BRASSO Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) Brasso...Believe Amador has it right... From what I recall the SANTA CLARA part of the corpswas named to reflect the entire county of Santa Clara. ...not the city... PTS Thanks to you and Amador on this. I'm not from California, but I do recall in my Geography classes that " Santa Clara " is actually both a City's name in California as well as it having a broader context too, ie as the name of a county in California, ( the City of Santa Clara being just one among the other towns and cities in the County of Santa Clara) so this does make perfect sense now. Thanks again. Edited March 9, 2011 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amadorj Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) Thanks to you and Amador on this. I'm not from California, but I do recall in my Geography classes that " Santa Clara " is actually both a City's name in California as well as it having a broader context too, ie as the name of a county in California, ( the City of Santa Clara being just one among the other towns and cities in the County of Santa Clara) so this does make perfect sense now. Thanks again. Just to add to this - the Sunnyvale Sparks would practice at Jefferson Jr. High School (where Gail Royer taught school) which was located in the City of Santa Clara. Jefferson Jr. High sat on the border of the cities of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara (if you crossed Lawrence Expressway, then called Lawrence Station Road you crossed from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara). After the break from the Sparks, Jefferson Jr. High became the defacto HQ for this new Drum Corps. Gail thought it was fitting to add the city to our new name mainly to not confuse us with other drum corps named Vanguard (Skokie/Miami/etc...). Edited March 11, 2011 by amadorj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Just to add to this - the Sunnyvale Sparks would practice at Jefferson Jr. High School (where Gail Royer taught school) which was located in the City of Santa Clara. Jefferson Jr. High sat on the border of the cities of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara (if you crossed Lawrence Expressway, then called Lawrence Station Road you crossed from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara. After the break from the Sparks, Jefferson Jr. High became the defacto HQ for this new Drum Corps. Gail thought it was fitting to add the city to our new name mainly to not confuse us with other drum corps named Vanguard (Skokie/Miami/etc...). Oh.. so THAT's why they initially decided to call themselves " The Santa Clara Vanguard ", instead of just " The Vanguard " or whatever. It makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PTSUR66 Posted March 11, 2011 Share Posted March 11, 2011 Wonder how many Drum corp members ever got to nominate a new drum corps name and vote on what they want to be called? Only one I know of...Gail Royer and SCV. Anyone else remember that day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAV Posted March 12, 2011 Share Posted March 12, 2011 Actually, another breakaway corps, also from the Bay Area, had a similar experience with choosing a new name. The original corps was called Shockwave, but, wanting to do more than parades, all but two broke away and started a new competitive corps. Initially called the Bay Area Renegades, (how appropriate that an 'senior' corps was going to be nicknamed BAR) within a year or so, they choose San Francisco as their home base (hello, Treasure Island!) and became the SF Renegades, a name chosen by the 'renegade' members. OK I know someone will correct me - but that's how I remember it. Mav..who regrets not being part of the initial '7', but can claim being #8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royal-air canada Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Wonder how many Drum corp members ever got to nominate a new drum corps name and vote on what they want to be called? Only one I know of...Gail Royer and SCV. Anyone else remember that day? Actually the Chicago Royal-Airs did have a meeting to choose their own name when they broke away from the Alamo Rangers post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
endy29 Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 In the early 1960's a young music teacher ventured away from the cornfields of Iowa, making his way to the west coast and his new home in the sunny state of California. This young Iowa teacher had already accumulated a vast background judging Drum Corps shows throughout the nation, and had taught brass to a small drum corps back in a nearby town - the Gowrie Gauchos drum and bugle corps. As he arrived in California he longed to get back to teaching music, and introducing drum corps music to young kids. In 1965 he started working with a small drum corps called the Sunnyvale Sparks Drum and Bugle corps, teaching brass and arranging the corps music. Many of the kids were from the local middle schools where he taught music. The drum corps was small, with only 18 horns, and geared mainly as a parade corps that participated throughout Northern California. There were even times he would dress up and be the Drum Major for the corps at parades since they needed each member playing an instrument or drum. Over time the corps grew and improved in quality as they started pulling in better skilled musicians from the college level, mainly from the local San Jose State Marching Band program. As the corps blossomed so too did this young music teacher from Iowa. The potential of this small corps continued to grow and now he wanted his young kids to see higher caliber drum corps from other regions so the kids could see what better class drum corps were all about. At that time, the Sparks organization was comprised of a drum and bugle corps, a majorette group, and a drum and bell corps. As the caliber of the drum and bugle corps element of the Sparks continued to blossom and grow, the Sparks management was content to continue hosting their organization, but their focus remained on the majorette group and drum and bell corps. Continuing disagreement over the direction of the various elements of the Sparks organization eventually led to the drum and bugle corps portion breaking away. On March 6, 1967, a new drum and bugle corps was born. The first order of business at the first meeting of the members was selecting a name for this new drum corps. As members and parents started putting names up on a chalk board, that young school teacher whittled away at the list, finally narrowing it down to three names – The Cardinals, The Spartans, and The Vanguard. The group voted and in the end the name Vanguard was selected. The teacher didn't want the name confused with any other drum corps named Vanguard, so he insisted the city be a part of the official name – The Santa Clara Vanguard. That young music teacher from Iowa was Gail "GR" Royer. Gail, of course, became the corps' first Director, and the driving force behind the development of a legendary organization benefitting the young people he so loved. Under his tenure Santa Clara Vanguard went on to win an American Legion National Championship (1970), a VFW National Championship (1971), and five DCI Championships (1973, 1974, 1978, 1981, and 1989). Happy Birthday to all of the members of the Santa Clara Vanguard family this March 6th!!! Jesse...well done and a wonderful tribute to Gail. How fortunate we both were to have the chance to march with two of the more historic corps in the activity. mynwa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amadorj Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Jesse...well done and a wonderful tribute to Gail. How fortunate we both were to have the chance to march with two of the more historic corps in the activity. mynwa More importantly - we were both smart enough to marry two beautiful Bleu Raeders (that should win us some points!!!). MYNWA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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