Troopers not Fielding a corps for 2006

[bstar82]

William, If you don't mind me asking, what does your brother do nowadays?

[Kimberly]

Thank you, everyone, for the supportive words, purchases, and donations.

[Eggbert]

Nice to see the Bergenfield Sunburst performed so well. Who said drum corps never borrowed from bands back "in the day"?

Not sure who was first but Troopers did it as early as 1960. Did Bergenfield do it before that? Here's an original Troopers drill sheet.

http://www.troopersdrumcorps.org/pafiledb/...ion=file&id=125

For the youngsters and anyone interested in the history: The band director at Bergenfield HS was Bernard Baggs, who started judging drum corps in 1946 and judged the Troopers every summer. He was succeeded by Don Angelica, DCI head judge for many years. Bergenfield was among the first and finest drum corps influenced marching bands.

[Bob Brady]

Mark Mason PERSONALLY brought the Glassmen back from dead. They didn't "take a year off", we FOLDED in the classic sense of the word, in an inglorious ball of flame and finger-pointing. MANY have contributed to the success the Glassmen enjoy today, and this is not meant to ignore or minimize their contributions to the activity or the corps, but my hat is off to Mark Mason, as it was his vision and determination that accomplished the feat.

Anyone see it differently?

Randy Williams

Hey Randy! What brought YOU out of the woodwork? :P Welcome!

You are so right! If it wasn't for Mark and a few other people- Herb Gatwood, Andre' Mason etc..... along with a dedicated (But very, very small) group of vets, the corps would never have come back.This was actually a very interesting topic of discussion at the Alumni get-together in June at the Toledo show, how Mark got the job done when no-one thought it was possible after the disasterous way we had crashed and burned! I've still never regretted coming back to march instead of going to a top 5 corps like I had planned, even though we were as bad as we were those first couple of years. (79 was a long, long summer!)

Not trying to start a flame war here but, sometimes it seems that the kind of loyalty that was displayed by the people who got the Glassmen off the ground again just doesn't exist anymore. Even though we were small and bad, and didn't begin their rise to prominence until after I aged out(Hmmmm........) it's always been good to know that I had some small part in the re-birth of the corps.

Edited October 4, 2005 by Bob Brady

[ContraRich77]

What a difficult decision to make.

As painful as this decision had to be, it's probably in the best interests of the corps in the long run. Best of luck to the Troopers, we look forward to your return in 07 :)

[MrsV]

Attention brass and woodwind band students in the Denver area who would like to support the Troopers:

There will be a Performance Clinic at Baker Middle School on October 8 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm conducted by Jason Buckingham. The Clinic is a joint effort by the Troopers and Denver Citywide Marching Band Parents Corporation to raise money for both organizations.

The cost is $15 for participants. Registration is from 12pm - 1pm on Saturday. All proceeds will be split 50/50 between the 2 organizations.

See Trooper Press Release on their home page

Go to the DCMB Parents Corporation Website for clinic information and directions or to download the flyer and registration form.

This clinic was organized by Jason and myself shortly after the Troopers returned from tour this past summer. We are proceeding as scheduled and expect participation from many area Trooper members.

If you have any questions or would like to RSVP please send me an email.

Looking forward to the Troopers return in 2007!

[Goldpin]

This is a real shock. I was fortunate enough to compete against the Troopers at a contest in Renton, WA and then a few days later at the VFW nationals in Seattle in 1963. Their M&M was the best I've ever seen!

I sincerely hope that this is just a hicup and they'll be back in 2007.

Edited October 5, 2005 by Goldpin

[CrunchyTenor]

Southwind miss one year and came back D1, so I hope Casper comes back as A D1 corps, unlike the Magic who miss two years and were D2 when they came back. Doesn't dci have a rule about about missing a year and remaining a D1 corps?

You have to miss two consecutive years to lose Div I status. Only re-emerging corps who miss two or more years, or new corps just starting up, have to compete in Div II/III before petitioning for Div I.

Garry

[Cainan]

This is he right thing to do. I wish VK had made a move like this before things got so bad. They might still be around today.

Troopers will come back bigger and better than ever.

I hope you're right!

[MikeD]

Not sure who was first but Troopers did it as early as 1960. Did Bergenfield do it before that? Here's an original Troopers drill sheet.

...

For the youngsters and anyone interested in the history: The band director at Bergenfield HS was Bernard Baggs, who started judging drum corps in 1946 and judged the Troopers every summer. He was succeeded by Don Angelica, DCI head judge for many years. Bergenfield was among the first and finest drum corps influenced marching bands.

I was told (back in my Garfield days) that Dr Baggs did the expansion sunburst with Bergenfield going back to the 50's, and that Jim Jones got the idea from Don Angelica. It was confirmed on RAMD a few years ago, but I do not remember who confirmed it.

I don't know if the drill page you show is an expansion sunburst as we know it today, or if that block just went right to the outer points on the circle. Either way...it's VERY neat.

Don became the personnel director of the entire Bergenfield school district by tghe late 60's, and he would provide 'regular' teaching jobs to Cadet staff where possible....as an example, Fred Sanford, who did our drumline in 72, was band director that year. All sorts of extra staff from the Cadets would also teach the band, even as just adjunct positions.

Frank Levy was orchestra director at Bergenfield, and he was our asst brass guy in 72, when Don was our main brass person. Frank later took on the head band job too and was there through the 80's at least. I think he also became a DCI brass judge for a while.

Interesting...for decades (and maybe still)...while they had one fo the best MB in the state, they would NEVER compete. They did festivals and pro games, but no competitions.

Dr Baggs was asst Principal at the Roy Brown Middle School after his band director days ended. I invited he and his wife to my senior college recital in 1975, as his son was a good friend of mine and was performing with me. Just as I was about to go on stage to do my first piece, a solo timpani work, Bernie (Jr) told me his dad was a timpanist primarily. Imagine how scared that made me feel, this drum corps kid who had known of Dr Baggs FOREVER as THE judge. :)

Luckily, all went well.

Mike