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Famous, or infamous, corps stories, myths, legends


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Late 70's Early 80's Crossmen Rookie Initiation: Football on the bus.

Bus Driver turns on all of the reading lights (stadium lights), everyone sings Notre Dame Victory March, all of the vets head to the back of the bus. The back seat is the end zone. One rookie is designated as a blocker, the other is the ballcarrier. The referee blows the whistle and the rookies run for the endzone. The vets in the back of the bus just beat the crap out of the rookies. Legend has it that the only rookie ever to make to the end zone was snare player (and current WGI Director of Percussion) Mark Thurston in 1979.

Eventually football got so rough that severel bus windows were broken out. SO, football was outlawed by the corps administration and they had to switch to a more tame activity....RUGBY!

Yep, it was true....those guys on the "Boys Bus" were ANIMALS! I've seen rookies being used as a football! I'm not sure if Mark was the only rookie to make it....seems like Karate John and Brett Mascaro made it as well. Both guys were black belts, so getting to the back wasn't a big issue for them. Yes, it did get out of hand and corps director then Robbie Robinson put a stop to it.

Edited by Malibu
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In 2003, I believe it was our first day of tour and I think we were on the interstate in NY. The drumline bus was in front, the staff bus, and then the hornline bus. We come to an abrupt stop at a corner and we were waiting there for quite a while. It seemed like a sudden traffic jam. The other two buses were not visible, they were around the corner. The bus driver is gone, he went to see the other two bus drivers. We sit there for a while, unaware of what is going on. I ventured off the bus and walked out for a bit until I saw another guy walking around and I asked him what the hold up was. His response: "Two buses collided, and its holdin' up traffic"

and it was only the first day of tour

So I head back to my bus and tell some people of what I heard, by the time it got to the back of the bus, it was a major accident between the two buses and people were freakin' out. One of the support staff members, Dave W. came on to our bus to fill us in.

"There was an accident, I don't think anybody died"

After a couple minutes of frantically trying to get in touch with members of the other buses, we find out the real story.

The drumline bus came to an immediate stop because of traffic around the bend. At the precise time the drumline bus stopped...a small Mazda decided to cut off the staff bus. The staff bus slammed on its brakes, but it wasn't enough. The staff bus hit the Mazda, driving it into the back of our drumline bus. The compact car became a pocket-sized sedan. All of our marching members were okay, unfortunately the Mazda had a family of five packed in it, and now they were packed tighter then before. The Jaws-of-Life came and cut them out. The only injuries were cuts and bruising, possibly some broken bones.

One of our visual tech grabbed the emblem of the car and I think it was on our podium for a short while.

Now....ask somebody that marched 2002 about when the food truck flipped over and they spent the year surviving off other corps food and PB+J

Edited by tborden10
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Here's one that I've heard, but never got any confirmation on...

There were rumors that the FrankenContras that Crossmen played on in the mid/late 80's were tubas that had been converted to G, and that there was a hidden feature (slide somewhere?) that acted as a 3rd valve...anyone have some info on this?

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I have only read up to about page 5, but I think I'll throw this one in, as I doubt it has been mentioned (apologies if it has)

2005 Blue Devils...there were phone calls and emails being received by members and staff from all sorts of people around the country claiming that they heard 11 people (or 9, or 10, or 18 depending on who you heard it from) were cut from the corps for smoking crack!

Marching members and staff members from other corps were constantly asking if this was true.

Where people get these ideas!.....

Perc2100 posted:

* that year a few years back when a BD bass drummer got busted the night of Semi's for smoking weed, was isolated by corps staff the day of finals, but somehow 'stole' his uniform and drum and ran out onto the field after the onfield warm-up and marched the show

That is true. That would be 2000 BD. The bass line relearned drill and music for 4 bass drums during finals week. The corps went onto the field with on finals night with 4 basses. The incarcerated bass player was able to secure his uniform and drum and RUN onto the field. The other 4 basses saw him coming, opened up his spot and they marched the 5 bass show.

Another true BD story....

In the mid 80s, the corps was on a long overnight haul from somewhere to somewhere, the places escape me at the moment. The corps pulled into a truck-stop to refuel the buses and use the restrooms and such. After sometime, most of the members were back on the bus minus 4 stragglers. These 4 members were walking back to the buses when a small posse of some local yokels intercepted the 4 BD members and started causing trouble. Supposedly the local yokel hilly-billy fellas began with some verbal harrassment and then tried to get physically violent when the 4 members didn't respond favorably. Unfortunately for the attackers, this all happened within site of the corps buses. As soon as it was evident that there was a problem, all 3 buses UNLOADED in no time and the corps was quickly on its way to their comrades aid. When the attacking hilly-billy's caught site and sound of well over 100 hairy and athletic young men (and women) running full bore while shouting to them, the attackers quickly changed their tune and made a get away in their nearby truck and sped off.

What a sight that mustve been!

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This isn't really an urban legend or anything, but I thought it was an interesting story. During finals week this summer, a few friends of mine from Pioneer told me that they were at a laundromat and there was a shooting out front and a couple people saw it. I'm not sure if these members were just telling me stories or what but still scary.

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Here's one that I've heard, but never got any confirmation on...

There were rumors that the FrankenContras that Crossmen played on in the mid/late 80's were tubas that had been converted to G, and that there was a hidden feature (slide somewhere?) that acted as a 3rd valve...anyone have some info on this?

You might be referring to the contras Cadets used in 93....those WERE converted Yamaha tubas with an attachment that put them into G....and by that time the 3rd valve had been legalized.

That's why the valves were in line with the length of the contra instead of the more comfortable position on a contra like a K-90 or Kanstul.

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