MisterA Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 I was going through some old programs, and while looking at them, saw some of the old names familiar to the quad city area. I know I probably should remember or know this, but unfortunately cannot remember what the story was. Were the Quad City Knights, the Geneseo Knights and the Knights all the same corps? For some reason I thought they competed against each other at different times, but one of my band director friends thought that two of them had merged to become one corps. He also thought there was another corps involved as well. So was there a 4 corps connection somehow, and can anyone explain what happened there? I am sorry if this causes any painful memories for anyone. I seem to recall all of these corps being very good at different times. And I honestly can't remember seeing a thread about any of these corps, other than them maybe being mentioned in corps that no longer exist. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) I was going through some old programs, and while looking at them, saw some of the old names familiar to the quad city area. I know I probably should remember or know this, but unfortunately cannot remember what the story was. Were the Quad City Knights, the Geneseo Knights and the Knights all the same corps? For some reason I thought they competed against each other at different times, but one of my band director friends thought that two of them had merged to become one corps. He also thought there was another corps involved as well. So was there a 4 corps connection somehow, and can anyone explain what happened there? I am sorry if this causes any painful memories for anyone. I seem to recall all of these corps being very good at different times. And I honestly can't remember seeing a thread about any of these corps, other than them maybe being mentioned in corps that no longer exist. The Knights first started in Kewaunee, a small town in western Illinois, as the Black Knights, but changed their name because there was another Black Knights in Belleville, IL, down by St. Louis. They then moved to Geneseo and became the Geneseo Knights, then eventually moved to the Quad Cities and became the Quad City Knights and somewhere along the way became known as just The Knights. (I don't know when this was, but will look through my DCI program books.) What you're thinking of is the 1991 merger with Emerald Knights of Cedar Rapids, IA. The merged corps kept the name Quad City Knights during the single year of the merger. The Knights was as high as 15th in 1982 and 16th in 1983 and appeared for some time to have a lock on making DCI World Finals after placing 9th at DCI Midwest Prelims with a 68.85, outscoring eventual World finalists Freelancers, Cavaliers, Sky Ryders and Bridgemen. The next day in Rockford, they scored a 59.90 and despite hitting a 70.50 five days later, never really recovered and 14 days later, scored a 73.90 at the DCI World Semifinals, finishing in 16th behind Crossmen, Alliance and Troopers; Crossmen and Troopers placing under them at that DCI Midwest Prelims show. Edited October 30, 2012 by Michael Boo 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) The Knights first started in Kewaunee, a small town in western Illinois, as the Black Knights, but changed their name because there was another Black Knights in Belleville, IL, down by St. Louis. They then moved to Geneseo and became the Geneseo Knights, then eventually just The Knights. What you're thinking of is the 1991 merger with Emerald Knights of Cedar Rapids, IA, to form the Quad City Knights. The corps was as high as 15th in 1982 and 16th in 1983 and appeared for some time to have a lock on making DCI World Finals after placing 9th at DCI Midwest Prelims with a 68.85, outscoring eventual World finalists Freelancers, Cavaliers, Sky Ryders and Bridgemen. The next day in Rockford, they scored a 59.90 and despite hitting a 70.50 five days later, never really recovered and 14 days later, scored a 73.90 at the DCI World Semifinals, finishing in 16th behind Crossmen, Alliance and Troopers; Crossmen and Troopers placing under them at that DCI Midwest Prelims show. Mr. Boo, you are a walking encyclopedia of drum corps knowledge! BTW - Another great source of information is Steve Vickers, "A History of Drum & Bugle Corps", vols. 1 & 2. I've got both copies and cherish them in my collection! A must-have for all drum corps fans!!! Edited October 29, 2012 by drumcorpsfever 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 (edited) Mr. Boo, you are a walking encyclopedia of drum corps knowledge! BTW - Another great source of information is Steve Vickers, "A History of Drum & Bugle Corps", vols. 1 & 2. I've got both copies and cherish them in my collection! A must-have for all drum corps fans!!! I must admit the scores come from CorpsReps.com, a magnificent site for checking on repertoires, scores and placements. But I do remember quite a bit about Knights that year. They were on the precipice of greatness and after Whitewater, they seemed to have the air sucked out of them. At the time, there was a drop in appearance fees for the following season between 8th and 9th place and 16th and 17th place. One of Knights' instructors confided that he hoped the corps placed in the top 16 as they had already spent the money. Until Whitewater Finals, where they dropped 6.95 from Prelims, and that following show in Rockford, where they dropped another 2.00, the corps was on a trajectory for Finals. Consider this: They scored lower at World Semifinals than they did at a Chicago area show on July 24, 26 days earlier. At that show, they were 8.60 behind Phantom Regiment. At Semifinals, they finished 14.50 points under Regiment. That was an increase in the spread of 5.90. If you added that 5.90 to their Semifinals score, they would have placed 11th, beating Bridgemen by 0.30 and knocking Sky Ryders out of Finals. PS: Steve Vickers' books are remarkable sources and really make the history of drum corps come alive. Edited October 29, 2012 by Michael Boo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 What years(s) were they sponsored by Knights Inn, and why did that sponsorship get discontinued? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 What years(s) were they sponsored by Knights Inn, and why did that sponsorship get discontinued? i remember reading about that in Drum Corps World, but all I remember about the time period was it wasn't until sometime after 1985. However, I don't remember if it was before or after the corps merged with Emerald Knights in 1988. I don't remember it lasting more than a year, but I'm fuzzy on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 i remember reading about that in Drum Corps World, but all I remember about the time period was it wasn't until sometime after 1985. However, I don't remember if it was before or after the corps merged with Emerald Knights in 1988. I don't remember it lasting more than a year, but I'm fuzzy on that. If memory serves it was the Geneseo Knights, mid to late eighties, and it was a cool connection because of the name association with Knights Inn as well as uniform to company color association. Just wondering how long it lasted and why it fell through because that type of corporate sponsorship (like the Circle K sponsorship of Suncoast Sound) fits directly into the discussions of possibly fixing the current drum corps activity's financial situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 If memory serves it was the Geneseo Knights, mid to late eighties, and it was a cool connection because of the name association with Knights Inn as well as uniform to company color association. Just wondering how long it lasted and why it fell through because that type of corporate sponsorship (like the Circle K sponsorship of Suncoast Sound) fits directly into the discussions of possibly fixing the current drum corps activity's financial situation. I don't think it lasted that long, but I never followed up on that. The Circle K sponsorship lasted just one year. It was the result of a former marching member of Blue Stars being in a position for community outreach and development with the corporation. He remembered how tough it was for Blue Stars to get the financial support the corps needed and said if he was ever in such a position to do something for a corps, he would. Suncoast Sound was chosen because of Circle K's large amount of stores in Florida. Unfortunately for the corps, he moved on to another company the next year and his replacement didn't share the same enthusiasm for drum corps. (I got this from the person who was handling the corps' finances at the time, who remains a great friend whom I talk with every couple of days.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Boo Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Stu: I also remember from the Drum Corps World article that the corps was to perform at some Knights Inn locations as part of the deal. (Perhaps for new openings if their tour was in the area?) Is there someone here who was with Knights who can verify that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lastknight Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Thank you Mr. Boo et al for the walk down memory lane. You posted more score info than I remember. The Hi Cam video from Miami 1983 makes for an interesting watch. Pretty darn clean for a 16th place corps in that day and age. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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