Drum Corps Associates – The First 39 Years

By Tom Peashey

“Drum Corps World's a History of Drum Corps Vol 2”
Published Spring 2003
Reproduced with author's permission

 

            One of the oldest and most successful circuits in the drum corps arena is Drum Corps Associates.  Prior to the establishment of DCA, the senior corps competed in loosely knit geographic areas dominated by strong contest sponsors and the only thing close to an “establishment” was the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.  With these three elements constantly tugging at one another, there were conflicting rules to perform by, inconsistent judging procedures and something that was close to chaos.  A sponsor could dramatically affect the outcome of a contest by controlling who he hired to judge the performances.  Incompetent judging was a way of life.  The entire process was totally political.  Who you knew was far more important than your ability when it came to getting judging assignments.  Huge point swings from night to night were common.

            By the early 1960’s, the sponsors became even more of a factor by careful control of the prize money.  To fully appreciate the formation of DCA and for the benefit of our younger readers, you have to realize that senior corps during the wild growth period in what we now refer to as the “golden age” of drum corps (defined more accurately as the period when there were corps in every neighborhood) were the dominant entity in the activity.  The DCI era corps enthusiast often thinks that all age senior corps was the result of junior corps performers wanting to continue in the activity.  The reality is that senior corps begat junior corps.  Drum corps as we know it, was formed by veterans returning from both World Wars.  These were senior corps.  The formation of junior corps, were a logical progression and generally happened under the guidance of senior corps people.  It was normal for senior corps to encourage the formation of junior corps to provide future well-trained members for the senior organization.  From corps to corps, it was normal to see these corps being founded, managed and instructed by senior corps people.

            Knowing this, you can now see that the formation of DCA was only the harbinger of things to come in the drum corps arena.  Indeed, it was the success of DCA that prompted the founding fathers of the “Combine” – later to be called Drum Corps International – to organize and take control of their own destiny.  It was only logical that this should happen as many of the founders of DCI had their roots in senior drum corps.  Many drum corps moguls like the great Don Angelica of Caballero and Cadet fame and Bill Howard from the Madison Scouts (a former Rochester Crusader) crossed seamlessly between senior and junior corps both as performers and instructors, and once they had seen the senior drum corps seizing control of their own destiny, it was only a few short years before they followed that example.  Even the great Wayne Downey, responsible for so many DCI powerhouse corps with Concord Blue Devils got his start in the Long Island Sunrisers.

 

DCA – The Beginning

 

            How did it all really begin?  Ironically, one of the chief early motivators was not a corps person, but rather a show sponsor and a major player in the American Legion.  He was Dr. Almo Sebastianelli, sponsor of the annual “Parade of Champions” in Scranton, Pennsylvania and still active in DCA to this day.  In August of 1963, Dr. Sebastianelli approached New York Skyliner manager, Henry “Lefty” Mayer, about various problems that were affecting both the sponsors and the corps.  On August 25, 1963, a meeting occurred at the Jermyn Hotel in Scranton.  In attendance along with Dr. Sebastianelli were Lefty Mayer of the New York Skyliners, Carman Cirlincione of the Archer Epler Musketeers from Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, Randy Roy of the Reading, Pennsylvania Buccaneers and George Bull of the Baltimore, Maryland Yankee Rebels.

            At that meeting, they were able to identify five common ground areas that seemed to be the focus of all controversy:

 

·        To secure contest dates not in conflict with previously established contests

·        To establish set prize money

·        To secure improved and consistent judging

·        To generally improve contests

·        To promote better relationships among the competing corps

 

They were able to schedule a second meeting in September of 1963 and opened that meeting to other corps.  That meeting was held at the Archer-Epler American Legion Post in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.  It was at this meeting that the name Drum Corps Associates was chosen.  By-Laws were adopted and the first election of officers was held.  Elected first President was Henry “Lefty” Mayer, Vice-President, George Bull, Treasurer, Randy Roy and Secretary, Peter Burns.

            Seven corps were designated as charter members:  The Reading Buccaneers, Connecticut Hurricanes, The Interstatesmen, Archer Epler Musketeers, Pittsburgh Rockets, The Yankee Rebels and the New York Skyliners.  Noticeably absent were the perennial champion Hawthorne Caballeros, The Long Island Sunrisers and both of the Upstate New York powerhouses, Syracuse Brigadiers and Rochester Crusaders.  Without the full support of all of the major corps, DCA had many trying times during its early months.  They were not able to hold a true championship until September 11, 1965 in Milford, CT.  The first ever champion of DCA was the Reading Buccaneers.

            That weekend in Milford, CT., Dr. Sebastianelli pulled off one of the most ironic coups of all time.  Through the auspices of American Legion National Commander, Daniel Foley, he arranged for Harold Dillon, chairman of the Legion Contest Supervisory Committee to attend the first DCA World Championships and to have the American Legion moderate a meeting between DCA President, Lefty Mayer and Caballero’s business manager, Dick Quigley.  The result was that The Hawthorne Caballeros, led by probably the most powerful man in drum corps at the time, Jim Costello, joined DCA for the 1966 season.  Sunrisers and Brigadiers followed suit.  How ironic is it that an association formed in large part because of the veteran’s organizations inability to agree on rules and sometimes strong-handed management techniques, was primarily responsible for bringing the factions in senior corps together and cementing the future of DCA?*

            The final piece of the puzzle fell in place with the compromise that brought the Rochester Crusaders into the fold for the 1967 season and soon saw their corps director Vince Bruni elected President of DCA forming a coalition with Lefty Mayer as Business Manager.  By the 1967 Championship in Bridgeport, CT., Drum Corps Associates was clearly recognized as the controlling organization in senior corps.  Basically, they became the “Major League” of drum corps.  With the Buccaneers and Hurricanes each winning two championships and the Skyliners one, there was no clear early domination in the DCA of the 60’s.  The circuit was balanced and very competitive. By the end of that decade, DCA had clearly spelled out its identity as the entertainers of drum corps and set the stage for the next twenty years.  Huge crowds for the championships in Aquinas Stadium, Rochester, NY, brought in financial success and created a sound foundation for growth and stability.  The following exert from the DCA philosophy explains the criteria that had been established to guarantee the success of the weekend warriors of drum corps:

 

• The primary function of DCA is to provide an organization of senior drum & bugle corps with rules and regulations, which provide for continuous progress and growth for senior corps.
• Using entertainment as a primary goal, DCA performances are unique and represent "state of the art" in mass appeal drum and bugle corps.
• DCA strives to provide performers with stimulating and rewarding social experiences, to provide a competitive outlet for performers, and to entertain and excite the audience.
• It is DCA's objective that member corps should be entertaining, unique, emotional, diverse, vibrant, spirited, and energetic without sacrificing the highest level of quality.
• To achieve this objective, the DCA philosophy is to encourage each and all corps to choose and perfect the vehicles that entertain audiences and satisfy membership. Audiences should expect and receive varied programs performed with the highest level of proficiency within the structure of the activity.
• The evaluations of the performances are to be based upon the DCA environment. All adjudication will use DCA standards as outlined in the "DCA Rule Book" and "DCA Clinics". Use of and reference to the standards of any other organizations in the adjudication process are totally unacceptable. Competition outcomes MUST reflect audience appreciation and provide participant gratification.
• DCA's audience has the right to receive excellence. Our corps have the challenge, the responsibility, and the commitment to deliver it!

 

The Decade of the 70’s

 

            From 1955 until 1965, no corps had dominated drum corps like the Caballeros.  Their entrance into the DCA arena in 1966 did not mean immediate dominance.  It was not until 1970 that they won their first DCA World championship at the Mecca of senior corps – Aquinas/Holleder Stadium in Rochester, N.Y., but they went on to win 5 of the next 10 championships and never finished out of the top 3 spots.  They were - indeed - the “Corps of the Decade” in DCA.  The late 70’s saw the emergence of the Long Island Sunrisers as a true champion in 1977 and 1978, a couple more championships for the New York Skyliners and a lead into the decade of the 80’s with Reading Buccaneers winning again in 1979 and 1980. 

The late 70’s also saw a major change in DCA management.  The retirement of Vince Bruni from the Rochester Crusaders saw him step down as president of DCA and turn the reigns of leadership over to DCA’s 4^th President, Michael “Mickey” Petrone.  Mickey Petrone was one of the most popular individuals in drum corps.  As a drill arranger and judge he dominated the 1950’s.  As a corps director, he led his St. Vincent’s Cadets to many National Championships.  As a contest sponsor, his National Dream Contest was the most prestigious contest other than the championship.  He was a logical choice to guide DCA.  He remains at the head of DCA to this day after 25 years as President.

            There were three other historic events in the 70’s.  In 1972, New York Skyliners were the odds on favorite to win another championship.  At the only New Jersey championship at well-known Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, the Caballeros caught the Skyliners in the preliminary competition.  Following a spirited championship performance, they had apparently gone back on top a tenth or two above Caballeros.  However, a minor timing penalty was assessed and they fell to second position.

After going inactive in 1972, the Syracuse Brigadiers attempted a comeback in 1973 and missed finals by a mere five one-hundredths of a point.  To make things worse, a size of flag violation had been assessed which knocked them out of finals.  This was – indeed – a major controversy and the corps was not able to recover and was absent from the ranks of senior corps for almost 20 years.

Another historic event occurred in 1975.  A group of former Crusaders and Brigadiers formed a second corps in Rochester called the Phoenix.  The ranks of DCA had been pretty much the domain of the existing corps of the time.  Corps like Hamburg Kingsmen, Canadian Commanders and others came and went, but these corps had pre-dated DCA.  Phoenix had burst on the scene like a giant.  With the musical and program genius of Al “Corky” Fabrizio, they not only became the first brand new corps to make the finals, they broke all the way into the top 5 in their first appearance.  This sudden success sent shockwaves through DCA and set the precedent that a new corps – if good enough – could break the ranks.  They paved the way for the Bushwackers, Empire Statesmen and others to present a fresh new look to DCA in the coming years.   

The Decade of the 80’s

 

            As Reading Buccaneers led DCA into the 80’s, the Hurricanes posted another win in 1981, followed by Long Island Sunrisers in 1982 and 83, Caballeros again in 1984 and 85 and then the most improbable and surprising event in DCA history to date occurred at the 1986 championship in Allentown, PA.  The Harrison, New Jersey Bushwackers made their first appearance in 1982.  From its surprising 8^th place finish in 1982 until the fall of 1986, Bush gradually became a force to reckon with in DCA.  They were often near the top, but never quite were able to win.  They were always close, but from 1982 until the last show in 1986, they never finished first in any contest.  In the 1986 prelims, they finished 3^rd behind the “tied” Hawthorne Caballeros and Pittsburgh’s Steel City Ambassadors, but when the dust had settled that night, Bushwackers had not only won their first DCA World Championship – they had won their first drum and bugle corps contest EVER!  They went on to win a total of 6 world championships.  However, with two more wins in 1987 and ‘88 (’88 was a tie with Bush), it was the Long Island Sunrisers who were clearly the strongest overall corps of the decade of the 80’s.

 

The Decade of the 90’s

 

            Throughout the closing years of the century, DCA continued to grow and prosper.  Overall, corps got larger and better.  The dominance of Bushwackers was broken in 1991 with the first World Championship for Vince Bruni’s Empire Statesmen, self-proclaimed “showmen of the world”.   With Bush storming back in 1992 and 1993, Empire won again in 1994.  The mid 90’s saw a powerful Caballero corps win in 1995 only to be nipped in 1996 by the Westshoremen.

            1992 had seen the re-entry of the Syracuse Brigadiers.  Their steady growth culminated in 1997 with a “share” of the title with the Empire Statesmen.  Empire was able to defend in 1998 while the Brigadiers have won every championship until this publication.  Although the corps of the 90’s is hard to declare, it would appear that with 4 wins, Empire Statesmen deserve the nod – just slightly edging out the early successes of the Bushwackers and the late domination by the Brigadiers.

 

As the New Century Begins

 

            Strong leadership, stable corps, an abundance of sponsors and a solid commitment to entertaining its audiences, has seen DCA move boldly into the new century.  The Brigadiers have cemented their place in history with 4 championship victories in a row – a feet unprecedented in DCA history – and 5 championships in 6 years.  Although the Brigadiers dominated in 2000, 2001 and 2002 it is obvious that the senior corps have raised the bar on quality.  What was in the 80’s a clear quality break between the bottom and top halves of the membership has melted to a parity and quality never seen before.  From the first corps on the field to the end of the retreat ceremony, fans have been delighted with the overall quality of the programs, the competitiveness within the ranks and the dedication of the membership to true drum corps.

            Despite inclement weather, the 2002 championship in Scranton, PA was recognized as the most competitive DCA Championship ever.  Every corps had the audience on its feet.  Every corps no matter how large or how small – entertained.  The emergence of more corps from other areas became clear.  Heat Wave of Orlando, CorpsVets of Atlanta and Carolina Gold of Raleigh, NC have created a solid block in the South.  In recognition of this, DCA has established its first ever, subsidiary regional organization as DCA South.

            After 20 years of very successful participation in the DCA Championships, Minnesota Brass, Inc. has brought high standards from the Midwest.  DCA hopes that with the addition of others like the Racine Kilties, the senior competitive corps movement will continue to grow and prosper in the Midwest.  Soon, a DCA Midwest may become a reality.  The strong impact that San Francisco’s Renegades made in 2002, becoming the first ever member corps from the West Coast cannot go unnoticed.  With over 70 brass performers, they won over the audience and entertained to the hilt.  They promise to be DCA mainstay for years to come.  Their success and the rise of other seniors on the West Coast may even bring the opportunity for still another geographic area to be recognized by DCA.

 

DCA Goes Intercontinental

 

            While DCA’s many fine Canadian members have always added a touch of international flavor to DCA, twice, corps have successfully competed in DCA from other continents.  First, in 1990, a very strong Southern Knights of Bristol, England finished 12^th in the preliminary competition and became the first ever International Champions of DCA.  2002 saw the first ever, Japanese corps attend the championship and attend they did.  Yokohama Inspires brought over a tight 81 member corps and won over the hearts of the fans and competitors alike.  Appearing early in prelims, their strong 8^th place finish was a shock to everyone, but that was only the beginning.  While admitting freely that they were formed as a Caballero “copy cat” by members who had attended the championships many years earlier, they went on to not only get to visit with their “idols”, perform and party with their “stylistic counterparts” in the parking lot of their hotel, but they beat the Caballeros in finals with an inspired performance that saw them jump to 5^th place.  They were crowned the second ever, International DCA Champion.

 

The Personalities of DCA

 

One of the reasons that DCA has remained so stable is that a relatively few people have been involved in the leadership and direction of the organization over the almost 40 year history.  The early brainchild of Henry “Lefty” Mayer, of the New York Skyliner’s, his sudden and early passing (at the DCA Championships in Rochester, NY in the mid 1970’s), was the first major personality loss to DCA.  Michael “Mickey” Petrone has directed DCA through the past 25 plus years.  His tireless leadership has been unequaled in the drum corps arena.  Mickey Petrone’s tenure as President of DCA is unsurpassed in drum corps history.  Passing only recently, Jim Costello, Director of the Hawthorne Caballeros, remained behind the scenes but always maintained a clear position as one of the true leaders of the activity.  Until his death, Jim was the only corps director that Cabs ever had – from the beginning in 1947, an amazing 55 years ago.  DCA also recently lost Bob Murray, Business Manager of the Caballeros.  Bob spent 30 years on the executive board of DCA and was active on the championship committee.

Vince Bruni, who emphasized entertainment of the audience during his many years as president and onward as a member director, has been a dominating force in DCA for over 30 years.  He continues as the Director of the Empire Statesmen.  Starting in 1947 with the Rochester Crusaders and continuing with Empire, Vince also boasts 50 plus years of leadership in the activity.

Along with Mickey Petrone, the icon and patriarch of drum corps officials, the current officers and management of DCA also boast long tenures and decades of drum corps experience.  Michael “Red” Corso, former director of the Rhode Island Matadors has been Treasurer since the 1970’s.  Vice-President Gil Silva, also from the Matadors has held his position for over 20 years.  The new officer in the crowd, Secretary Dan Rippon hails from the Harrisburg Westshoremen originally and also has many decades experience as a performer, manager and contest sponsor.  Dan’s predecessor, Candy Golding, held the office of secretary for over 20 years.  Stability of leadership has been the foundation of DCA’s success. 

Assisting the officers, DCA has Dick Eschenmann of Harrisburg as Class A Chairman.  Another of the Westshore Alumni involved heavily in the management of DCA, Dick and Dan Rippon have been instrumental in the success of the Class A movement and have done much to encourage new competitors and the return of corps from the past.  Tom Peashey is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations and has been the official DCA spokesman for the past 7 years.  Tom marched his first senior show in 1959 and spent many years as a performer for the Crusaders and Brigadiers, a retired DCA judge and Visual Caption Head and former Crusader’s Corps Director, he brings over 40 years experience to DCA.

Through the years, DCA has had some of the finest adjudicators in the business.  Hall of Fame greats like John Collum, Walter Kelly and Truman Crawford used DCA as home base.  With DCA taking control of the rules that corps are judged by, it has been critical that DCA find the best possible judging coordinators to advise on the appropriate judging system for senior corps, recruit and educate experienced, qualified judges and administer the entire judging program.  It is this control of the adjudicative process that has allowed DCA to keep their programs “Audience Friendly” while still challenging the performers and staff.  The intentional emphasis on General Effect has set DCA apart from other areas of the marching idiom.  It is critical that its adjudicators understand this, and respond to the edict set by the member corps to – first and foremost – entertain the audience.  Currently at the helm of DCA adjudication is Judge Coordinator, Ken Sherry.  He is ably assisted by:  Bob Cardaneo on Brass, Ed Argenziano on Percussion and Eric Sabach on Visual. 

And not to be forgotten is Dr. Almo Sebastianelli.  The longest running contest sponsor in the business and catalyst to the formation of DCA some 40 years ago, is still going strong as he nears completion of his 9^th decade.  Still an active and vibrant friend to Drum Corps Associates, Doc Sebastianelli and his 11^th District American Legion even took on the daunting challenge of hosting the 2002 and 2003 World Championships in Scranton, PA.  His contributions to drum corps and DCA in particular will not be forgotten.

Pepe Nataro, Hy Dreitzer, Joe Genaro, Corky Fabrizio, Walter Winkleman, Butch Anderson, Harry Hazelwood, Ralph Silverbrand, George Bull, George Parks, Jim D’Amico, Fred Gebhardt, The Sasso Brothers, the list could go on endlessly as DCA continues to attract and produce the greatest drum corps people anywhere.  Not to be forgotten, the current DCA corps and their directors have the difficult task of protecting our heritage and maintaining DCA in its proper place of leadership in the activity. 

 

The members of DCA and their directors for the 2003 season are:

 

Syracuse Brigadiers – Kevin Hassan Reading Buccaneers – Jim Gruber                Hawthorne Caballeros – Frank Gerris                Connecticut Hurricanes – Bernie Malesky         San Francisco Renegades – Chris Nalls

Empire Statesmen – Vince Bruni Minnesota Brass, Inc. – Gavin Burnham The Bushwackers – Jay Morlot Rochester Crusaders – Mike Linton/Dave Seeley Kingston Grenadiers – Don Dean

  

Associate Members are:

 

CorpsVets of Atlanta – Jeff Pastor                      Heat Wave of Orlando – Vic Kulinski/Jim Gillespie

New York Skyliners – Tom Shiffer

 

Current International Champion:  Inspires, Yokohama, Japan – Takahisa Ogihara

 

The Class A Movement

 

            Following the 1996 season, DCA decided to try harder to encourage the growth of other senior corps throughout the country.  As part of this effort, a Class A championship was instituted.  Restricted to only 65 performers, Class A offers the opportunity for success to the smaller but up and coming corps.  It creates an avenue of competition that allows these smaller corps to improve and grow.  Beginning with the 2001 season, the Class A championships was removed from it’s previous Saturday morning position as part of the open class preliminary competition and the top 2 scoring Class A corps on Saturday get to compete in a championship run off on Sunday night as part of an “overall” finals concept.  This entire endeavor has been most successful.  It has worked from several different angles.  It has created corps that have become stable and successful competitors all be they small in numbers like the Orlando Heat Wave.  It has become a stepping-stone for new and fast growing corps like Atlanta’s CorpsVets and it has helped corps that have fallen on difficult times regain their strength in a dignified way and work back to previous successes and honors.  The New York Skyliners are an excellent example in this category.  Class A has been a creative and beneficial addition to the DCA program of success.

 

What Will the Future Bring?

 

            Change is inevitable.  Change is part of life.  DCA finds itself in the enviable position of benefiting from the changes in life style that are making it so difficult to succeed in any activity.  Financial hardships, demands on every day lifestyles, year round school activities and the ever- increasing variety of “things to do” have made it most difficult to survive.  Functioning as non-profit organizations, drum corps are not immune to the difficulties of the times.  For all non-profit organizations, fundraising becomes more difficult each year, while expenses spiral out of control.  This has increased the demand for weekend only corps.  This has increased the demand for geographically central performance venues.  This has made senior – or if you prefer “all aged” – corps a much more viable entity.  These restrictions on what can be done by performers who have jobs and families have crossed over from being huge negatives to becoming positive recruiting tools.

            The difficulty and enormous expense in traveling and lack of performance opportunities has caused another new phenomena.  For the past few seasons, DCA has allowed a few junior corps to participate in DCA sanctioned contests.  For the most part, this experiment has been most successful and will continue.  While this may not lead to a full junior division, the cooperation between DCA and the junior activity is at an all time high and has been mutually beneficial.

 

Individuals/Ensembles & Mini Corps Contest

 

            In the late 1980’s, DCA began running their own Individuals & Ensembles contest during the championship weekend.  This was the brainchild of former Judging Coordinator, Dick Pronti.  Dick recruited Chairperson Donna Ernst of Upstate New York and she has developed this most successful program into a major part of the championship experience.  Donna is the only I&E Chairperson that DCA has had.  After the first few years, a separate part of the contest was invented called mini corps.  This caught on quickly and has created an entire new avenue of fun and entertainment.  Small ensembles of 21 performers or less perform on stage and actually compete against each other.  This take off on the old winter concert series of days gone by has now become a very popular part of DCA.  Competing corps, alumni corps and parade corps are all welcome to compete.  Two of the most successful of these groups are the Erie Thunderbirds (from their alumni corps) and Ghost Riders (from Mighty St. Joe’s Alumni Corps).  In 2001, San Francisco Renegades brought in their mini corps to “test the waters” of DCA before bringing their full corps in 2002.  To say that they brought the house down would be an understatement.  Many corps are also beginning small programs like this to use as fund raisers.  With the advent of Blast and Stomp, small mini corps are a marketable product in the advertising and trade show industry.  This can be very lucrative for the organization.

 

The Alumni Corps Movement and DCA

 

            When the first Alumni Corps appeared in the 1980’s, Drum Corps Associates was not quick to embrace them.  However, through the hard work of President Mickey Petrone, DCA has become a major proponent of the Alumni Corps movement and the DCA Alumni Spectacular held each year the day of the championship finals has become an annual tribute to the history of our activity.  This is the opportunity for the DCA fans to remember, respect and pay tribute to times past and the performers who made those memories special.

 

A History of DCA – in statistics

Compiled by H. Worth Ake

 

Edited & updated by Tom Peashey, DCA PR

 

A tribute:  For decades, drum corps was blessed with the words and wisdom of columnist H. Worth Ake.  His fanatical reverence for the history of drum corps was legendary.  His passing has left a void in the drum corps world that may never be filled.  The following pages represent the minute detail that Mr. Ake relished.  We have maintained this information as he chose to record it.  It has only been updated to reflect current results. Tom Peashey, DCA

 

            The 38^th DCA World Championships saw a move back to beautiful Montage Mountain in Scranton, PA and sponsorship by the American Legion.  This unprecedented alliance saw the Syracuse Brigadiers become the first ever corps to accomplish a 4-peat – winning the World Championships for an unprecedented 4^th consecutive year and also be crowned the American Legion National Champions.  This was also their 5^th win in 6 years.  Three-peats have been accomplished only three times DCA history, once by the Hawthorne Caballeros, once by the Harrison Bushwackers and of course the Brigadiers.  Undefeated for a second straight regular season, the Brigs held off the Empire Statesmen and scored a record 98.6. 

            The 2002 Championships was unique in many ways.  Not only the four-peat, but 12 corps were allowed to compete for the first time since 1993.  It also saw the Inspires, from Yokohama, Japan spend over $200,000 to attend, and attend they certainly did – shocking everyone with their pristine performance and exciting show and finishing an amazing 5^th place in finals with a very strong 91.85.  Since the start up years of 1965 and 1966, this rare intrusion into the top 5 has only been accomplished in the first attempt once before by Rochester’s Phoenix in 1975.    

Empire Statesmen posed the strongest challenge to the Brigadiers but fell short for 2^nd place and a score of 96.75.  Buccaneers remained in contention till the end with a 3^rd place finish and 95.55.  Minnesota Brass brought in their strongest corps ever and was a close 4^th with 93.9.  Caballeros finished 6^th with a 91.15, just .05 higher than 7^th place finishing Bushwackers.  Hurricanes snuck by into 8^th place with an 88.0.  Rochester Crusaders were 9^th with an 87.3.  Another first time competitor, became a first time member.  San Francisco Renegades became our first ever California member corps bringing in a huge 74 horns and solid 10^th place with a score of 86.2.  The tie bug jumped up and grabbed our last two competitors as the powerful CorpsVets of Atlanta jumped over 2 points from prelims and tied the popular Kingston Grenadiers with a score of 84.55. 

DCA held their sixth Class A title show in 2002.  All corps competed in the preliminary competition.  4 corps with 65 or fewer competitors elected to declare class A and the highest scoring 2 declared Class A corps went on to compete in the big arena on Sunday night for the Class A Championship.   This night saw 2 DCA Champions crowned with charter member New York Skyliners winning the Class A crown with a score of 80.15 and joining the Brigadiers in the spotlight.  Their strong brass line, colorful personality and New York City flair brought them a well deserved win.  Former Class A Champion Heat Wave of Orlando was second with a score of 77.2.  Heat Wave, DCA’s most consistent Class A corps powered past both Carolina Gold and GBV Nightstorm to challenge Skyliners with their own zany brand of drum corps entertainment.

            Although unusual, ties have happened at the DCA Championship.  This was the case in 1997.  The Empire Statesmen and the Brigadiers shared the title and once earlier, in 1988, The Harrison, N.J. Bushwackers and the Orangetown, N.Y. Sunrisers ended in a tie.  Ironically, only a newly placed tie- breaker rule prevented the same two corps from being tied again in 1989.  The tie-breaker gave the championship crown to The Bushwackers.  Even then, it went down to the final category – color guard – to determine the winner.  The Color Guard judge that evening was George Cowburn of Horseheads, NY – a long time DCA judge.  George had no way of knowing before the show that his numbers would determine a DCA World Championship that night.  George and DCA Brass Judge Kurt Powell were tragically killed in the crash of George’s private plane not too long thereafter.

            Only nine corps – 25% of the finalists – have won all 38 open class DCA crowns.  The Caballeros, a consistent DCA frontrunner, have won the most titles outright – eight.  The Bushwackers and the Sunrisers are very close, each having earned six titles, including the 1988 tie.

            The Brigadiers with their four-peat have now won the title five times.  The Reading, Pa. Buccaneers won the crown four times (the last time in 1980) as have the Empire Statesmen.  Derby, Ct. Hurricanes (the last time in 1981 at Philadelphia’s Franklin Field) and the New York Skyliners (the last time in 1975 at Allentown, Pa.) have won three titles each.  Harrisburg, Pa. Westshoremen won in 1996, to join the select title-holding list.

            An even dozen corps have placed among the top three at the DCA Championships.  This prestigious group – in addition to the previously mentioned champions – includes the Rochester, N.Y. Crusaders (third, 1988), the Pittsburgh, Pa. Steel City Ambassadors (second, 1986) and the Baltimore, Md. Yankee Rebels (twice second, once third, the last time second in 1971).

            In a record that’s hard to match, only the Caballeros have appeared at all the open class DCA finals except one.  They chose to not appear in the 1965 first championship.  Their 37 finalist entries lead the 36 entries of Hurricanes (cut in 1986 and 1989 prelims) and the Buccaneers (cut in 1994 and 1995 prelims).  Next with 35, is the New York Skyliners (cut in 1996, 1997 and not appearing in 1998 after having appeared at finals from the first championship).

            The Sunrisers (cut in 1991, 1994 prelims, inactive in 1993, 2000 through 2002, and missed the first title show) and the Rochester Crusaders (having missed only the first two championships and finals of 1982 through 1984 as well as 1998) have been very consistent entries, being at 32 title shows.

            An amazing set of title records, that have continued to show constant high-level quality, have been set by the 40 DCA open class finalists.

            The Sunrisers are the only corps to win back-to-back titles on three separate occasions.  This unusual record was set in 1977-1978, 1982-1983 and, most recently, 1987-1988, the latter year a tie for the crown.

            The Caballeros in 1976, the Empire Statesmen in 1998 and Brigadiers in 2002 won the only major caption sweeps in the 38 year DCA title history with high visual, percussion, brass and general effect scores.

            Only eight times at the 38 championships have three of the four major captions been won outright.  Buccaneers (1979, 1980), Sunrisers (1978, 1983) and Caballeros (1993, 1995) did it twice, while Hurricanes (1967) and Brigadiers (1999) each did it once.

            An interesting note is that Bushwackers (1992), Sunrisers (1988), Syracuse Brigadiers (1997, 2001) and Empire Statesmen (1997) have each won three captions, including ties.

            Record setting has been a characteristic of the ever popular and consistently challenging Hawthorne Caballeros as they extend and reset championship quality standards.

            The Caballeros hold the record number of championship titles (eight); runner-up placements (12); most often in top three (29 times in 37 finals); most consecutive runner-up placements (four from 1977 to 1980); most championship 90’s scores (24, 19 of which did not win the championship that year); most consecutive 90’s scores (19 straight in the last 19 years); longest consecutive streak of top three placements in finals (11 years, 1970-1980); and fifth highest championship score (97.7 in 1995) bested only by Empire Statesmen’s 1998 score (97.9) and The Brigadiers 2000, 2001 and 2002 scores (98.0, 97.95 and 98.6).

            The record for the most consecutive, same caption wins at finals is held by two corps – Caballeros (six M&M/visual highs, 1973-1978) and Bushwackers (six percussion highs, 1986-1991).

The Caballeros have the runner-up record of five M&M/visual scores, 1983-1987.  The Bushwackers hold the record for the most consecutive title shows in which they won at least a single caption high, eight years from 1986 to 1993 (during which they won 15 caption highs including three ties).

The Caballeros (12 caption wins, 1973-1978) and Hurricanes (12 caption wins including one tie, 1965-1970) are runners-up with six-year streaks each.

Leaders holding the most captions won at DCA title shows are Caballeros (32 outright plus three ties), Buccaneers (18 plus two ties) and Sunrisers (15 plus five ties).

The top caption winners in each major caption are Caballeros (16 field visual/M&M wins plus a tie and 8 field brass plus a tie); Buccaneers (eight overall GE); Bushwackers (seven field percussion, including six straight years, 1986-1991).  Buccaneers have won seven brass caption highs.

DCA finalists have scored 90 points or more 110 times since 1971 when the first 90 scores were tallied.  Twenty-four such scores by the Caballeros are well ahead of the Empire Statesmen (15), Bushwackers (13) and Sunrisers (9).  First scores of 95 or more were scored in 1988, with 39 such tallies in 15 years.  The Statesmen leads with ten 95 scores tallies.

The 1993 season saw the most finalists in a title show – 13.  An even dozen corps were finalists in 2002, 1992 and 1972-1974; 11 in 1986.  Ten corps were competitive in 30 of the 38 championship shows.    The first title show in 1965 had six corps.

Only nine cities in four states have hosted the 38 DCA championship finals.  The first title show was in Milford, CT.  The two following shows were also in Connecticut, at Bridgeport.  Then followed nine shows in New York State at Aquinas/Holleder Stadium in Rochester and two at Syracuse, one at the famous Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, NJ, and 23 shows in Pennsylvania (Hershey with three, Allentown with 13, Scranton with six and Philadelphia with one).

Except for four finals, all championships have been held on a September date, usually over the Labor Day weekend.  Four August finals were held on August 31 (1969, 1975, 1986 and 1997).  Only the first two championships were later than Labor Day (September 11, 1965 and September 21, 1966).

As the championship continues, a total of 40 different open corps have reached finals.  The East still dominates quantity of corps wise, with Brigadiers returning to defend for a 5^th consecutive time. The mid-west continues to be well represented by strong contender Minnesota Brass, Inc.  The South and West have popular challengers in Renegades and CorpsVets.  The Japanese Inspires, hope to return soon.  There is always a possibility of again setting a new record besting Brigadiers 98.6 in 2002, and there are certainly more records to be challenged, in the exciting 39^th DCA World Championship in 2003.

*  This information was provided by Dr. Almo Sebastianelli with exerts from Drum Corps World articles by David Greiner.  All other information was from DCA historical records and interviews with those who participated.