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A failed major disqualification attempt....1980...40 years ago


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40 years ago,in 1980,  North Star Drum and Bugle Corps filed a formal protest against the Garfield Cadets, just after the Cadets prelim performance, for an alleged overage member.  There was a delay settling the dispute due to a misplacement of the birth certificate file (which was found later that day), but the corps used another satisfactory way to prove the member's age, and proved that the member was indeed 21 years old, but not overage.  The Cadets did not "return the malice", and a small number of people (including myself) have kept this largely quiet for 40 years now.....but it is an important story in the corps' history.  A large majority of the corps members from 1980 are/were not even aware of this, and even some staff.  We did not want to dampen the spirits of anyone on a great day for the corps.  I will also say that I do not believe that the members of North Star were aware of this, but the staff definitely was.

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11 hours ago, Bob984 said:

but the corps used another satisfactory way to prove the member's age, and proved that the member was indeed 21 years old, but not overage

So what was the alternate method of proving the member's age?

Edited by N.E. Brigand
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9 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said:

So what was the alternate method of proving the member's age?

Did they prove it using magical authorities? I understand that's a thing.

I can't remember: when did George Hopkins become corps director? I know it was in the late 70s or early 80s, but not the precise year.

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28 minutes ago, N.E. Brigand said:

So what was the alternate method of proving the member's age?

They contacted the accused member's college office, and they confirmed his DOB. They found the birth certificates a bit later in the day.

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This is new to me. I am surprised this story has not surfaced prior to this time, especially given the corps involved. There were times when there was mutual respect between 27th, North Star, BAC, Garfield, and Bridgemen, but the rivalries could be fierce too and at times got ugly. What I do recall is at the beginning of the season, it was speculated Garfield would not finish the season. How widespread the speculation was I can’t say. It was Pre-internet and knowing me at the time, if you sounded like you knew what you were talking about, I believed you (1980 was the summer between junior and senior year in high school). North Star seemed to be in good shape. As the season progressed, Garfield made huge strides, made finals, whereas North Star while not exactly plateauing, did lose steam. 

The Eastern MA and CYO circuits held their finals a week after DCI finals. DCI finals was always the hot topic in the stands with heated debates. The biggest discussion was whether 27th was robbed, but I seem to recall some discussion of North Star coming close to not making finals. It was 40 years ago so I don’t remember specifics. Maybe a disqualification could have helped If Blue Stars had edged out North Star.

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