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Oh I was in Texas when that happened. John Lennon also passed that year I think. It was a bad year for music.

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I was in Minnesota at the time, on tour with the Bleu Raeders, when we found out.

The contest was held at my old high school. It was also the last drum corps contest ever held in the New Orleans area.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Can't remember when I first heard of Jim's passing. It seems like only yesterday that I hitched a ride with Jim and Wayne Downey back to Mpls. from the Stillwater gig in what? 77? I guess I was still in college or had just finished or something.....anyway, it was a long long way from California.

Jim really made his mark, didn't he? I didn't know him all that well as he was a big part of the NorCal scene and my drum corps experience (up until 72) was all SoCal, but I surely did know him by reputation...I'm sure our paths crossed but the memory is fleeting. I know he had written for Mandarin just before I did (72) and of course I remember his sister Bonnie. Talented family, eh?

Sure did love his work with Spirit, though, and delighted in the fact that he had done so well.

He passed way too quickly as have some of my other drum corps friends from back in the day.

But...they're never gone as long as we remember them!

RON HOUSLEY

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was with Crossmen that summer and we were touring with Spirit when it happened. Unfortunately, we passed by the accident on our way from New Orleans to Memphis and didn't know at the time that it was the Van Jim was sleeping in. I'll never forget that summer.....or the friends we made with Spirit.

May Jim Ott live on forever in our hearts and dreams.

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I was marching Oakland that summer, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I was when I first heard the news. It would've been through my fellow corps members, of course. What I do remember is being at a show later on with Spirit, and wondering how they were coping. One of those things I regret is that I never approached any of the corps members and asked. I knew it had to be hard; that wasn't the point of asking. Maybe someone would've appreciated the concern. Who knows what to say or do in those situations? But maybe that's OK. Maybe it was understood that everyone felt badly for all the people in the Spirit organization . . . and yet we all knew there wasn't a whole lot we could do.

As others have noted, Jim Ott's legacy lives on. Here we are, still talking about him, still remembering his magical touch with music.

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I think we were in Columbus, Ohio on the practice field. The horror of it was more than I care to think about.

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  • 2 months later...

i wasn't at orlando this year, but how awesome is it that ott's legacy has lived on and that he is remembered by his corps decades after his death... i really wish i had been there to experience the pure emotion of that moment... it must have been awesome

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As posted before and a few other places on the 'net....it is a tribute to him that Jim is still so revered after all these years after his passing. I feel honored to have spent a little time with him, Royer, Knaub, Angelica and others who have left a lot more than just their shoes on the field....it sure did make me a better person for knowing them and I'm only one person out of the many, many that Jim and the others gave so much to in the drum corps activity.

RON HOUSLEY

Edited by ffernbus3
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  • 3 weeks later...

i've heard alot about "the accident" and have learned about jim ott, but never really knew what happened that night. i don't mean to bring up anything bad, coudl someone explain?

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