Bill R Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 Last night I was sitting at home watching the Patriots/Eagles game when it dawned on me what I was watching, & what happened in 1977 when the Matadors played 1/2 time at Pat's /Steeler's game. I wrote the following & sent it to my Matador brothers & sisters................... I thought I would share it with you. 35 years ago yesterday, some of us were in Foxboro Ma. performing 1/2 time at the Patriots vs. Steelers game. If you've never heard the story, what your going to read is absolutely true. The winter of 76-77 was anything but kind for the Matadors. After a very disappointing 10th place finish in 76 the corps spent the winter in a funk that we couldn't shake off. Until................ end of March (I think) when Red called a full corps meeting before rehearsal & announced the corps was folding. PANDEMONIUM BREAKS OUT led by Rick Harrington who stood up & told Red he didn't have the authority to fold the corps. This led to a heated argument between Rick & Red plus an impassioned plea from Rick to give us another chance (little did we know this was all a set up & Red never intended to fold the corps). After 2 amazing weekend camps in April & May at Camp Varnum the corps hit the field in Mt. Carmel Pa. with 55 horns, 30 drums (I believe the largest drum line in DCA that year) & I don't know how many guard but it was at least 20. All the other corps that were licking their chops because they thought they had a chance because of the corps poor finish the previous year were put on notice............... NOT THIS YEAR! Fast forward to the 2nd NFL exhibition weekend & the corps had a show that just came at you & kept coming. My brother Mark was a season ticket holder back then & he told me that when 1/2 time came there was a mass exodus by the people watching the game .............. till we started the opener. Then, he said, many of those people came back to sit back down. Because the Steelers were defending Super Bowl Champs the game was a sellout & the people really started getting into our show. At the same time, the Pat's, who were manhandled in the first 1/2 were in the locker room & they could hear that the crowd was cheering louder & more enthusiastically for the 1/2 time show then what they cheered for them during the game! When we finished playing Malaguena they are on their feet with a loud long standing O. Now we start playing Rocky & they go absolutely nuts! As we turn back field during Jimmy's solo setting up the big push to the stands THE STEELER'S START COMING BACK ONTO THE FIELD! No one from the team told us that they only had 10 minutes allocated for 1/2 time & our show was well over 13. So now we spin around & hit the crowd with a wall of sound & we can see that the Pat's were also back on the field. The crowd is standing going nuts! THE PATRIOTS, STANDING ON THE SIDELINE ARE GOING NUTS! In the 2nd 1/2 the Pat's dominate, come back & win the game! NBC, who was broadcasting NFL games back then was irate! They demanded the Patriots reimburse the extra commercial time that had to be aired (for free) because of the timing screw up. The coach & general manager (Chuck Fairbanks) said the Pat's would gladly pay for the extra time because "That band won us the game". How do we know that last part? Frank Edmonds at the time was Red Corso's son in law, played mellophone for the Matadors & worked at WBZ television (an NBC affiliate). The Rhode Island Matadors never won a DCA show............................. but, we beat the Super Bowl Champions! 35 years ago this past weekend.......................... strange but true! Hope to see you all soon, Bill Roderick 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted August 22, 2012 Share Posted August 22, 2012 (edited) LOVE IT!!! (warning: repeat of old story ) LOL, 1976 Westshoremen were coming up as we made 11th after being inactive 3 years before and wanting to see who we would knock off in 1977. Like Bill said RI was sliding down after great years earlier. So RI and Westshore and scheduled to be at Danville, PA exibition show which might be interesting. Westshore drops out because of one of our local MBs is going to Indy 500 and too many holes in our ranks and staff. Buddy and I go to D-ville to see if we thought Matadors were "beatable". RI comes out with the "Spanish bedclothes" and we thought "yeah... right...". Then the show started..... at some point we looked at each other and said "Ain't gonna be beating them this year". One of my all time thrills in corps was sitting two rows from the bottom as the last push in Rodeo is coming at me. Danvilles stands are on the ground and if you're on the first row your feet are on the track. So.... face level with the sop bells coming at me. Still check the show on YouTube.... edit after rereading: Sorry Bill but the Mount Carmel show moved to Danville in 1976 or 1977. Story I got from a local was the band directory switched jobs and "took the show with him". No idea how true the story is but MC had a better site. Both places out in the middle of no where... Edited August 22, 2012 by JimF-LowBari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Killion Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Last night I was sitting at home watching the Patriots/Eagles game when it dawned on me what I was watching, & what happened in 1977 when the Matadors played 1/2 time at Pat's /Steeler's game. I wrote the following & sent it to my Matador brothers & sisters................... I thought I would share it with you. 35 years ago yesterday, some of us were in Foxboro Ma. performing 1/2 time at the Patriots vs. Steelers game. If you've never heard the story, what your going to read is absolutely true. The winter of 76-77 was anything but kind for the Matadors. After a very disappointing 10th place finish in 76 the corps spent the winter in a funk that we couldn't shake off. Until................ end of March (I think) when Red called a full corps meeting before rehearsal & announced the corps was folding. PANDEMONIUM BREAKS OUT led by Rick Harrington who stood up & told Red he didn't have the authority to fold the corps. This led to a heated argument between Rick & Red plus an impassioned plea from Rick to give us another chance (little did we know this was all a set up & Red never intended to fold the corps). After 2 amazing weekend camps in April & May at Camp Varnum the corps hit the field in Mt. Carmel Pa. with 55 horns, 30 drums (I believe the largest drum line in DCA that year) & I don't know how many guard but it was at least 20. All the other corps that were licking their chops because they thought they had a chance because of the corps poor finish the previous year were put on notice............... NOT THIS YEAR! Fast forward to the 2nd NFL exhibition weekend & the corps had a show that just came at you & kept coming. My brother Mark was a season ticket holder back then & he told me that when 1/2 time came there was a mass exodus by the people watching the game .............. till we started the opener. Then, he said, many of those people came back to sit back down. Because the Steelers were defending Super Bowl Champs the game was a sellout & the people really started getting into our show. At the same time, the Pat's, who were manhandled in the first 1/2 were in the locker room & they could hear that the crowd was cheering louder & more enthusiastically for the 1/2 time show then what they cheered for them during the game! When we finished playing Malaguena they are on their feet with a loud long standing O. Now we start playing Rocky & they go absolutely nuts! As we turn back field during Jimmy's solo setting up the big push to the stands THE STEELER'S START COMING BACK ONTO THE FIELD! No one from the team told us that they only had 10 minutes allocated for 1/2 time & our show was well over 13. So now we spin around & hit the crowd with a wall of sound & we can see that the Pat's were also back on the field. The crowd is standing going nuts! THE PATRIOTS, STANDING ON THE SIDELINE ARE GOING NUTS! In the 2nd 1/2 the Pat's dominate, come back & win the game! NBC, who was broadcasting NFL games back then was irate! They demanded the Patriots reimburse the extra commercial time that had to be aired (for free) because of the timing screw up. The coach & general manager (Chuck Fairbanks) said the Pat's would gladly pay for the extra time because "That band won us the game". How do we know that last part? Frank Edmonds at the time was Red Corso's son in law, played mellophone for the Matadors & worked at WBZ television (an NBC affiliate). The Rhode Island Matadors never won a DCA show............................. but, we beat the Super Bowl Champions! 35 years ago this past weekend.......................... strange but true! Hope to see you all soon, Bill Roderick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Killion Posted September 7, 2012 Share Posted September 7, 2012 Bill, Great story!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strutta Posted September 8, 2012 Share Posted September 8, 2012 We coulda used the Matadors at this past Super Bowl Billy! Thanks a lot for going out of business!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill R Posted September 9, 2012 Author Share Posted September 9, 2012 We coulda used the Matadors at this past Super Bowl Billy! Thanks a lot for going out of business!!! Actually the Pat's didn't need The Matadors in the Super Bowl they just needed one of the coaches to tell Gronk to take 1 more step in the end zone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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