Anyone heard of this corps?

[mwpercussion14]

I have a feeling that they would get more talent at auditions if they made the switch.

[Matt_S]

lose the Irish theme (it's getting you nowhere)

Uh-oh, don't open up that can of worms again.

[sburstall]

While researching something else, I found a corps that placed 26th in prelims at the 1973 championships. This corps' name is.. is...

The Thing <----- b**bs

I now have a new favorite corps of all time! There's no info on them from corpsreps.com. I MUST see pics or know what shows they did. hehehe Anybody hear of them?

They DID place 7th in Drums in prelims that year.

"The Thing" was a merger of Imperials of St. Patrick's and the Thunderbolts. The corps, which was to become Pioneer, didn't know what to call itself at that time. It was a temporary name change.

Edited May 18, 2006 by sburstall

[Blackstar]

Yes, they should definitely change their name back to The Thing. Then they should schedule a one time only contest at the end of the season with only the Crossmen as their competition. They could bill it "The X-Men vs. The Thing."

:)

Thanks for getting me in trouble at work and having to explain what the laughter was about. :P

[Rocketman]

The name Pioneer was adopted when the Pioneer Container Corporation agreed to sponsor the corps in 1974.

Is this still the case? If, not, I agree, go back to "The Thing." One of our contra players in Regiment marched "Thing."

RM - What Thing?

ampssuck

[Rocketman]

It also appears one "Patrick Seidling" marched tympani for them in 1982!

RM - My Thingy Dingy

ampssuck

[drumcat]

Maybe instead of a name change, as a tribute they play one refrain of "The Addams Family" theme, and snap fingers during their one-minute warmup.

Now THAT would make me wait on the concession stand!

[marchinalong8]

Yes, they should definitely change their name back to The Thing. Then they should schedule a one time only contest at the end of the season with only the Crossmen as their competition. They could bill it "The X-Men vs. The Thing."

:)

HAHA! Nice. Will there be super villians as well?

[uncle z]

Here's a little bit of the history (from the Cedarburg Thunderbolts' website):

1973

The new year began with much promise, and sadness over the resignation of Mr. Bates. Bill Schultz and Jim Nordgren began to take on a more active role in running the corps. The search for a new director ended when the Booster Club welcomed Tom Wridt on board. He had been a former director of the Kiltie Kadets, and lived in Franklin, Wis.

The corps looked like it was going to be very successful early on. There was a huge turnout at a camp held in early spring, at which there were over 40 horn players present. They played a beautiful version of the Star Spangled Banner, and a representative of the Kenosha show booked the corps into their prestigous May show.

Then things took a turn for the worse. The members began to rely on the “college kids,” and felt that they could slack off. Membership dropped drastically, and soon the corps was looking for members. There were disagreements at the top management level, and at a special May 9, 1973 Board meeting, the resignation of Tom Wridt was accepted. Beverly Town, who had been business manager, also stepped down. Bill Schultz finally agreed to take over as director.

As the competition season drew closer, the corps worked frantically to get ready. So were other corps. Roman Blenski, the director of the Imperials of St. Patrick from Milwaukee...the same man who had listened to Bill Loebel at Badgerland meetings years before, and who had argued with him at Port Washington, approached Bill Schultz about the possibility of him helping the St. Pat’s horn line. Schultz mentioned his small drum line, and the problems he was anticipating. Blenski had the opposite problem...a small horn line, and a good drum line. Soon, rumors began flying of a merger of the two organizations.

The corps was really not ready to perform their first show. The score was 34. The place was dead last. No one picked up the score sheets or attended the critique. The decision was already made. If the Thunderbolts were to compete, it would have been a long, difficult year. On June 1st, the corps merged with the Imperials of St. Patrick.

The arrangement of the Booster Club called for Blenski to take over as director of the corps, with Schultz as Staff co-ordinator. The instructors worked out a new show, combining elements of both corps. Camps were arranged, and the new corps was ready by June 24th.

The resulting new corps was named “The Thing,” a temporary name. It was quite a sight, 140 members strong. The horn section and flag line wore Thunderbolt uniforms, and the drum line and rifles wore St. Pat’s uniforms. The combination of red, white, blue, green and black was....well...interesting.

The history of The Thing and the resulting Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corps is a huge story in itself. The Thunderbolts ceased to exist as a class A corps as of June 1, 1973.

The Thunderbolts feeder corps continued to operate for a number of years after the merger, as did the St. Patrick feeder unit. However, in 1976, the Thunderbolt group cut its affiliation with the Pioneers and attempted to compete by itself. They met with limited success, however, and officially disbanded in 1979.

The Thunderbolt name was then carried on by a color guard which resulted from the disbanding of the corps. The guard still marches in parades and winter competitions.

1973 program: Everything’s Coming Up Roses, Star Spangled Banner, You Made Me So Very Happy, Keep the Customer Satisfied, Rainy Days and Mondays.

Concourse of Champions, Kenosha, May 27th, 6th, 34.

[sburstall]

HAHA! Nice. Will there be super villians as well?

You don't need a villian. Marvel has this thing about super-heroes battling each other because of miscommunication. The X-Men, more times than naught, battled other super-hero groups until they find out who was ultimately behind the whole fiasco.