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1980 Garfield & Boston....A Very Strange Season


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I was going through some of my old contest files this morning, and I had forgotten what a weird year 1980 was for those corps.

On June 14, in Lynn, MA the scores for these corps were:

Boston Crusaders--57.50

Garfield Cadets--51.05

Two months later, at DCI prelims, the scores were:

Garfield Cadets (10th place)--81.45

Boston Crusaders (25th place)--63.90

I remember that Garfield was starting to catch fire mid-July at DCI Midwest. A bunch of us talked after DCI Midwest prelims about how impressive the Cadets had become after being a complete non-factor early. The corps could have folded earlier in the year, until a huge influx of marchers from Mississippi/Louisiana joined. Those early shows were a struggle, with so many new kids in the ranks, but it rapidly improved.

Going from being 6.5 points down in June to beating them by nearly 18 points in August was incredible!

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Wasn't Billy Kaufman working with them that year? I seem to remember talking to him about their surge

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I was going through some of my old contest files this morning, and I had forgotten what a weird year 1980 was for those corps.

On June 14, in Lynn, MA the scores for these corps were:

Boston Crusaders--57.50

Garfield Cadets--51.05

Two months later, at DCI prelims, the scores were:

Garfield Cadets (10th place)--81.45

Boston Crusaders (25th place)--63.90

I remember that Garfield was starting to catch fire mid-July at DCI Midwest. A bunch of us talked after DCI Midwest prelims about how impressive the Cadets had become after being a complete non-factor early. The corps could have folded earlier in the year, until a huge influx of marchers from Mississippi/Louisiana joined. Those early shows were a struggle, with so many new kids in the ranks, but it rapidly improved.

Going from being 6.5 points down in June to beating them by nearly 18 points in August was incredible!

And the next day BAC beat them by 10 points. It seems BAC scores didn't go anywhere that entire summer. Anyone know the story?

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And the next day BAC beat them by 10 points. It seems BAC scores didn't go anywhere that entire summer. Anyone know the story?

I skipped right over that June 15 show where Garfield was last place.

Some of us will remember the amazing season Boston had in '79, with such a small corps. But I know their staff was bare bones that year.

It must have been ever more so in '80. Their financial problems really showed in the years following, and it's probably a miracle that they survived and later THRIVED.

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Wasn't Billy Kaufman working with them that year? I seem to remember talking to him about their surge

Yes ,Billy was there.

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