KeithHall Posted June 19, 2007 Share Posted June 19, 2007 The first year we went was 1972. It was the most influential moment for me. I remember participating in a show in Bellefontaine, OH before and seeing Beverly Cardinals, Marion Cadets and others. We went to a corps party at a ski lodge, made friends with the Buckeyes. We spent a few days at a closed school with the Greece Cadets and rehearsed in the playground. I remember rehearsing the concert cut. Back then corps had a time limit so most corps cut out their concert numbers. We did prelims, didn't do to bad. That night we went to A class/All-Girl finals and saw Etobicoke Crusaders, Mello Dears, St. John's Girls (who won) and Capitolaires and then the next day went to Open Class prelims. I remember seeing St Patrick's, Racine Scouts, and everybody else. It was a great time that day! The other years we stayed at a Fire Hall and one year at a Catholic school. One of our sops mooned some girls walking by and then farted (by mistake) which got us all laughing and farting as well. Quite a symphony! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 My brother and his family lived just 2 blocks from the Marion Harding High School Stadium, where U.S. Open was held. Talk about a dream! I flew out there in '71, '72 and '73 for the Open. In '72 we saw every single corps performance, prelims and finals. In '72 there were 36 corps in Class 'A'/All-Girls, and 30 corps in Open Class. (There were even more in '73.) The Kingsmen, 27th Lancers, Bridgemen, Kilties and Des Plaines Vanguard all killed everyone with their performances in '72. The power went out at finals just as Des Plaines was set to step off. Someone lit off a cherry bomb under the stands while Garfield was on at finals. All in all an unbelievable weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted June 20, 2007 Author Share Posted June 20, 2007 My brother and his family lived just 2 blocks from the Marion Harding High School Stadium, where U.S. Open was held. Talk about a dream! I flew out there in '71, '72 and '73 for the Open. In '72 we saw every single corps performance, prelims and finals. In '72 there were 36 corps in Class 'A'/All-Girls, and 30 corps in Open Class. (There were even more in '73.)The Kingsmen, 27th Lancers, Bridgemen, Kilties and Des Plaines Vanguard all killed everyone with their performances in '72. The power went out at finals just as Des Plaines was set to step off. Someone lit off a cherry bomb under the stands while Garfield was on at finals. All in all an unbelievable weekend. 1972 was awesome! Position Corps Score I remember Blue Rock coming out in a tight block formation. 1 Anaheim Kingsmen 88.150 Des Plaines doing West Side Story 2 27th Lancers 85.000 3 Blue Rock 80.600 4 Kilties 80.100 5 Bridgemen 79.400 6 Des Plaines Vanguard 76.750 7 Garfield Cadets 75.600 8 Bleu Raeders 74.800 9 DeLaSalle Oaklands 73.650 10 Blessed Sacrament 71.500 11 Racine Scouts 67.650 12 Purple Lancers 64.600 1973 Position Corps Score 1 Anaheim Kingsmen 80.300 2 De La Salle 78.250 3 Black Knights 75.850 4 Kilties 74.150 5 Purple Lancers 73.550 6 Polish Falcons 69.750 7 Argonne Rebels 69.150 8 Des Plaines Vanguard 68.750 9 Royal Crusaders 67.300 10 Blue Rock 66.050 11 Toronto Optimists 65.700 12 Phantom Regiment 65.400 corpsreps had a US Open A Class Prelim score too but it's not there anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elphaba01 Posted June 20, 2007 Share Posted June 20, 2007 US Open "Moments": 1968, the "Innaugural" year of the Championship was pretty special. The Blue Rock won their "First Ever" National Chmpionship by upsetting St Lucys Cadets (Who had won prelims) and the rising LaCrosse Blue Stars. Elphaba WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKMello84 Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Only went to this thing my first year in 1982. We stayed in some tiny town called Byhalia. The school was built by people who decided it was a good idea to put the showers in a basement underneath the gym. This really paid off too because the school made my top three for coldest showers in the country. We went on first at like 8:00am, possibly even before that. I believe we were woken up at about 5:30. The staff said that no one was allowed to sleep, and charged each member with keeping the other awake. This really sucked. This was our first show after Whitewater, where we had placed 10th among the corps competing at the US Open. We thought we had a great shot a making finals, which would have been a huge deal in the history of the corps. We ended up 11th though. I remember it was really foggy when we performed. I also remember on of the soprano players toward the end of the show missing a turn and just kinda marching off on his own. He did one of these double takes where one looks each way when they realize something is wrong, before scurrying off to his position. That's about all I remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted June 21, 2007 Author Share Posted June 21, 2007 Was in 1973 that prelims were done at another stadium? I seem to re-call that we were in the middle of nowhere and it was overcast. What's really scary is I just saw that in my mind as I remembered that day. In fact....I remember the Monarchs being on the field after us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAvery Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Was in 1973 that prelims were done at another stadium? I seem to re-call that we were in the middle of nowhere and it was overcast. What's really scary is I just saw that in my mind as I remembered that day. In fact....I remember the Monarchs being on the field after us. Maybe your thinking of class A. Weren't they held at another school? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 Maybe your thinking of class A. Weren't they held at another school? The stands were about five rows high, great for G.E. !!! (sarcasm off) Fog until NOON, if I'm not mistaken !! Reminded me of our school play in 1975....Brigadoon !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHall Posted June 21, 2007 Author Share Posted June 21, 2007 Maybe your thinking of class A. Weren't they held at another school? Yes it was Class "A" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted June 21, 2007 Share Posted June 21, 2007 In '71 all prelims for all divisions were held outside of Marion. In '72 all prelims in all divisions were held at Harding Stadium. In '73 the Friday prelims had Class 'A'/All-Girls at River Valley Stadium (this same division had Thursday prelims at the same site), while at the very same time on Friday the first day of Open Class was at Harding Stadium. Seemed rather unfortunate that they ran both Class 'A' and Open Class the same time that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.