The night Santa Clara became THE Vanguard

[Minimaster]

What a great story, it's funny that after 34 years the Troopers unis still look cool and the Kilties still look bigger and older than everybody else. :D The more things chage, the more they stay the same.

[Gorgo]

Wow - great story!! Thanks for sharing it!!! :)

[Jim Anello]

I was there. You guys were awesome!

Although 10,000 midwesterners probably try to say this, I also really was there when you beat the Troopers in Milwaukee at the Ranger show(anybody remember the Rangers?). I remember the crowd going crazy during the mellophone duet in "Nobles". If I remember correctly, the duet marched along the downstage sideline with their horns up to the box - a relatively new concept in 1970 - while the rest of the corps was going backfield. Did I remember that correctly?

One of the most often played CDs I own is the Nostalgia Drum Corps recording of that show. You, Del, Garfield, Cavies, Madison and Kilts, all on one CD. Coooool!

[BobB]

I was there.  You guys were awesome!

Although 10,000 midwesterners probably try to say this, I also really was there when you beat the Troopers in Milwaukee at the Ranger show(anybody remember the Rangers?).  I remember the crowd going crazy during the mellophone duet in "Nobles".  If I remember correctly, the duet marched along the downstage sideline with their horns up to the box - a relatively new concept in 1970 - while the rest of the corps was going backfield.  Did I remember that correctly?

One of the most often played CDs I own is the Nostalgia Drum Corps recording of that show.  You, Del, Garfield, Cavies, Madison and Kilts, all on one CD. Coooool!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was there, too. In the Kilties. I remember the moment when the Troopers were announced in 2nd. The audience (and it was big--Marquette stadium?) went absolutely nuts. That was also when: (1) The Vanguard really became THE Vanguard in our eyes; (2) all of us--Kilties, anyway, and probably everyone else--really started asking "who are these guys anyway?". (A la Butch & Sundance---except they weren't behind us, they were now in front of us.)

More to the story: The next night (I think) in Streator IL (I think) we were up against SCV, and got our butts kicked again. We finally had a chance to watch 'em, and did---closely, and with our jaws dropping. I remember we all noticed a very young kid in their tenor line, I think (playing traditional grip, revealing Trooper influence)--about 2 feet shorter and 5 years younger than anyone else but obviously playing his *% off. I believe this was Rob Carson in one of his first years??? All in all, one of THE watershed weekends for drum corps--ever. Great memories still.

[ravedodger]

I thought troopers uniform was modeled after the 11th ohio cavalry

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They are, but only if you keep the '11' rather than a '7' on the insignia.

[ptr250]

That was Robbie, but not on tenor, he always was on snare. As far as the mellos go I believe the move was as described, but I think the horns were level. Anyway it was a great year to be a rookie!

Paul

[alankarls]

The 2004 version of the "Racine Show" just took place on July 5th at historic Horlick field. The people of Racine still remember that 1970 SCV performance. We were talking about all of the surprises that show has produced over the years at the post-show party at DeMark's bar just down the street from Horlick field. We couldn't decide if the biggest surprise in Racine 4th show history was 1970 SCV or 1968 Racine Scouts surprising victory. Certainly the 1970 SCV performance was more historically significant!

J.C.

P.S. There's something special about performing for packed houses at Horlick field! I was lucky enough to get to do it again on Saturday! It never gets old!

The Racine Scouts won the 1967 show. It was the only time in their long history that the Scouts ever won a show in Horlick Field, and the Scout first performed in Horlick Field in the 1920s. It was an up and down year for a lot of corps. Scores were all over the place. And at that show, after our performance, our idiot staff yelled at us for ten minutes, telling us that we embarrassed ourselves, it was terrible, we should be ashamed. So going into the retreat, we were really bummed out. We expected to take last. As each corps was announced, we got more and more surprised. By the time we got past the Kilties, we were sure that Annie Mixdorf had screwed up the tabulating again. When we were announced as the winners, we were more scared than happy. We hadn't beaten a Chicago corps other than Norwood since 1964. And we were scared of the Chicago corps. And they weren't happy. There was some jostling by them as we left the field, and we crammed all 100 of our members onto one bus, with equipment, to get the hell out of there before something bad happened.

It was the highpoint of our career, especially since the winner of the show always got to go first in the very long Racine 4th of July parade the next morning, so it meant we'd get out of town early to get to the show that day.

[elphaba01]

The night Santa Clara became THE Vanguard.

The year was 1970 and our first show in the Midwest just happened to be in Racine. Ya know Racine, in the heart of drum corps land. Home to the two time defending champions Kilties as well as the Racine Scouts. Now we weren’t all that bad. After all the corps just missed finals last year by .05 and we did just defeat the Kingsmen to become California State Champs, but this was the big time.

Here I was in my first big show and I felt so inferior in my red and green satin top with black pants. I mean we were standing in the same area as the Kilties and the Troopers. The kilts looked so much older and bigger than us and the Troopers in those 7th Calvary uniforms looked so cool. To top it off the stands were packed with fans that were used to seeing the best drum corps had to offer.

Finally it was time to perform. We opened with “Fanfare and Allegro” and then went straight into “Procession of the Nobles”. About twelve measures into the off the line something amazing happened. The fans started to rise into a standing “O”. They stayed standing until we stopped for our concert. Fred Sanchez started concert with his bari solo dat de dat dat dat dah da dat dat dat dat dah. By the time Wayne Downey came out for his sop solo the stands had already erupted into another enthusiastic standing “O”. As we finished our concert I couldn’t believe the crowds reaction, they were going crazy. After they settled our DM called out “Resume Hut” and we were off with “Richman” and once again the crowd went crazy. After we finished our show and snapped our horns down we were greeted by the PA announcer screaming over the crowd “Wonderful show…wonderful show… the “Santa Clara Vanguard”.

We didn’t win that night. We lost to the Troopers by a penalty. GR stated that the crowd got us so pumped, that we marched the whole second half of the show at almost double time and the show ended up over a minute short.

What an amazing night! We basically received a standing “O” from start to finish. In my four years in the corps nothing compared to the excitement of that night. A couple of nights later we beat the Cavies and later the Troopers. Then we went back home, leaving the DC elite in our wake. Because of money we didn’t have a chance to go to the big show (VFW in Miami), but we did win our first title in Portland.

"Santa Clara Arrives"

The "Numbers":

1. 82.50 Santa Clara Vanguard

2. 81.65 Casper Troopers

3. 80.35 Chicago Cavaliers

4. 77.75 Madison Scouts

5. 76.95 LaCrosse Blue Stars

6. 76.45 Racine Kilties

7. 74.85 Argonne Rebels

8. 74.45 Garfield Cadets

9. 71.60 DeLaSalle Oaklands

10. 70.50 St Paul Scouts

All the defending National Champions (Troopers CYO & WO), Cavaliers (AL) and Racine Kilties (VFW) were at this show.

Scores courtesy of CorpsReps.com

Thanks for the great story.

Elphaba

WWW

[BobB]

The Racine Scouts won the 1967 show. It was the only time in their long history that the Scouts ever won a show in Horlick Field, and the Scout first performed in Horlick Field in the 1920s. It was an up and down year for a lot of corps. Scores were all over the place. And at that show, after our performance, our idiot staff yelled at us for ten minutes, telling us that we embarrassed ourselves, it was terrible, we should be ashamed. So going into the retreat, we were really bummed out. We expected to take last. As each corps was announced, we got more and more surprised. By the time we got past the Kilties, we were sure that Annie Mixdorf had screwed up the tabulating again. When we were announced as the winners, we were more scared than happy. We hadn't beaten a Chicago corps other than Norwood since 1964. And we were scared of the Chicago corps. And they weren't happy. There was some jostling by them as we left the field, and we crammed all 100 of our members onto one bus, with equipment, to get the hell out of there before something bad happened.

It was the highpoint of our career, especially since the winner of the show always got to go first in the very long Racine 4th of July parade the next morning, so it meant we'd get out of town early to get to the show that day.

I remember that one...you guys beat all the midwest's big guns. Shocking but in a good way--great corps that ended up, I think, 6th or so at VFW. Also remember some graffiti appearing the next day at an underpass on the south side of Racine, obviously (to a few of us, who recognized the names) posted by a couple of Scouts. At least they were smart enough to not include the Racine Scouts in their artwork--instead choosing to "advertise" their first names (<cough> Gregg? Jeff?) and their high school class. That graffiti stayed there for years. Must have been quite a party after the show (once you got away from your staff).

[alankarls]

I remember that one...you guys beat all the midwest's big guns. Shocking but in a good way--great corps that ended up, I think, 6th or so at VFW. Also remember some graffiti appearing the next day at an underpass on the south side of Racine, obviously (to a few of us, who recognized the names) posted by a couple of Scouts. At least they were smart enough to not include the Racine Scouts in their artwork--instead choosing to "advertise" their first names (<cough> Gregg? Jeff?) and their high school class. That graffiti stayed there for years. Must have been quite a party after the show (once you got away from your staff).

Cavaliers weren't in the show, but many of them were in the audience. Some of them told us afterwards that we deserved to win the show and might have beat them that night if they were there. The Vanguard and Royal Airs will tell you the opposite. CSJA crushed us in every show they judged the rest of the year. For instance, a month later, we went to Chicago and CSJA put us 10 points behind Blue Stars and 12 points behind the Vanguard. Two weeks later, at nationals, we beat Blue Stars by 6. No one can tell me we got 16 points better in two weeks. I never liked CSJA. For them, it was Illinois first, everyone else second. And if you beat one of their corps, you paid for it the rest of the year.