Bob984 Posted May 20, 2012 Author Share Posted May 20, 2012 Wow.....thanks for filling in the details...............I do think it would have been nice for you to have that "moment on the field" which not too many people get, but I was wrong on the reason.............I had heard about the tremendous strides that you made during that season to get to the top............ The 2007 alumni corps gave a terrific performance at the DCI championship at the Rose Bowl....I was there........that had to feel good, and I am glad that there were many '72 alumni out there!! Also, even being an "east coaster" (I live in NJ), I was happy that California finally was the host for championships, and I would like to see that happen again. Thanks for posting the details of that first championship night as a member of the first CHAMPS!! GB I was a member of the Anaheim Kingsmen from 1970 to 1972 and was on the field that night. This is a classic example of the old game where you whisper something into someone's ear and it goes around and around and the person at the end shouts out something that is completely different than what was originally said. What happened was that the Anaheim Kingsmen had a management shakeup a few weeks before tour and Don Porter the Anaheim Kingsmen Corps Director and founder was forced out. What followed was chaos and turmoil with the corps nearly folding. In a nutshell the Kingsmen hosted the Santa Clara Vanguard and the La Crosse Blue Stars in Southern California in late June with only two thirds of the drill finshed. Got clobbered by several points by both of them. We left on an eastern tour with 27 and did not see SCV or Blue Stars again until DCI. The Kingsmen had a tremendous amount of catching up to do and practiced long into the night and even after shows. At DCI we did take third in prelims to SCV and the Blue Stars. It was not a major concern because in those days prelims was your show condensed into five to seven minutes. For most corps it meant dropping the standstill type concert piece. For the Kingsmen the concert (Ritual Fire Dance) was a barn burner, and we played it cleanly so there were only a few additional ticks. Or to put it another way our score was skewed torwards the finals show since we did not absorb very many ticks in the concert. Our finals performance was our best of the year and we were just "on" that night. I might also add that Santa Clara (in a very rare showing) did not put on their best performance of the season. At retreat all corps formed on the field for the annoucement of the scores. With the rain coming down the announcer did not wait for the drum major to step forward and collect the trophy, he just read off the scores as fast as he could. If I recall it correctly at about the eighth place point it began to rain extremely hard. All of the corps ran for cover. As I was running up the back grassy area of Warhawk Stadium I heard 27 taking fourth and I thought I heard that SCV had taken third but was not sure. As we got on the busses as was stated already I did not know who won. And it is correct that other corps members did come by in the pouring rain to congratulate us. When the rain subsided I got off the bus and walked around the parking lot for a few minutes kind of taking it in. We did have new uniforms issued the night before CYO. It turned out since the company that made them was in New England it was cheaper to receive them in Boston than to ship them to California. Uniforms getting wet did not factor into the decision to leave the field.....it was raining so hard that everyone left the field. The final show of the tour was the following night at the Wisconsin State Fair at West Allis. It took place in front of the grandstands on an auto race track. It was dubbed the demolition derby and I believe the Blue Stars won it. Everyone had to modify their drill to fit what was effectively a half field front to back and march on asphalt. A few years back an audio recording surfaced of the scores being read at the 1972 DCI finals. It is posted on the Kingsmen Alumni website and the link is..... http://xkingsmen.com/sites/default/files/mp3/72finalsscores.mp3 If you are interested in a photo of the retreat in 1972 prior to the rain it can be found at.... http://xkingsmen.com/content/1972-kingsmen-2 Look for photo number 29 of 43 which is on page 5. From right to left it is the Anaheim Kingsmen, Argonne Rebels, Casper Troopers, and I believe the Chicago Cavaliers. Not sure who is after that. And lastly with respect to the question of having the scores read, it was mentioned a few years back when the Kingsmen reformed for the 2007 finals at the Rose Bowl. The thought was to play the recording above of the 1972 scores and formally present the Kingsmen with the championship trophy following our alumni corps performance. I served on the board of directors for the Kingsmen Alumni Corps and the whole idea never seemed to have legs and it was shelved. As a side note there were about thirty of the 108 members from 1972 that performed with the Kingsmen Alumni Corps that night. The Kingsmen of 1972 was a life long lesson for anyone who was a part of it. From where we started nearly folding, and working our tails off to come back not only to make finals at DCI, but to win it is the stuff of lore. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRacer Posted May 24, 2012 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Keith, I didn't know that having the score recording replayed after our KAC performance was being considered at one point...that would have been very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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