JimF-LowBari Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 Researching sponsorships of corps and ran into something that just looks strange to this Lutheran boy..... Have a listing of corps at CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) shows that don't sound like they would be sponsored by a Catholic church (Our Lady of Blessed St Cartman, etc, etc). Were the CYO contests open to all corps or just corps sponsored by CYO groups? Or is this like ye olde "wink and a nod" AL and VFW sponsorships that went on back in the day (know that one first hand ^0^ ). Probably could get this answered on RAMD and DC of 60s/70s newgroups quick but I'm at work (it's lunchtime....) and newsgroups are blocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lp1955 Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 The CYO Nationals were a invite only and one of the biggest shows of the Summer. It was open to all corps usually the top corps in the country and a couple of up and comming corps. I think it was alyays around the same time as the World Open and Danny thomas shows so they could get the corps comming in for the World Open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted July 17, 2006 Author Share Posted July 17, 2006 The CYO Nationals were a invite only and one of the biggest shows of the Summer. It was open to all corps usually the top corps in the country and a couple of up and comming corps. I think it was alyays around the same time as the World Open and Danny thomas shows so they could get the corps comming in for the World Open. Thanks Leo, "top corps" and "up and coming corps" matchs what I found. Didn't want to mess up my notes with a bad assumption on CYO sponsorship, which I almost did. :sshh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lp1955 Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 No Problem sometimes it pays to be OLD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A27Lancer Posted July 17, 2006 Share Posted July 17, 2006 CYO Nationals was one of the most prestigious invitationals in the country. You did not have to be a church sponsored corps to be invited, but the highest ranking local CYO circuit corps would earn an automatic spot. (In my day, it was usually St. Francis Sanciens, I.C. Reveries, etc.). Yes, it was usually held around the same time as the World Open to get the mid-west and western corps to participate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
up4479 Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 What has been said about the CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) Nationals is true. Invitation only, selected from the best corps in North America with the exception of a CYO corps from the Boston CYO circut that was selected by the corps results for that season. In the early years, more than one Boston area CYO corps were included. However, this overlooks the many CYO corps and competions that existed. Several major metropolitan areas had large CYO activity including the usual sports (baseball, hockey etc.) Drum Corps, marching band and drill teams. There were hundreds of marching units mostly in but not limited to the Boston, Metro New York and New Jersey areas. In Boston, there was at least one CYO circut show per week, usually on a Sunday afternoon though there were exceptions. The schedual ran from late May to mid September culminating in the CYO music festival where all units competed. During the '60s there were so many units in Boston that the Music Festival was a 2 day affair! The classes with the younger kids competed on Saturday and everyone else competed on Sunday. The units were sponsored (to one degree or another) by local churches. Usually the membership consisted of kids from the particular parish. No experience was required and none was expected. The idea was to get kids off the street and keep them active year round. Bands and drill teams had one open class (though there may have been more than one class for these in the '50s). Drum Corps had Class A, B, C group 1 and C group 2. That's 5 classes with kids as young as 6 or seven in Class C and national contenders in Class A. Many parishes had more than one unit and sometimes they had more than one type of unit. For example, I marched with the Immaculate Conception Reveries. We had a Class A corps and a Class C corps when I started. St. Kevins had a Class A, Class B and a Class C corps. St. Theresa had a drill team and a drum corps. Many towns had more than one parish with marching units, each with multiple units! There was a whole lot of CYO activity in the '60s. As Drum Corps disbanded starting in the late '60s the activity got smaller and eventuall the circuts were abolished as there were not enough units to sponsor shows and compete. This reduction was mirrored in the CYO sports leagues as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dckid80 Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 (edited) We marched in both the local Eastern Mass and CYO circuits even thought we were not church affiliated. In fact, by the time I marched, there were less church sponsored corps that not. Edited August 6, 2006 by dckid80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Flynn Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 Anyone else remember the mid-late 60's when CYO only announced the top five scores regardless of how many corps were in competition? Blue Rock - 1966-1974 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markdewine Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 Sounds like all the replys are accurate. But going back to the earliest days of CYO's involvement, during the Great Depression....I remember old-timers telling me that some parishes would offer food and lodging to kids who would join the local CYO corps. Remember, there were families back then that were brutally poor, and simply unable to care for the kids, etc. So, their drum corps experience meant not only learning music and marching, but in some cases...it literally meant survival. Add to that, the social interaction for the kids that 'no one else wanted',...It's nice the CYO was there for them. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LancerLegend Posted August 7, 2006 Share Posted August 7, 2006 My church - Sacred Heart, Roslindale (a neighborhood in the south west corner of Boston) had 3 bands - Sr, Jr and Beginner - and all three had color guards. The Sr and Jr bands competed. We also had 2 drill teams - a Sr and Jr and both competed. Total involvement was over 400 kids. In 1972, to bolster the Eastern Mass Drum & Bugle Corps circuit, bands were allowed to compete in a two separate classes. Between 1969 and 1978, there were the CYO (bands, drill teams, color guards, drum corps), Eastern Mass (ditto), Mayflower (drum corps), and the Greater New England (drum corps) circuits. A corps like the Most Precious Blood Crusaders from Hyde Park competed in CYO. When the corps separated from the church, they became the Hyde Park Crusaders, and later, the Boston Crusaders. Boston then competed in the Eastern Mass circuit. I will go out on a limb and say that 90% of the CYO parishes in greater Boston had either/and/or a band, drill team, color guard, or drum & bugle corps between the late 1950's until the middle 1970's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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