Jaminbenb Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 OK, meant I could walk around the parking lot at the Water Bug Holiday Inn (first floor had a problem with 'em) openly. Not that I didn't get gigged 4-5 times about it. "Jimmy are you drinking!!!" "I'm 21 now!!" "Ohh... happy birthday". Think Steve Filipelli was the one who put 2 and 2 together. "You're 21.... HOW MANY years have you been with the corps?" (Answer was this was my 5th season....) Same thing happened to me at the Rusty Nail in Harrisburg...I went in a day or so after my 21st birthday and told the barmaid that it was my Birthday the other day, where's my free beer! AS she was pouring it (she knew what I wanted) she said "So how old are you now?" I said "21!" "Wait, you've been coming in here like 2-3 years now?!?!?!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 Same thing happened to me at the Rusty Nail in Harrisburg...I went in a day or so after my 21st birthday and told the barmaid that it was my Birthday the other day, where's my free beer! AS she was pouring it (she knew what I wanted) she said "So how old are you now?" I said "21!" "Wait, you've been coming in here like 2-3 years now?!?!?!" OK hijacking my own thread now.. Need Rickey Lee to chime in now. Have a vague memory during his 3rd or so year with the corps, word got out that he got his drivers license. Someone (board member?) asked why he waited so long. Answer was he just hit 16 and didn't wait..... Then it hit the BoD member just HOW young he was on that bus trip to New Orleans. And winning Poker money from a certain DCA VP...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaminbenb Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 OK hijacking my own thread now.. Need Rickey Lee to chime in now. Have a vague memory during his 3rd or so year with the corps, word got out that he got his drivers license. Someone (board member?) asked why he waited so long. Answer was he just hit 16 and didn't wait..... Then it hit the BoD member just HOW young he was on that bus trip to New Orleans. And winning Poker money from a certain DCA VP...... I also remember that same VP announcing that we weren't to "imbibe" unless we were of the proper age...then bought us beers after a show when the drumline did something good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Priester Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 So it would seem that the racism thing kept the National Convention out of N.O.. Their loss! Looking at the list of senior competitors then, I can understand how it could have been problematic for a few corps who had no color barrier back then, or even now. I'm guessing that things could have gotten just a bit out of hand with some of the locals; especially those proponents of wash 'n wear sheets and stuff like that. In later years (1969) when A.L. Nats returned to N.O., I know that St Lucy's had some run ins with locals on the way down and back, trying to feed the corps. I know because a good friend from our small junior corps was marching Lucys at the time and he happened to be black, and one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Jimmy gave me the whole rundown on their return. He went on to a career in the Army (ret'd Major) and now works for a defense contractor in Kansas. BTW, here's the "official results" of the Miami show. I know more than a couple of folks on here who will dispute the standings, right Guido? Man, oh man. DIVISION Senior 1 Hawthorne Caballeros 84.143 2 New York Skyliners 82.433 3 Yankee Rebels 80.536 4 Archer-Epler Musketeers 79.353 5 Connecticut Hurricanes 75.503 6 Boys of '76 70.504 7 Kewanee Black Knights (Sr.) 63.216 8 Spirit of St. Louis 55.390 9 Williston Cowboys, N. Dakota 30.883 10 Portland Comets 29.883 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the info Ray. I never realized what it was like back then.. down there... until I caught a TV show about the old AFL moving the All Star Game to Houston a few days before it was to be held. Some of the old players were interviewed and saying it was blantant would be an understatement. "So two of 'em are standing right in front of me saying.<won't repeat it>....". Interesting line up... if I remember right Spirit of St Louis was an all Black corps or at least sponsored by a "Black Post". Not sure of the most Politically Correct way to say "Black Post" but have one in Harrisburg (Post #733 Ephraim Slaughter. Edit: And tie in to Memorial Day - Slaughter was also a member of the "local African American G.A.R., David Stevens Post 520". First time I ever saw mention of Grand Army of the Republic Posts in the city. Slaughter was about the last Black Civil War vet in the city (or Civil War vet period - sources differ). Edit: 1994 went to New Orleans for a week of work early part of December. Lead for TV news was about some recent murders in the city. News people seemed to be more interested if the city would average a murder a day "On Day 340 murders 335 and 336 occur". High point was another guy and I walking along the French Quarter down the street from our hotel. Guy outside a strip club yelled out "C'mon in you two, you might learn to like women (wimmen)". Edited May 27, 2011 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Thanks for the info Ray. I never realized what it was like back then.. down there... until I caught a TV show about the old AFL moving the All Star Game to Houston a few days before it was to be held. Some of the old players were interviewed and saying it was blantant would be an understatement. "So two of 'em are standing right in front of me saying.<won't repeat it>....". New Orleans hosted the 67 VFW Nationals and the experience for an inner-city corps like the Bpt. PAL was an eye opener ... we ran into all sorts of racial incidents in VA, TN and New Orleans itself ... Bourbon St was not very friendly to mixed groups and our Director pulled us out of a few diners along the way because they would not serve all of us ... and the black/white bathrooms and drinking fountains were everywhere ... a pitiful time in society for sure ... when our busses entered Knoxville, we were greeted with townfolk carrying pitchforks ... ugh ... I went back to NO in the late 80's and then again in 2000 to do a job at Tulane - the very place that shunned our corps in 67 ... quite a difference ... quite a difference indeed ... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faelivrn Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 (edited) Finally hit the right combo of words to search in Google and found it. Too bad it's in Google books and a real bear to find the bits and pieces out of a book. Title is "New Orleans On Parade" by Jonathan Mark Souther What I'm picking out is it was the segregation of the hotels killed it. Still searching thru the book but appears the AL contacted the mayor and staff about it and was either ignored or told "hotels are private enterprises and they have their rights". Also ignored was the fact that NOs segregation laws were declared unconstitutional earlier. Hmmm. 1963 would have been N.O.s first AL convention since 1922... Edit: Blacks and whites could not be in the same place if that place served alcohol unless separated by a partition... Picturing that at a veterans convention... http://books.google.com/books?id=j8RjmAdbz4MC&pg=PA89&lpg=PA89&dq=%22american+legion%22%2B1963%2Bconvention&source=bl&ots=ViyUwbxTMi&sig=PY33szQn0tmeZUilLqhg09cHltI&hl=en&ei=9ozfTYnOMIj50gGf-P2mCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=legion&f=false So it's way cool when you pull something off the top of your head (or out of your a**). Thanx for the research, Jim. I picked up on this because I'm a huge (since 1968) Oakland Raiders fan and I remember that prior to the aforementioned AFL allstar game, the Raiders were scheduled to play a game in NO and Al Davis refused to play the game if all his players would not be housed or served together as a team. Regards Edited May 28, 2011 by faelivrn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Florida Sun Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 (edited) Sunrisers won the American Legion Nationals in 68 in New Orleans ,we where a mixed corps i don't remmber any problems I do know when i was with the Queensmen from Saint Cathrine's we where sched.to go to Miami in the mid 50s and because we where mixed they couldn't assure our safe travel going down there .so the trip was cancelled . Edited May 29, 2011 by Florida Sun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elphaba01 Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 So it would seem that the racism thing kept the National Convention out of N.O.. Their loss! Looking at the list of senior competitors then, I can understand how it could have been problematic for a few corps who had no color barrier back then, or even now. I'm guessing that things could have gotten just a bit out of hand with some of the locals; especially those proponents of wash 'n wear sheets and stuff like that. In later years (1969) when A.L. Nats returned to N.O., I know that St Lucy's had some run ins with locals on the way down and back, trying to feed the corps. I know because a good friend from our small junior corps was marching Lucys at the time and he happened to be black, and one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Jimmy gave me the whole rundown on their return. He went on to a career in the Army (ret'd Major) and now works for a defense contractor in Kansas. BTW, here's the "official results" of the Miami show. I know more than a couple of folks on here who will dispute the standings, right Guido? Man, oh man. DIVISION Senior 1 Hawthorne Caballeros 84.143 2 New York Skyliners 82.433 3 Yankee Rebels 80.536 4 Archer-Epler Musketeers 79.353 5 Connecticut Hurricanes 75.503 6 Boys of '76 70.504 7 Kewanee Black Knights (Sr.) 63.216 8 Spirit of St. Louis 55.390 9 Williston Cowboys, N. Dakota 30.883 10 Portland Comets 29.883 Miami 1963: Legion Nationals Prelims saw Archer Epler Musketeers blasted out of a first place Preliminarie win due to a FOUR POINT PENALTY. "Guido" should be able to provide the gory details, but after this huge disappointment the Musketeers were never ever the same. Elphaba WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbalaya Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 why, yes, I can.....I got your meaning Ray and Elphaba..........actually we won prelims but accepted a 2.0 penalty for late on-the-line (report).....this didn't hurt us at all, however, at the finals, the corps did a near perfect show and left it all 'on thr field' to the appreciation of all in attendance, there was a slight shower during Reb's show, but they completed an excellent performance as did both Sky, then Cab's.....score announcements took an inordinate amount of time and when they announced 4th place many of the fans boo'd the score....long story short.....in reviewing the sheets and recaps we discovered that one judges sheet had apparently been modified and showed us scoring much lower in his caption than he had Kewanee....many years later that judge swore that the numbers were NOT the ones he posted this explanation was accepted by our member and given his veracity it was a feasible conclusion. Years later Archie was notified by the AL National Committee that an audit showed an numerical error which put us in 3rd place just behind Sky. Many years later I contacted the AL and requested copies of all documents relating to the judging, scoring and posting of caption numbers but was told that the records were lost in a fire.......and, indeed, THAT one show, foretold the issues in years to come...... Miami 1963: Legion Nationals Prelims saw Archer Epler Musketeers blasted out of a first place Preliminarie win due to a FOUR POINT PENALTY. "Guido" should be able to provide the gory details, but after this huge disappointment the Musketeers were never ever the same. Elphaba WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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