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First Female Drum Majors in Finals?


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I believe the corps in yellow is the Opti Knights from Guelph. Seneca had a large white cumberbund and also I don't see Seneca's drum majors who wore black. They would have been a guy and girl.

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I believe the corps in yellow is the Opti Knights from Guelph. Seneca had a large white cumberbund and also I don't see Seneca's drum majors who wore black. They would have been a guy and girl.

Wendy, I've also been trying to figure out the corps in yellow for days and days. It might be the 1975 Peterborough Krescendos. Someone asked who won best DM 75 Nationals. I can't remember, do you? I found another DM photo of Les Marionnettes de Montmagny accepting a trophy... um... scroll down, midway http://forumadcq.xooit.com/t4514-Dans-ce-temps-la.htm

I started as a guard tech in 1971 and was a member of Ventures visual staff September 1974 - April 1975. I wasn't going to march summer of 75. Apparently I did. I was a member of Dutch Boy Cadets visual staff September 1975 - September 1976. I wasn't going to march summer of 76 but was asked to be a flag spare for Oakland Crusaders. Touring with 2 corps was tough.

1976 Nationals retreat is below. Joel and Mark are on the far right. The K-W Flying Dutchmen DMs are Cathy and Joan; Rick and Dean of Dutch Boy Cadets are wearing pants, as did the entire corps in 76 except the guard. Russ and I were part of their visual staff. I think pants was Russ's idea and I agreed with him. I'm not sure but that might be me, 2nd Oakland guard from the left, congratulating

the kids I taught :smile:

1976-nationals.jpg

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The dis-colorization of the picture does not eliminate the white Cumberbund on those uniforms. I'm sure you are right. Besides the SenecaOptimists and later the Avant Garde, did anyone else march with that Bright Yellow?

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The dis-colorization of the picture does not eliminate the white Cumberbund on those uniforms. I'm sure you are right. Besides the SenecaOptimists and later the Avant Garde, did anyone else march with that Bright Yellow?

The tunics that Avant Garde wore in the '80s were the old Seneca Optimists tunics, I do believe. There was another Toronto based Corps that wore yellow, that being the Cardinals Of Precious Blood. They were not cadet style though and they didn't wear shakos.

BTW, I'd bet my bottom dollar that the winning DM that night was Joel Allayne (sp).

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The dis-colorization of the picture does not eliminate the white Cumberbund on those uniforms. I'm sure you are right. Besides the SenecaOptimists and later the Avant Garde, did anyone else march with that Bright Yellow?

Pride.

Slide26.jpg

Not quite so bright though, I guess. Not compared to AG:

Untitled-Scanned-76.jpg

Edited by tommytimp
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I found another DM photo of Les Marionnettes de Montmagny accepting a trophy

And the trophy is taller than the acceptee !!!

But Linda is jealous . . . . . cuz she never got to wear those short majorette boots with big tassels.

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The tunics that Avant Garde wore in the '80s were the old Seneca Optimists tunics, I do believe. There was another Toronto based Corps that wore yellow, that being the Cardinals Of Precious Blood. They were not cadet style though and they didn't wear shakos.

BTW, I'd bet my bottom dollar that the winning DM that night was Joel Allayne (sp).

Hi Opti-Burr. I missed meeting you by one year. I'm not sure if ODCA had the budget for alot of trophies but Joel certainly deserved a DM trophy 1976, his age out year and the year Oakland Crusaders won Nationals. Did you know there's at least 3 female former DMs on this thread (including Kelly who marched with Seneca Optimists guard in 1977)?. Could be a first for DCP.

According to my 1976 journal, I moved back to Toronto from Kitchener-Waterloo early May. On May 10 1976, I wrote "It was nice to see drum corps friends the other day at Seneca Optimists practise...Peter Byrne, the horn instructor, asked if I wanted to be drum major. I declined." The next entry jumps to August 6 1976 5:30 pm "I just got back by bus to Kitchener from Milwaukee as I was touring with Oakland Crusaders and will now tour with Dutch Boy Cadets..." No entries until September 23. I must have met up with Oakland sometime before 1976 DCI finals in Philadelphia. According to the September 4, 1976 Nationals program, my day in Kitchener-Waterloo may have been as below:

8:00 a.m. warm up Dutch Boy Cadets guard 9:00 a.m. Dutch Boy Cadets perform in prelims 11:44 a.m. Oakland Crusaders in prelims. I may have marched flag 2:10 p.m. Class C competition starts 4:10 p.m. Class C competition ends - 9 corps competed in Class C Al Tierney needs more T&P judges. I may have judged Class C. Here's me

76Linda5percent.jpg

8:00 p.m. Dutch Boy Cadets perform in finals (did I warm up the guard?) 10:30 p.m. Oakland Crusaders final, then retreat, Oakland won and I aged out. I may have been the first female to instruct, march and judge all in one day. On September 23, 1976 I took a one-way train ride west to look for work ;-)

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And the trophy is taller than the acceptee !!!

But Linda is jealous . . . . . cuz she never got to wear those short majorette boots with big tassels.

Alberta All Girls wore short majorette boots with big orange tassels in 1970-1971. I missed wearing them by 6 years. The ladies and I talked in Indy 2010. Debbie G. snare drummer remembers wearing them and loved them. Yes, I'm jealous :-)

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My eyes are drawn to the guy in leiderhosen....make it stop!

If it makes your day . . . . . there are double secret clips on YouTube of me wearing lederhosen and playing tuba.

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Since this is an historical drum corps thread I think it should be remembered that BITD, female drum majors were quite a common sight at Nationals finals for decades before the coming of DCI. St Vincents Cadets of Bayonne N J always had a female DM, and they won a bag load of championships. Aububon Girls were in the finals of several National Finals, and they were all girls. Carol Smith was an excellent DM.They never won, although in 1957 at Atlantic City, with all the big guns present, they came in a very close second, and were royally shafted by the American Legion.

My own corps, the Braintree Warriors finished 5th at the VFW in Boston in 1955 with the very capable Evelyn Kimball conducting. Blue Rock always had girls out front.

I don't know why everybody thinks this is a big deal. Drum corps always gave girls leadership opportunities.

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