changed their birth year from 1966 to 1969. Of course, this could just be a guess on my part.

"Just flip that pesky 6 over into a 9. What harm could it possibly cause?" :rolleyes:

Edited by byline
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone here remember what happened in '75 with the Muchachos? I thought they were bumped out earlier but I guess they made it all the way to Philly prelims before their disqualification. Any details?

Edited by tommyfromhowardst
Link to comment
Share on other sites

SCV had two members who were kicked out at the end of the season. Both were overage guys from the UK who had aged out with the Dagenham Crusaders and came to SCV with false birth certificates and false passports.

Here's a scan of the Drum Corps World article dated August 31, 1989 which is titled "SCV not penalized for overage members".

scv-not-penalized-1.jpg

This article verifies that they did indeed have falsified passports and had allegedly committed an international felony by entering the U.S. with false documents. I suppose today they'd be in a lot more trouble. It also explains why SCV was not penalized by DCI.

There are some things that have happened in my life that I remember in great detail. The experience of being in SCV is definitely one of them.

[One final note. The above article also contains the sentence "According to a DCI spokesperson, rumers of a third member marching illegally are not true." …in case anyone is confused about the number of members who were kicked out of the Santa Clara Vanguard during the 1989 season for being over-age -

What an excellently written post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...
So did Phantom receive an honorary gold?

SCV had nothing to do with the over aged guys but, It was a rules infraction and, Phantom did come in second.

LOL as a member of the 89 Regiment I can tell you we didn't recieve anything, honorary or otherwise.

While most of us who marched Regiment that sumer felt we should have won anyway, the overage issue is not something that I (or anyone I know of) dwells on.

I was led to understand that our Director, David St. Angel, played a large part in assuring that SCV was not penalized in any way over the whole thing.

Crazy things happen and what happened to SCV that summer was beyond their control.

Besides, winning DCI if SCV was DQ'd would have felt hollow anyway.

We wanted to win, but we wanted to beat SCV fair n square.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was led to understand that our Director, David St. Angel, played a large part in assuring that SCV was not penalized in any way over the whole thing.

Undoubtedly, Mr. St. Angel understood that while no one was more competitive than Gail Royer, no one had more integrity either. He certainly wouldn't have risked the fate of 126 other members to allow 2 overage kids to march when there would have been NO problem filling those holes with people "of age" had he known.

Bravo to Dave St. Angel for wanting the best performance to win that night.... as to whether the right one did, that's one of those debates for the ages!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am old enough to confess as someone who marched during the formative years of DCI. This discussion reminds me of two memories of that time. There was a total paranoia of overage people in EVERY corps after 3-years of consecutive overage disqualifications.

1) Folklore at the time was that I think (3) UNDER-AGE people jumped to all thre corps between 75-77 and were members of Disqualified corps in (3) consecutive years. Can anyone confirm and pass along my condolences to them over the absurdity at the time?

2) I joined the 27th Lancers at the ripe old age of (14) before the 1973 season. (Do the math!) I aged-out SEVEN years later, something I proudly hold as a rare case in DCI. The Paranoia amongst corps in the 70's about the possibility of overage members was SO great, that I was targeted while leaving the field while "passing in review" on more than one occasion.

The Lancers had a policy of NO long hair and NO facial hair other than a mustache. It was always kept through the corps history as a "Clean Look". After already marching (4) years by the time I had graduated High School, I had apparantly become a familiar face to rival directors. By the time I was nineteen in 1977, I was instructed by George B. to carry my driver's license in my uniform pocket because I was being targeted by DCI Directors.

In my last 3-seasons of marching, I think I was pulled aside while leaving the field at least a half-dozen times to face George B, Don Pesceone, and some rival Director (that we were beating at the time) looking to confirm my age. (I'll pass on naming the corps who challenged my age due to respect, but given this thread's topic, Gail Royer was NEVER one of them.) Laughing now, (1) corps director challenged my age in Three consecutive years!

Twenty-five years later, George B. (re)introduced me to Don Pesceone as his Corps Manager during our incredible "Once More In '94" Alumni Corps year. Don looked at me and I said; "Remember me? I used to be the 19-year old OVERAGE Guy! We all laughed out loud as Don quielty remembered our personal history!

Overage is Cheating... whether cheating your competition... or in SCV's case, cheating your own organization!

I am truly sorry for wasting all of DCI's time back when I was a kid for having an "old man's face"

Now that I truly am an old man and no longer held to the 2-7 standards, I proudly wear a Salt & Pepper goatee!

The same thing happened to me in 1978-1980. I was constantly asked to give them my driver's license, show after show. I guess people could not believe that I was still of legal marching age since I had been in the corps for so long. The shame is that, under today's age rule, I would have been able to march a 17th year in 1981 since my birthday is in late July.

Edited by kansasDC
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As the OP asked about people hearing from them again I know Mark the snare drummer although have not spoken to him for a number of years. He went on to be a very sucessful percussion arranger and instructor here in the UK and was in charge of the 1990 and 91 DCUK champion drum line. He later went on to be a sucessful judge for DCUK (I think he was even the caption head of the percussion judges) and was involved with teaching and marching tenors for the Dagenham Crusaders Alumni Corps this year. I've never spoken to him about the SCV incident (I knew him afterwards and was quietly told not to mention it for obvious reasons) so can't comment on that. Not condoning his actions at all BTW just to make that clear! Kevin W as far as I know has not been involved in drum corps ever since but I don't know him at all so can't be certain. As far as I am aware I don't think there were any (major at least) repercusions this end for their actions.

Edited by Moz
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone here remember what happened in '75 with the Muchachos? I thought they were bumped out earlier but I guess they made it all the way to Philly prelims before their disqualification. Any details?

Sure you're not confusing them with Crossmen? IIRC, Muchachos (75) and Bridgemen (77) were hit during DCI Week and Crossmen while at a regular season show (76). Maybe another reasons why KansasDC had to fork over the ID after every show lot of corps were worried they would be next.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...