Sky Ryders

[Pittman]

I miss Sky. In '93, I was stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas, which is right next to the city of Killeen. That year, Sky had unofficially moved to Killeen--Dallas (they were actually from DeSoto at that time) being about 2 or so hours away. I had the great fortune to see them rehearse a couple times, since they spent most of their time at a high school there. That year would also be the last year I would get too see the Freelancers on the field.

Funny that we take for granted that our corps will be around forever.

Hey! I'm from Killeen as well, and Sky stayed at my high school (Killeen HS). I had the good fortune of being the baritone section leader in Sky's last year.

92 was a decent year. We performed Brigadoon, keeping with the traditional Sky Ryders type show.

93... weirdness... we started off camps intending to play MacBeth's "Of Sailors and Whales" and that got canned for a show entitled "New Horizons" I think the staff was attempting to move the identity of the corps somewhere else, i'm not sure. We had Paul Rennick teaching Drums and Jack Meehan doing hornline, but our visual program was lacking some *oomph*

Halfway through the season we had to scrap the ENTIRE visual book. We brought in Tony Hall to re-write the drill and add to the uniforms and colorguard design. It worked, but I think it was too little too late. The drumline placed in the top 12, and I think the hornline placed 14th or so..... but our visual package was so poorly executed/designed (we never got comfortable, ever... i remember making changes the day before quarters) that we ended up 20th overall. Needless to say, it was a disappointing year for us.

As for why they folded.... there are many rumors about it all, and this is a classic "what I know" type explanation. In 93 we had a $1400 tour fee... that being said, we had no food. For the home show in Killeen our pre-show meal was jello with fruit in it, and a banana. Many people on the staff did not get paid for the duration of the season. I distinctly remember going to Cadets with boxes of butter to try to trade for Chicken Patties for my corps. All this going on, and the corps director has a new truck. It may be pure speculation, but it seemed obvious that money was not going where it was supposed to and rumors persist that someone was trying to make a profit off of a non-profit organization.

In 94, camps were going very badly, with Sky destined to be a moderate Div II size, but we weren't giving up ...suddenly, in April we were all sent letters that Sky was folding. We were no longer financially capable of fielding a corps and would not come out that season. No announcement at a corps meeting, just a letter in the mail. Lots of equipment was never returned (horns, poles, etc) ... we simply did not exist anymore. That year I think every top 12 corps had at least two people from Sky in it, and we kept track of each other through the years. I think I was one of the last Sky Ryders to age out in 97, but I could be wrong.

I miss Sky, and I never forget them. I brought my member jacket on tour with me every season, as well as the tape recording I have of the last time we sang and played rainbow in the parking lot of the school we stayed at in Jackson, MS. I used them, every season, as a reminder to the corps members I was with, to show them that this activity is fleeting. That you can turn around one day, and your family is gone. I used it to impress on them to cherish every day we have together, because it can all end.

that's just my version of the story, I'm sure there are others out there. Hope this helps.

~Jason

[edited for typos]

Edited January 27, 2004 by Pittman

[SSilverStarD&BC]

Hope the Sky Ryders come back soon... I think it would be great...

[Gorgo]

I always found Dave's instruction ability to be very good and additionally, he had an incredibly dry wit to him, so if you hung around him you were likely to hear someone get slammed out of the blue.

I know where David got that dry wit - his dad is LOADED with it. I've never heard him use it to slam anyone personally, but man can he do some editorial commentary! :) B)

[SSilverStarD&BC]

Bump

[rwrice]

...

Edited May 19, 2004 by rwrice

[bd5times]

I marched when Sky Ryders first came out to California in 1982. They had a gorgeous horn sound that we only were able to hear at retreat. The typical retreat sound out west is crass, loud, blaring......just not good stuff. Sky Ryders would play "Over the Rainbow" and just blow us away with their sound. We [ Blue Devils ] rarely displayed any type of appreciation of our competitors, but when we did, it was the entire horn line applauding another corps performance, scores, or whatever at retreat. I can remember many retreats where we stood on the field applauding Sky Ryders retreat performance.

One of my favorite ones is Sky Ryders playing a killer arrangement of "Happy Birthday" on Fourth of July in 1982 in Stockton Ca. WOW!

[Jeff Ream]

i never really liked Sky until 85, the first of the musical years, and actually, i liked the *% Wizard better than the 86 version.

87 WSS was just awesome. i still get goosebumps to this day.

88 is so under rated, especially that drum solo.

hmm, we need a poll for pick your fave Sky ryders musical

[84BDsop]

88 is so under rated, especially that drum solo.

I loooooove that drum solo....yummy all the way around!

[Jeff Ream]

yeah i have to agree. ahead of it's time in some ways w/the arranging.

[oldargonne]

Sounds a little like the Sky Ryders "appeared" in the 80's. They have a long tradition in Kansas and in national competition that goes back well before 1960. They won the Kansas Legion title several times during those years and represented Kansas at nationals more than once. I still have some records from the "Starlight Drum-o-rama" (their home show).

The competition that the Sky Ryders gave us in the early 60's helped to keep Argonne focused on improvement. For a while we passed them up, but they sure outlasted us.