bnite777 Posted January 20, 2021 Share Posted January 20, 2021 Forest Creson Belleville Black Knights I know many will say WHO? When Drum Corps was an East Coast activity with a little activity in Chicago(includes Wisconsin). Mr Creson was developing a powerhouse Jr. Drum Corps from small Southern Illinois (35,000) town. Not only was he a Director. He arranged the music and wrote the drill and taught both. The drums were taught by a high school senior which by the way had won the 1953 American Legion Individual Drum Championship in St. Louis,Mo. Forest was assisted by ONE other person on the business side and they each drove the corps buses. When touring was not in the Drum Corps vocabulary. Forest scheduled the Knights in two Philadelphia area contests on the way to Nationals (1955) included Eastern powerhouse juniors. By the way we did not win. Also for the record the 2 people running the Corps did not get paid. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg_orangecounty Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 On 1/15/2021 at 6:57 PM, ajlisko said: Jones set the prototype for the touring corps ... and his leadership spawned the likes of Emmonds, Meehan and Sanford to travel further West to define the future of corps like Santa Clara and the Blue Devil's ... all paying it forward ... Fact check...............TRUE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg_orangecounty Posted January 21, 2021 Share Posted January 21, 2021 Don Porter - Anaheim Kingsmen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdewine Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 I would like to share the opinion that the greatest corps director, was YOUR corps director. Did your corps director teach you about teamwork, dedication, discipline, how to win...how to lose? Did he or she help mold you into a responsible young citizen, help to expand your horizons in life? You get where I'm going with this. If THIS was your corps director, well then...they were the best. I'm proud to say Col. "Bud" Floyd of Utica's Magnificent Yankees was the best corps director ever! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 (edited) Just saw this thread. Slow on the uptake. LOL So many... many of them mentioned already. For sheer longevity/stability/success, for me it has to be Jim Costello of the Hawthorne Caballeros. Director of that corps from its inception in 1946 until his passing in 2001. And the Caballeros' director/business manager team of Costello and Bob Murray was together from circa 1963 until Jim's 2001 passing (Bob passed away in 2002). That's a record that I believe is unmatched in the history of drum corps, and probably never will be surpassed. Edited June 19, 2021 by Fran Haring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 (edited) I'd say the team of Larry Hershman and Chuck Saia at Westshore were real positives for me. Work HARD. Don't be afraid to play hard either as long as it doesn't get too far. Don't dare take yourself too seriously, you'll look like a jerk. Bring in the great people you need to cultivate a culture of excellence. Make sure the corps is stable finanically. Be a gracious loser, and a gracious winner. Maybe be more of a gracious winner and be appreciative and respectful. I could go on. So many positive names listed, I knew a few of them. Heard many great things about Carmen Cluna when he was with St. Ignatius. I go to know Carmen Cirlincione, and as I knew him more over time with some of his work with the Spirit of Newark helping those kids grow as adults and musicians... he deserves a mention here as well. Edited June 19, 2021 by BigW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunther Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 I don't think Carman Cluna was the director of any corps, especially not Tom Costa's St. Ignatius. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Otani Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 Gail Royer hands down! The man never drew a paycheck in all his years as Director and still produced a successful drum corps to this day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigW Posted June 23, 2021 Share Posted June 23, 2021 On 6/21/2021 at 7:46 PM, gunther said: I don't think Carman Cluna was the director of any corps, especially not Tom Costa's St. Ignatius. Was told he was there at some point by a member. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajlisko Posted June 23, 2021 Share Posted June 23, 2021 Pretty sure Carman was Director of St. Rita's, New Image, LI Sound and maybe St Ignatius at some point in time ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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