1968 VFW Prelims to Finals

[Geneva]

Paul, thanks for the great inside look at the 1974 Cavaliers. Like fellow lead soprano, Donny, I was not pleased to find myself looking up at you guys at DCI after having bested you the rest of the season. However, please accept my belated congratulations. I remember how we marched off past you after some show earlier in the season and I caught an earful of a disspirited Cavalier staffer berating the assembled corps to the effect that if the corps could not do better in competition, then there was too much Cavalier pride to continue. I wonder if that was Frog speaking?

Competition seemed much more intense back then. I wonder if todays DCI members feel it in the same way that we did back then? I wish that I had the opportunity to sit in the stands and witness the prelims that year. I know that like the Cavies we played our best show in prelims and just could not reach the same level that evening. I recently bought the entire finals audio recording on the Fan Network and have been impressed at how strong all the top 12 were. It is too bad that there is no video existing of most of the finalists. In addition to Cavies, we were passed by DeLasalle and some corps from California called the Blue Devils (who we beat in prelims). We did manage to beat Blue Stars and Phantom who had been beating us most of the summer. If you are interested in reading that summer's experience from my perspective, go to http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=97bd275f-87e1-40c1-9d9d-6a70d69dbf5a

Golden memories of a great time.

[Paul Milano]

Paul, thanks for the great inside look at the 1974 Cavaliers. Like fellow lead soprano, Donny, I was not pleased to find myself looking up at you guys at DCI after having bested you the rest of the season. However, please accept my belated congratulations. I remember how we marched off past you after some show earlier in the season and I caught an earful of a disspirited Cavalier staffer berating the assembled corps to the effect that if the corps could not do better in competition, then there was too much Cavalier pride to continue. I wonder if that was Frog speaking?

Competition seemed much more intense back then. I wonder if todays DCI members feel it in the same way that we did back then? I wish that I had the opportunity to sit in the stands and witness the prelims that year. I know that like the Cavies we played our best show in prelims and just could not reach the same level that evening. I recently bought the entire finals audio recording on the Fan Network and have been impressed at how strong all the top 12 were. It is too bad that there is no video existing of most of the finalists. In addition to Cavies, we were passed by DeLasalle and some corps from California called the Blue Devils (who we beat in prelims). We did manage to beat Blue Stars and Phantom who had been beating us most of the summer. If you are interested in reading that summer's experience from my perspective, go to http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=97bd275f-87e1-40c1-9d9d-6a70d69dbf5a

Golden memories of a great time.

I enjoyed your recollections too, as I enjoyed your corps that year. Great energy. True "east coast" swagger.

I'm sitting here listening to the recording of our 1974 DCI prelims performance that was recently unearthed. What memories!!

[PJS53]

Been a long time since I've posted on this site. I had the pleasure of marching in the drumline with Mr. Milano in 1973-74 and can assure anyone that his recounting of the story of Cavaliers 1974 is 110% accurate. There are times I remember Frogs speech in that gym like it was yesterday. He put the fire in us and the effect was synergistic. My memory of the immediate response to our prelims performance was looking at my fellow Cavaliers and thinking "did we just nail it like I think we did?". Since then I've had the pleasure of speaking to many members of the Cavalier corps over the years and I'm constantly surprised that the 1974 corps is held in such high regard to this day. I feel privelidged to have marched that year with a group of guys with tremendous heart.

[67madplaid71]

I will always remember the tiny error that would have changed the history of the Royal Airs. Going toward the finish line the American flag was behind the corps. A flag penalty was inevitable, however the drum major gave the corps a "mark time march!" to avoid the penalty, a command only heard be those in the middle if the line. The line bowed as we discovered the command; heads turned and some music stopped. The command of "Forward march!" was then given by the drum major and again the same unfortunate results; bowed line, heads turning, some music interrupted. Unfortunately all of this was for nothing as the American flag was still behind the corps as we approached and crossed the finish line. Results were: unit penalties in M & M for the first command. Unit penalty in Horns; unit penalty for the second command in M & M and in horns and we received the flag penalty anyway. Without the results of these penalties the RA would have won Nationals again. Additionally this was the last season for us. I often wonder what would have become of the Royal Airs if we had not had to worry about the placement of the American flag. Would the RA have continued..and for how long?

Unforunately your memory is bad as this didn't happen. If this was the case you'd think that by nationals you guys would have known your drill! The reality is that the Kilties won 1968 VFW Nationals out right. Since then you Royal Air people have dreamed up all kinds of excuses and penalties. First it was said that it was announced during the score announcements at nationals that the Royal Airs would have won but for a two point penalty (It was a one point penalty and without it you would have finished in second place). Now we have the score announcements on tape (uncut by the way) and that announcement never took place. Now, 32 years later we are introduced to this bs. Come on guys, your attempt at revising history isn't working. There are no contemporaneous reports or articles in any publication anywhere which in any way substanciates anything you or any of the other Royal Air Alumni have said. I'll say it again no matter how distastful it is for you, the Kilties won 1968 VFW Nationals out right; without your penalty the Royal Airs would have only taken second place. If by chance the Royal Airs fell apart during the closing portion (exit number) of your drill then by all means you didn't deserve to win nationals. But the Royal Airs didn't lose because of a penalty.

[Fran Haring]

But the Royal Airs didn't lose because of a penalty.

Maybe because their soloist was only average?

[Donny Drum Corps]

See I knew this thread would get some action soon...

DA

[toneslinky]

Unforunately your memory is bad as this didn't happen. If this was the case you'd think that by nationals you guys would have known your drill! The reality is that the Kilties won 1968 VFW Nationals out right. Since then you Royal Air people have dreamed up all kinds of excuses and penalties. First it was said that it was announced during the score announcements at nationals that the Royal Airs would have won but for a two point penalty (It was a one point penalty and without it you would have finished in second place). Now we have the score announcements on tape (uncut by the way) and that announcement never took place. Now, 32 years later we are introduced to this bs. Come on guys, your attempt at revising history isn't working. There are no contemporaneous reports or articles in any publication anywhere which in any way substanciates anything you or any of the other Royal Air Alumni have said. I'll say it again no matter how distastful it is for you, the Kilties won 1968 VFW Nationals out right; without your penalty the Royal Airs would have only taken second place. If by chance the Royal Airs fell apart during the closing portion (exit number) of your drill then by all means you didn't deserve to win nationals. But the Royal Airs didn't lose because of a penalty.

No sorry..the arena dude is right. I saw it at a madison scout open house a few years ago. There was a display of many note books spread across three or four tables. these books had copies of all of the score sheets since I think the 50's. I looked at 68 and saw the royal aires flag penilty listed. without that penilty they would have won. If the madison scouts still have their open house go there and check it out.

[Cavie74]

I saw the Cavies in the Midwest that summer.... at the Key to the Sea show, I believe it was..... and I was really struck by how young that corps was that summer.... and how well they could perform, even with all the new blood in the ranks. I mean, the local-circuit "neighborhood" NJ junior corps I was with had more older members than did the Cavies, or at least it sure seemed that way.

We could see then that the Cavies' 1974 show had "finalist corps" written all over it. Just a matter of you guys getting it together, which you did!

I was a 14-year-old cymbal player that year and its true that we were pretty young. My drivers license permit the following year listed me at 5'5" and 125 lbs. But we looked even younger because we had a grooming code that consisted of being clean shaven and your hair could not touch your ears or your collar. Back in 1974 that meant we looked like a bunch of clean-cut choir boys compared to the style of the times.

I too remember the "128 Swingin' Dicks" speech. I was too young to understand the dire straights we were in. I just remember completing the prelims performance and thought it went really well and that the Ithaca crowd was really enthusiastic. Like Paul related earlier, there was no high-fiving and back slapping. It was just a calm confidence as we stood and waited to find out if we would make finals.

Conversations in later years about that prelim performance from people that witnessed it (that performance)was that it was exceptional. It was especially obvious to the people I spoke to because we went on so early in the day and in comparison to corps that performed near our time slot, we clearly outscored them.

[uncle z]

I'm sitting here listening to the recording of our 1974 DCI prelims performance that was recently unearthed. What memories!!

<==waits to hear the story of the speech from Kampschroer.

[Paul Milano]

<==waits to hear the story of the speech from Kampschroer.

Told this story before, but maybe it will be "new" to some here. It is the precursor of the 1974 season, since this episode took place in 1973. Enjoy . . .

=====================================================================================================

My corps, the Cavaliers, was on a clear downhill slide by the start of the 1973 season. The "Clown Show" of 1971, followed by the "throwback era show" of 1972, put in place a backward momentum that was beyond the ability of the marching members to stop at that time. During the winter preceding the 1973 summer, many of our vets left the corps. Our instructional staff, absolutely rock solid and consistent for a generation, were virtually all gone. An odd assortment of well-intentioned, by marginally talented instructors were now paired with the same quality management and members. It wasn't pretty.

We began the 1973 season as embarrassed as I've ever been in my life - up to that point. Lacking the music for our concert number (the new arranger, who was more interested in another corps, got it to us months late), we still chose to compete in our traditional season opener, the Kenosha, WI show. Our "solution" for not having a concert piece was to play an old Cavalier standard, "Somewhere" from West Side Story - but to play it reeaalll slow (without drums or guard work), in order to fill in the proper time requirements. I remember standing there during that concert tune, head hanging low, hearing the crowd laughing, and the catcalls from other corps standing on the sidelines. Our opening score, unlike the high 60's and low 70's we usually got at Kenosha, was a 57. How sad . . .

We proceeded to deteriorate throughout the next couple weeks. We held out a small glimmer of hope, however, that by the time we got to the Wheeling, IL show (our "home" show, in many respects, and the "birthplace of DCI - since it was the first Combine show two years earlier), that we would have regrouped and started to make our move. It was going to be one of the best chances we would have to make a "come back." It would be our crowd, "our" field. We would also see Santa Clara at that show, and then we'd know how we really measured up to the "big boys." We started pointing to that day as THE day.

The day finally arrived. We were still going nowhere competitively, but our spirits were starting to come around. A few vets were returning to the corps, we were "tweaking" the show, and the judges were telling us to "hang in there." I never thought I'd see the day, but folks actually had some sympathy for us. It was both gratifying and mortifying!

Our rehearsals that day were great. We knew tonight would be the night - the "return" would begin for the Green Machine. We put on our best performance of the year. Then we sat back and watched some of the "big boys" perform. The dark clouds quickly began to return. My god - we didn't even seem to be in the same league . . .

As we stood on the field for the finale (all the corps assembled in block formation, just like on Finals night at today's DCI), we were worried that our best effort might not have been enough to catapult us to within range of Santa Clara, Blue Stars, and the like. Oh well, at least we'd finally put some distance between us and some of the "also rans" we had been hanging with so far. But then it hit - our score and placement.

I remember feeling as if I had just learned that my girlfriend had been cheating on me, or that I had gotten an "F" on an important final exam, or that my grandmother had been taken to the hospital. We were announced in sixth place, BEHIND at least one corps (name withheld so as not to insult anyone thirty years later!) - a small corps that I had vaguely even heard of.

All of the character-building lessons learned in my wonderful Cavaliers began to fade from my mind. We started looking at each other in disbelief, but it quickly turned to anger - no rage! We couldn't have been that bad - could we? NO, the judges are getting back at us for all the years they couldn't beat us as marching members in their "B" corps!! That must be the reason (though that was clearly NOT the truth).

By the time the scores were finished being announced for the winner, Santa Clara, most of our members had broken ranks and gathered in a large huddle up by our America Flag squad. The corps on either side of us were quickly being ushered off the field by their managers. The crowd was buzzing. We had to DO something. We couldn't just let this happen. So we began. Almost the entire corps starting walking toward the stands, toward the press box at the top where the judges critique was already beginning. We were going to have our say - and then some.

Our instructors and management were angrily trying to push us off to the side. The crowd was beginning to panic a bit, as they saw us moving as a mob toward the judges’ box beyond them. It all really started to become a blur for me. I don't know which members of the corps were the first to gather their senses and start to move off the field and away from the stands - but I know it wasn't me. Before long, however, we were all wandering, in no particular military/drum corps order, toward the gym where we were bunked down.

I distinctly remember our "mob" reaching the gym, which we shared that day with Santa Clara and Blue Stars, and seeing their members scattering and nearly tripping over themselves as they hurriedly packed up to go. They were scheduled to spend the night there, but obviously had made a quick decision to find other quarters. But in an instant a quiet applause rose through our mottled ranks as we told Santa Clara, the show's winner, that this "fight" was not with them. A few of them came over, we shook hands, and they were on their busses and on their way, with the Blue Stars fast behind them, leaving us to sit in silence, in a large circle, hushed curses mixed with quiet tears.

Our staff and management began the usual pep talk. WE ARE THE CAVALIERS, etc. The words seemed hollow. I felt like we were done. All sense of fight in me, and my fellow marching mates, was gone. Then he was there, standing in the middle of our circle, wearing his Blue Stars jacket.

I had a faint recollection that he was the "boss" of the Blue Stars. He hadn't particularly registered in my psyche like Jim Jones of the Troopers, Gail Royer of the Santa Clara Vanguard, or Bill Howard of the Madison Scouts. Still, I knew he was "important." He asked if he could speak to us, not presuming that we'd want to hear from him - a classy way to begin, I thought. He talked about watching the corps as a young marching member, about how he dreamed of one day starting another drum corps modeled in our image. How he spent the early years of the Blue Stars having his kids watch us line up to go on the field, watch us clean up a gym at the end of a day, watch us compete, watch us win, and watch us lose - all with class. His said that though his corps was now a top competitor, that they still were a young organization. He said they still "needed" us to be a leader, since they still weren't ready for that. He reminded us of the guys who were still "out their" dreaming of being Cavaliers. We needed to continue for them. Continue for the guys who came before us. Continue for each other.

Those were words eerily familiar to those told to us by our own drum majors, and corps veterans, several years earlier when we were still "kings" of the activity. How could I have forgotten them? How could someone from outside the organization be the one to make us remember? He left us with parting words of encouragement. He said we would not be competitive this year. He said we might not make Finals at DCI this year. He said we would probably continue to get beat by "little" corps this year. But he said we had a far greater goal. We had to be the men who refused to give up. In this, the 25th Anniversary year of the Cavaliers, we had to be the ones that future Cavaliers would talk about - maybe even sing about (most historic events of the Cavaliers are celebrated in song). WE ARE THE CAVALIERS, he shouted, just like in our corps song. And he was right.

Dave Kampschroer saved the Cavaliers that night, in my humble opinion. I think we owe him a corps jacket . . .

As far as the impact of Dave's comments on the rest of the year, I know that his words stuck with me, and many of the rest of us, for the remainder of the summer. We went on to the western U.S. shortly after the Wheeling show. When we got to Denver, we got killed in a couple more shows. The staff asked the members if we were willing to gamble by rewriting a large section of the show, or should we just finish out the season as is? They said we probably wouldn't make Finals either way.

The corps told the staff to "go for it" since we wanted to prove to everyone that we weren't quitters (Dave's words maybe ringing in our ears again?). Thus began another great story . . .

Our opener, "To Life," from Fiddler on the roof, was originally in 3/4. In an effort to spice it up, the horns parts were changed to 4/4. Easy enough for them, but for the drums it meant our parts were now 33% FASTER. Could not be done. So, while the horns learned four minutes of new drill (opener and new drum solo), and got used to the faster tempo (same notes though), the drums learned four minutes of new drill (not much trouble for drummers back then!), but also four minutes of new music. And we did it in ONE DAY!!

We pulled out of a show, and stayed another day in Denver. We began rehearsal that morning (after the staff stayed up all night long writing new drill and new drum music) at around 6:00 a.m. We had 30 minutes off for lunch. We skipped dinner. When it became too dark to see on the practice field, the staff found a parking lot behind a warehouse with large flood lights on. We finished learning the drill there. The parking lot was made up of large rocks (the size of golf balls), not pavement. We were already exhausted and the rocks under our feet were just about the last straw. We literally started "anonymously" tossing some of them at Sal Ferrera trying to get rehearsal to stop. We were really, really dead!

Finally, he pulled the plug on rehearsal at 1:00 a.m. (mainly because the police came amid noise ordinance complaints). We had gone 19 hours straight, with only a 30 minute lunch break. We got a few hours sleep on the floor in the gym, and then loaded up the busses for a long ride to the next show somewhere out West. We then rehearsed another two or three hours that day. That night we performed the "new" show. The judges almost flipped! They'd never seen anything like that before - overnight!

Our scores actually went up significantly, even though the performance was fraught with errors. Hope was back. We kept fighting all the rest of the year, always hearing the echo of Dave's words - "Don't quit!" Leading up to Finals week, we had gotten back to within a whisker of being in the top twelve. But the Cavalier "ideals" would cost us our place in Finals, though they would ironically shape many of us as better men because of it.

Only a few days before our pre-lims performance, knowing we had likely pulled off a miracle and climbed back into Finals, several members of the drum line were caught breaking one of the "MAJOR" rules of the corps. The drum line was asked by then corps manager, Bob Hoehn, if the standard punishment should still be meted out (expulsion). There was not debate from any of us in the drum line, even knowing the likely competitive consequences. Our drum captain spoke for the entire line without even asking for a vote, already knowing our answer - kick 'em out.

Gone they were, and so to was our chance at Finals. If you review the recaps for the 1973 prelims, you will see that the drum execution scores are what did the corps in.

But we did not quit, and we did not forsake the ideals of those who came before us, or those who would follow us. Dave had reminded us of that "higher goal." Earlier in the summer, we had been 23 points behind Santa Clara, and 15 points behind Anaheim. By pre-lims, despite the tumult of loosing several key drummers, we had climbed back to within 12 points and 5 points respectively. WE DID NOT QUIT!

1974 was to be the "miracle year" for the corps, as we catapulted back into 8th place. To this day, I'm convinced there would have been no 1974 Cavaliers, if not for a Blue Star - who could have been a fine Cavalier . . .