The DCI Yearlys: 1982

[apoch003]

WONDERFUL stories!!!

I guess it's my turn finally....

Argonauts: Can't even remember what we played during this year... but I DO remember we played an actual march. The beginning of our label (we called ourselves GoatHeads, hee), and it was the last year of our bright orange uniforms with the blue cross stripes. Man, we hated those tacky things. But they were pretty much indestructable.

We grew stronger as a unit, of course. Now that we were growing up quite a bit and weren't so young or green on the field.

One thing I CLEARLY remember is Valley Fever. We all loved their show and would chant their name while they took the field. What we didn't realize was that they noticed us too! Right after first tour our corps received a huge box of souvies from VF, including frisbees, buttons, t-shirts etc... we were ecstatic!

Freelancers were also running strong during this time, but you could begin to see some strain on the cost of running their corps. Eventually, they'd get new uniforms to replace the red cadet style, but it would be too late to save them.

Back to Argonauts: By the end of the season, we were on fire for an A class corps, and we were gearing up for 1983. We KNEW we were going open class, and we KNEW the northwest corps were in for a shock when they saw us in the coming year. We were sick of taking second and third place and we weren't going to take it anymore.

Can't wait for my 83 stories! :P

[George82]

The Dream Contest that year was held in the stadium at Rutgers University. That day prior to our performance Michael Cesario had trouble getting into the press box to view our show. He must have gotten into it too much with the local authorities because they arrested him and hauled him off to the slammer!

Hoppy had to go and bail him out...boy did we give him alot of greif at rehearsal later on that evening :)

[Malibu]

Pictures please?  Of Crossmen?  Got any?  :)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah....I got pictures for ya Nancy.....I'll scan them later. B)

[byline]

I thought I was the only one who experienced this...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh, no. In fact, that could be a whole 'nuther poll. Hey, Keith!

[byline]

Blue Devils had the win, but Garfield was the corps with momentum.

Great post, Rob! Gosh, how can you remember so much detail? Thanks for sharing your memories with us!

[byline]

We may have run out of time but looming on the horizon......1983!!!

Another great post just crammed with memories. Thanks!

[Redmann]

The Marquis of Fond du Lac, who had folded in 1978 and reformed as a parade corps had former members marching with Madison, Phantom and The Cavaliers.

For a small corps from a small town, having seven former members on the field in Montreal is a feat worth noting.

Cavies:

Zankle

Theisen

Behlke

Madison:

Redmann

Redmann

Burhow

Phantom:

Dodge

DCI Midwest Prelims was the only show that Madison beat Phantom...but even more memorable for me was that I lost my mouthpiece during the Yogie turn before Slaughter. It was buried so deep in the dirt that I couldn't play a note after warm-up. I was scheduled to play the Ice Castles solo but had to tell Sean Owens that he had to play it instead. There was a judge listening as I told Sean, and I think the judge was actually laughing! I DO NOT find a correlation between me not playing and our beating Phantom!!!!!

Edited May 4, 2005 by Redmann

[Jd83]

Madison did surprise us a couple of times during the season, especially at DCM with the runoff. What a great experience!!! What happened to Marquis also happened to the Louisiana Soutnernaires. By the time I aged out, we had people in BD, Madison (in 84, after I aged out), Garfield, a bunch of us in the Regiment, Sky Ryders, and Crossmen. Every Southernaire who tried out for a DCI Finalist corps made it. That is the level of talent the Southernaires had.

Being a member of the Phantom Regiment was an amazing experience and being a part of the corps has had positive effects on me, even to this day. We knew the '82 Spartacus show would be different than what was on the field at the time, but never knew how far reaching the show would be.

Gotta go to work. More later...

[Russellrks]

Many people would say that 1983 was Suncoast Sound's breakout year but 1982 was really the year that brought about the changes that would catapult this corps to the success that was to come throughout the rest of the 80's.

The corps was still young and inexperienced (avg. age about 16) and lacked confidence, but from the moment I arrived on the scene, I could see and hear that the quality was there in horns (Robert Smith, brass caption head, arranger and program coordinator, nuff said), and the drumline, though undisciplined, was a talented group (Kim Lloyd, caption head and arranger). I was hired to bring up the marching and was given my first, and as it turns out, my only opportunity to try my hand at show design. (Thanks Robert)

Also hired that year was Mike Raiford to teach the color guard. Mike had a successful winter guard in South Florida and brought some very fresh and original ideas to Suncoast. Mike and I sometimes clashed... me being the old school, military type, and he being more, let's say "Theatrical" but with the changes that were about to come in the activity he proved to be a perfect fit and had alot to do with the visual identity that Suncoast would take on.

In the spring of 82, Al Murray was added to the staff to help whip the drumline into shape. Al and I had taught together at Spirit of Atlanta in the late 70's and his talent and experience was a huge factor in the success of Suncoast for all the years in which he was involved, and then some.

82 was also the year that Frank Williams came on board. Frank was a high school band director in the area and I believe this was his first time teaching a drum corps at any level.

We took our lumps and paid alot of dues in 1982, but this was the group of instructors, along with Jeff Davis on brass, Roxanne (Rocky) Davis and Greg Martin on guard, Rick Adams and Kyle "plates" Johnson on drums, and Kevin McAllister and Mike Wunderlin on marching, with of course a great group of hard working kids, that turned the corner and got Suncoast Sound over the hump and on it's way to greatness.

Edited May 7, 2005 by Russellrks

[Jd83]

We didn't get to see too many corps in '82, because of when we entered the field. Although Madison and Cavies were our Midwest rivals, we all got along pretty well. We got along with SCV, too. Loved their opener that year. Performing in Bayonne was cool, although we lost to Garfield after both corps put on great performances.

The cape came in handy for the early season Midwest shows. Temperatures at night were on the cool side, especially after we finished performing the DCM Runoff, and the cape served as a windbreaker. Where I'm from, summer night time lows usually hover in the 80s or 90s, which is what I was used to.

I remember us taking a lap around the back stands at US Open Prelims that year before going on the field. I still have my US Open Champion medallions from '83 and '83.

I met some great people in the Regiment, many of them I haven't seen since then. Again, marching with the Regiment was one of the greatest experiences in my life. Although we didn't win the DCI Championship, I am very proud to have been a part of this corps.