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The Summer of '76


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After two disappointing/losing years in a "Class A" corps, (which eventually folded) I took the bus to Rockford with little expectation of what would happen that season. Many of my friends questioned the move as the local corps - Royal Crusaders - finished higher than the Regiment in '75. Certainly RC had a great show and corps in '75, unfortunately they were unable to recapture that in the following years. I just knew I wanted to be part of the brass line I fell in love with on the World Open recording. Our first two shows didn't do much for me from a "competition" standpoint as the closest corps was the Emerald Knights - quite a distance behind.

Our first "big" show was June 11th in Milwaukee, all corps that beat the Regiment at DCI in '75 - Madison, Blue Stars, Kilts, Cavaliers, all corps I never even competed against. Madison won, Cavaliers second, Regiment third, 3 points out of first. I don't think too many people were upset with the result, I sure wasn't! The next night in Loves Park (pretty much Rockford) we beat the Cavaliers by 5 points! That was a shock. Sadly, we wouldn't see the Scouts again until August 4th.

Our next big show was June 20th in Wheeling and the 27th Lancers and Cavaliers. It was close, but no cigar, they beat us by 2 tenths, but we managed to increase the spread over the Cavilers. Again, I don't think there was anyone too unhappy with the result.

However, the next week in Watertown would be a different story. The Marquis, which finished 7 points back in Wheeling was now about half a point up on us. Certainly not a happy day for us.

The next big shown was Michigan City, where 5 corps that finished ahead of us in '75 would be competing - 2-7, Blue Stars, Cavaliers, Kilts, and Royal Crusaders. Surprisingly, we finished first in marching, brass, percussion and the show by almost 2 points, but 2-7 won GE! We're feeling good at this point.

The boys are back in town, and we're in Milwaukee, AGAIN! This time with SCV. Finished 2 points behind SCV and a point ahead of the Scouts for the first time EVER.

The next big show, seemed there were a lot of those, was DCI Mid-west. BD, SCV, Oakland Crusaders and the Scouts, not to mention 34 other corps competing for finals. Third in prelims and finals and closing the gap on SCV was nice. BD however, was just beginning to really lay the wood to the competition as they stormed to a 5 point victory. The next night in Racine, we managed to slip by SCV for the first time EVER by a point, but still 6 points behind BD. At this point you pretty much knew they were going to take it all at every show.

At one time, the Key to the Sea, was a big contest. I had never competed there but the most memorable event was that my brother, marching with the Royal Crusaders, missed their bus after prelims and had to come back with me to our site, ½ uniform and all. From what I understand, that was the best meal he had all year! So, we had to get to the show site a little earlier than we normally would for finals so he could reconnect with the Crusaders, needless to say, they weren’t too happy with him, he really didn’t care. BTW, we won the night show by just over a point on the Oakland Crusaders!

Two failed Class A years did have their bright spots. In both ’74 & ’75, we went to the U.S. Open and I got to see a lot of really good corps. I was very excited to be back again in ’76 this time with not on a chance to make finals, but to win! After a hiccup in prelims to the Oakland Crusaders, we won the night show by almost a point and took home our first “major” title EVER! Having watched finals from the stands the previous two years, this was especially gratifying to me.

Finally, we were off to Philadelphia for DCI. My first EVER DCI! Our prelim show was smoking hot, as were the temperatures on the field. The gap from 2nd (Scouts) to 4th (Regiment) was 0.6 with SCV wedged in the middle so, we felt pretty good about the night show and the possibility of finishing higher. Unfortunately, only the top 3 corps and the Bridgemen increased their final score over prelims. We were kind of in “no mans land” in 4th, two points behind SCV and two points ahead of 2-7.

Overall, it was a fantastic year for drum corps and me personally. I was fairly convinced that this corps wasn’t going to fold, and that was a good thing!

RM

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Rocketman,

Agree, as I said in my initial post in this subject, one of the big things that happened in 76 was PR's emergence. They haven’t looked back since.

I remember the beginning of 76 in Milwaukee. We kicked some serious butt and had a GREAT show. Blew down the stands. But, as you said, the next show in Loves Park was a different story but at the time we just passed it off as PR havning home court advantage. Ha! I don’t think the Cavaliers beat Phantom in any show until the mid-80’s after that, but I’m not a big stat guy so I may be wrong.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Keith, while the merger of Seneca and Opti created a two time finalist, I moved over to Opti in the off season after being with Seneca for the previous four. The Optimists looke dlike they were going to have a FANTASTIC year and were poised to do great things. Unfortunately, dollars were preventing them from going it alone.

In my humble opinion, the merger was one of the WORST things that happened that year. Sorry ... that's my opinion and always has been. In fact, I LOVED the activity and was so put off by this turn of events, I didn't march that season. The next year I joined the American 'Green Machine' and finished out my junior eligibility with them.

Jeff

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Keith, while the merger of Seneca and Opti created a two time finalist, I moved over to Opti in the off season after being with Seneca for the previous four. The Optimists looke dlike they were going to have a FANTASTIC year and were poised to do great things. Unfortunately, dollars were preventing them from going it alone.

In my humble opinion, the merger was one of the WORST things that happened that year. Sorry ... that's my opinion and always has been. In fact, I LOVED the activity and was so put off by this turn of events, I didn't march that season. The next year I joined the American 'Green Machine' and finished out my junior eligibility with them.

Jeff

I must disagree with you on this. I think that merger was the best thing for both Toronto Optimists and Seneca Princemen. It shot a big new life into both corps. The merger was effortless as both corps were very excited about having each other to march next to. Even the management merged well. The kids worked extra hard each bound and determined not to suck. With what the 2 corps brought to the table that year we fielded a phenomenal corps, with hardworking kids and staff and a beautiful ending being the first year for 2 Canadian corps making DCI finals. I for one loved 1976 for that reason....and because it was the preview of what to come...even better things the following year.

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