Northern Thunder Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I was looking through some old drum corps stuff, and ran across the unusual case of the 1972 American Legion Nationals in Chicago. The Argonne Rebels took 20th place at prelims (thanks to a 13-point penalty for appearing late) with a score of 71.35. Without the penalty they would have been 1st place with 84.35, which would have edged the Bleu Raeders (83.60) and the Cavaliers (83.40). Argonne was allowed to compete at finals, since they were the defending champion, and went on to take the championship title by 2-points over the Cavaliers. There must have been some controversy about this at the time (although, since the Legion Nationals was no longer big news, I don't recall any at that time). The Thunderbolts (WI) probably would have had a legitimate gripe, since they were the corps that was dropped to allow Argonne to appear at finals. Funny that the very next year, at the U.S. Open, the Anaheim Kingsmen were given a 13-point penalty for appearing late at prelims (thanks to being caught in a huge traffic jam surrounding an accident). Luckily for them, their score (with penalty) still kept them in a finalist position, and they came back to win the title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfrontz Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Interesting ... never realized that Argonne won back-to-back Nats in 71-72 ... Brian, I know in the 60's the previous year's winner had the option to go on last at finals regardless of where they placed in prelims ... could Argonne have used this to appear at finals in 72? ... I'm not sure if the rule stated that the corps had to actually "make" finals ... maybe they got around it somehow ... wonder if DCN had any articles on it ... hmmmm :-) I was looking through some old drum corps stuff, and ran across the unusual case of the 1972 American Legion Nationals in Chicago. The Argonne Rebels took 20th place at prelims (thanks to a 13-point penalty for appearing late) with a score of 71.35. Without the penalty they would have been 1st place with 84.35, which would have edged the Bleu Raeders (83.60) and the Cavaliers (83.40). Argonne was allowed to compete at finals, since they were the defending champion, and went on to take the championship title by 2-points over the Cavaliers. There must have been some controversy about this at the time (although, since the Legion Nationals was no longer big news, I don't recall any at that time). The Thunderbolts (WI) probably would have had a legitimate gripe, since they were the corps that was dropped to allow Argonne to appear at finals. Funny that the very next year, at the U.S. Open, the Anaheim Kingsmen were given a 13-point penalty for appearing late at prelims (thanks to being caught in a huge traffic jam surrounding an accident). Luckily for them, their score (with penalty) still kept them in a finalist position, and they came back to win the title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 I believe that Argonne did go on last at finals. The "rule" of defending champion automatically making finals, even if you didn't truly qualify, seems a bit unusual. Of course it's not likely a defending champion would have slipped out of finals just one year after winning the title. Why even bother competing at prelims if you're already in? You have to wonder just what a firestorm this would be if it happened today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totaleefree Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 The first year that I followed DCI 1978 the Cavaliers failed to make finals. However I remember reading at the time that because of their contributions to the activity in the past they retained their full DCI membership until the next year I don't know any details of that, don't know if it has happened again since then or even what privileges that entitled. But if that kind of thing happened then allowing a defending champ to go last does not seem out of place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lp1955 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 In the old days a lot of funny stuff went on. In 74 we the Bridgemen were not that good to put it mildly. We won the World Open in 73 so in 74 we had no business making finals. But being the defending champs we came in 6th in prelims with the 27th Lancers being edged out of finals because of that. 27th also was on a down year so who knows if they should have beat us. In finals we were put back into our place dropping back to last, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traverbanking Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 When DCI was founded, the board of directors for each year would consist of the 12 finalists. In 1974, the 27th Lancers (a founding member of DCI) finished 20th. At that point, the board of directors voted to change the membership rules to allow a corps that had been a member of the board of directors for three consecutive years but failed to make finals to remain on the board of directors for one more year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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