THE COLLAPSE
The Kingsmen should have become extinct that summer and most likely would have if not for the determination and effort of a small group of people that just didn't know when to give up. This writing is dedicated to all those individuals who worked tirelessly to give the Big Blue a new lease on life.
1975 started out normally enough. After a skeleton corps exhibition at the Sep. 7th Golden Statesmen show, the customary Disneyland appearance and the awards banquet, the '74 corps seemed to EVAPORATE. About 60% of the members were never seen again, but the season looked promising at first. Our fall rehearsals at Vista Del Rio Jr. High saw some returning members, a fair number of imports, a few Golden Statesmen and Judy Hill's success with the B Corps brought us a large contingent of very talented 14 and 15 year olds, all ready and primed for the big time. Our first Open House of the year at Apollo Jr. High brought us still more members, Bobby Hoffman put together a great Comp Guard show that winter, Charlie Groh was still running M&M, some aged-out veterans were returning as instructors and Kit Squires was penning an interesting West Side Story arrangement for our opener.
But, things started to go wrong. Don Wells personally wanted out and the bills incurred during the summer were increasingly becoming past due. Winter ended and spring came but still, nothing seemed to be happening. Everyone kept telling each other "This is a normal Kingsmen time schedule" and "Just like '72", but the ranks were thinning noticeably. By Orange Show time, we were reduced to an abbreviated corps playing old arrangements and there was an uneasy feeling that we weren't going to make it this time. We were even featured on Channel 7's Eyewitness News with the preview announcement: "A local champion Drum and Bugle Corps that may be faced with playing its Swansong".
There were some interesting fund-raising schemes, though. A man named James Adams (A.K.A. Jim Christmas) came on the scene and organized a benefit rock concert scheduled for June 13th called "Orange County Jam", which featured Hot Tuna, Honk and the Sons Of Champlin. (If it made any money, we never saw it) There was also an alleged millionaire named Ralph Hoffmann who was interested in sponsoring the corps as a tax shelter that turned out to be either a hoax or a big lie, we never did find out which.
Meanwhile, the Drum Corps press kept running articles and blurbs stating that yes, the Kingsmen were in fact going to field a corps and we were actually listed in the summer tour schedule. We were still rehearsing but didn't have a drill or music and members began to drift off to Santa Clara, Casper, Concord, Sacramento, Seattle, etc. The staff, needing to pay their bills, began to accept offers from other corps and local youth bands.
In early May it was announced that there would be no first tour; we would re-use the 74 show and embark on a late July tour. We were skeptical but hopeful and sure enough, the bottom fell out a couple of weeks later. The corps was broke, we couldn't pay staff, the scheduled tour was cancelled and our last bus got repossessed. Just about everyone bailed out, leaving Rocco acting as Director, Truck Driver, Manager and Horn Instructor with a corps that consisted of 3 veterans, the remains of the B-corps, a handful of rookies, a few dedicated parents and a pile of debts. The bank account had to be emptied to avoid attachments, and there was one occasion where a creditor actually appeared at a performance with the intent of seizing the equipment!
THE REBUILD
That little corps continued to hold regular rehearsals and limped along for the rest of the summer, appearing at the Orange County Fair, a few parades, and a really interesting July 12th appearance at a celebrity tennis tournament that featured Christopher and Lynda Day George. The Georges, Dionne Warwick, Desi Arnez Jr. and Regis Philbin appeared later that evening at La Palma Stadium for our Festival of Music show. (All very nice people, by the way).
In the meantime, Rocco had 3 immediate goals, which were:
1. Find a location for a Corps Hall, which would give us a permanent base of operations,
2. Start generating some instant revenue,
3. Establish a Bingo game (illegal at the time!) which would provide us with a steady source of income,
4. Re-establish a relationship with the city of Anaheim and launch a massive recruiting drive.
Needing help, he brought in as Corps Manager the ex-director of the Royal Blues, a gentleman named Joe Blasdel. (He would later be known as "Triple F", but that's another story) The late Don Palinsky was instrumental in setting up an experimental Bingo game at an elementary school in Orange, and then in the fall the city arranged for us to move into the old Cone Chevrolet Dealership on Anaheim Blvd.
Because the building was scheduled for demolition as part of a downtown Anaheim renovation project, it was strictly a temporary arrangement but we finally had a Corps Hall. The new management regime and new hall also brought with it some new some policies as well. All members reporting for rehearsal were required to sign in and members behind in monthly dues were not allowed to rehearse. Regimented, yes, but it was the only way to ensure adequate funds. We ran a pumpkin patch, a Christmas tree lot, a thrift store, you name it. Then there was: The Raffle. We held weekend camps that had us putting our uniforms on in the morning, going out door-to-door selling raffle tickets, coming back and rehearsing, putting our uniforms back on and selling more tickets in the afternoon, coming back and rehearsing in the evening. That uniform bit really worked; countless people told us that if we hadn't been in uniform, they wouldn't have purchased the tickets.
With blacked-out windows, the bi-weekly Bingo game got under way that winter. Bingo was still illegal, but the Anaheim P.D. sort of closed one eye and looked the other way if the game benefited a city youth group. All members were required to have a parent/sponsor agree to work bingo shifts, but those members 18 years or older could act as their own sponsor. There was one inviolable rule: Just in case it got raided, no one under the age of 18 was allowed anywhere near that room on Bingo nights!
As luck would have it, the Bicentennial Freedom Train was going to stop at Anaheim Stadium the week of January 9th as part of its national tour and, recognizing a golden captive-audience recruiting opportunity, Rocco and Joe arranged to set up a recruiting booth and have the Kingsmen perform 3 times a day as the Official Musical Representatives of Anaheim. We started to attract more members, word got out that the Kingsmen were rebuilding and a few veterans returned. We also gained "The Ohio Players", which were some very talented Toledo Glassmen people. At long last, a real drum corps was taking shape.
A big part of our rebuild was honoring and paying off our debts. We found and paid debts to businesses who said they never expected to hear from the Kingsmen again. We also paid our old debts to the staff and brought back Michael Ellerby, Brenda Markham, Linda Markham, Greg Thomas, Jim Silverstein, and a host of new instructors.
The 1st official performance of the 1976 Kingsmen was a flagpole-dedicating ceremony at the Ball-Euclid Shopping Center in April. In one of those ironic moments, we discovered that, despite all our military heritage, Mike Serrano was the only member in the entire horn line that knew To the Colors!
Late in the spring,, the Anaheim P.D. vice squad was forced to shut down Kingsmen bingo. They were acting on an anonymous complaint.
The 1976 Kingsmen started to become a reality when we moved to our new facility in Stanton. Located on the corner of Cerritos and Sycamore near Beach Blvd., it was a former Air Conditioning and Heating manufacturing company which proved to be an ideal arrangement. There were multiple offices and large rehearsal rooms, a giant warehouse that was converted into another Bingo Hall and a large parking lot in the back that served as a practice field which we immediately dubbed The Grinder. Nothing toughens you up faster than spending 8 hours a day marching on hot asphalt; a pair of shoes lasted about 2 weeks!
THE GROUNDWORK
Summer was approaching and we still didn't have a drill or music book. If 1972 was "The Miracle" and 1974 was "The Struggle", then 1976 was "The Impossible Dream"! With a very late start on the season, a young staff led a mostly- green corps into one of the most exhausting but probably one of the most productive summers of our lives………
June- Short on time and money, it had been decided at the outset that there was no other choice: we would have to use the bulk of the 1974 show. The M&M staff had spent long hours running and re-running the 1974 Toledo film, projecting it onto large sheets of paper taped to the wall and sketching out the drill patterns. The Berlioz production was deemed way too complicated this late in the game, so Kit Squires was called upon to knock out an arrangement of Cheshire Cat Walk and Hill Where The Lord Hides and the Tubular Bells drum solo was replaced with a Michael Ellerby original. Venerable old Don Hertel got talked into writing the drum solo drill and none other than Pete Emmons and Mike Moxley wrote and taught the production drill.
So, with a corps that consisted of 40 horns, 26 percussion, 39 guard (some of whom weren't yet
14 years old), approximately 20 drum corps veterans and 10 Kingsmen veterans among us,
we hit that Grinder asphalt rehearsal field. 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, we frantically learned
that show. Not a minute could be wasted; we didn't walk back to the starting line, we RAN.
Saturday, July 3- Thousand Oaks, CA: We had just started learning the exit drill and didn't have the flag work completed, but it was time to take the corps into competition, if only for a preliminary critique. The resulting 51.70 was a little generous, as the final 4-5 minutes were played standing still. With the top corps already well into the mid to upper 70s, the season wasn't looking too promising.
Monday, July 5- Phoenix, AZ: An exhibition show hosted by the Sun Country Wranglers. It was decided to Damn The Torpedoes; we performed the show in its rough entirety. Word quickly got out the Kingsmen were in serious trouble, but during Retreat an interesting thing happened. Standing motionless in the 90 degree heat, we watched as 27th and Madison members began to pass out and hit the ground. A flagpole would topple, a hat would disappear, but those sweated hours on The Grinder really paid off; not a single blue cadet went down that night!
Thursday, July 8- Stanton, CA: Back to the Grinder for the 10-to 10s, with the pace quickening as our rookie members began to realize how far behind we were in comparison to other corps. About a week later, a disgruntled and somewhat unbalanced parent phoned the fire department and reported a big fire at the corps hall. The Chief looked into the warehouse, saw the huge crowd of Bingo players, quickly shut the door and said "I didn't see that!" The Fire Marshall, however, had no choice; the building was Red-Tagged as an assembly hall and our Bingo Game was out of business again.
THE RETURN
Monday, July 26th- Stanton, CA: At 3:00 am, the 1976 Anaheim Kingsmen boarded chartered buses and set off, joining the tail-end of the Drums Along The Rockies tour and then heading east. Because the Bingo game cash flow had been shut off, we could only afford one set of bus drivers and we still weren’t ready for a national tour, but the time had come!
Tuesday, July 27th- Alamosa, CO: Arrived in the middle of the night at Alamosa High School, where the gymnasium wall proclaimed the home of the "Magnificent Maroon Moose Music Machine".
Thursday, July 29th- Alamosa, CO: A Drums Along the Rockies exhibition show. We had improved and our show was now complete, but still a long way from contender form. This was going to be one long uphill battle.
Friday, July 30th- Steamboat Springs, CO: Another DATR exhibition, still not very good. We had some real talent in that corps, but the execution was ragged and we were still learning to play as an ensemble.
Saturday, July 31st- Thornton, CO: Our first real contest resulted in our first real score; a 63.15. The magnitude of what we were up against began to sink in but then we got an unexpected and badly needed boost as Gary Kean came back on board, bringing with him some extra talent from the Seattle Imperials and the Black Watch.
Sunday, August 1st- Scottsbluff, NE: Our 2nd contest, no scores available. We were noticeably better, but got pounded by everyone but the Commodores and when we started to over-hear comments like "They sure don't look like the old Anaheim", our resolve got stronger.
Tuesday, August 4th- Milwaukee, WI: The Big V- Up by over 4 points with a 67.80. We were 8th place out of 11 corps but a full 3 points behind the 7th place Marquis. Our momentum had begun and we were determined to get that score up or die trying!
Wednesday, August 5th-Stillwater, MN: Performed a standstill at the Drum Beauty show and then left for an 8:30 am prelim appearance at DCI Midwest.
Thursday, August 6th- Whitewater, WI: DCI Midwest- Performed at prelims, boarded the buses for a return to Stillwater for the Drum Beauty night contest, and then completely upset the itinerary. Our original plans called for us to travel directly to Belleville from Stillwater but no one told us that we weren’t supposed to break the 70's with a 71.10 and make finals at DCI Midwest.
Thursday, August 6th- Stillwater, MN: After our next-to-last place 69.95 in Stillwater, we boarded the buses for an all night drive back to Whitewater.
Friday, August 7th -Whitewater, WI: DCI Midwest- A disappointing last-place finish with a 70.50; 2 points behind the Squires and 3 points behind the Marquis but considering that we weren’t even supposed to be in the finals and that we had gained 7 points in 7 days, it wasn't all bad.
Saturday, August 8th-Belleville, IL: The good old uphill-starting-line-gun-goes-off-one-minute-late Black Knights show. Again, no scores are available, but another last-place finish. We knew that our show was better than the ones beating us, but our execution was still killing us.
Sunday, August 9th- Zionsville, IN: We had with us a volunteer cook named Don Harkness who was doing a fantastic job of providing us with edible meals on a tight budget. He had friends in Zionsville, so as a personal favor we performed a standstill for a sizable crowd at the local park. Afterwards, the ENTIRE corps was invited to Don's friends' house for a spaghetti dinner! We hadn't eaten that well in weeks.
Monday, August 10th-Pontiac, MI: DCI North- The next big test for our critics and ourselves. Was Whitewater a fluke, or is Anaheim for real? We answered by tying the Squires for 8th with a stunning 74.65, and suddenly there were 9 corps in the finals. Our performance that night netted us a miserable last-place 70.90 and almost 3 points behind the Squires, last in every caption except horns (which was next to last) but the Drum Corps community was at last starting to take us seriously.
Tuesday, August 11th- Butler, PA: American International-This was an unscheduled contest, but after our success at Whitewater and Pontiac, it was decided that we would detour to Butler and attempt to win an actual championship title. The Freelancers, unfortunately, had the same idea and we came in 2nd with a 77.30, but we were ecstatic about our score. It was here that our lack of Bingo funding began to haunt us; our 3 drivers had used all their time and couldn't drive again until Sunday, so management was forced to scrounge around for replacements. One of them took one look at the bus and chickened out; another (we found out later) had only driven school busses. They drove so badly that the tough-as-nails drum line was actually scared to board the bus.
Wednesday, August 12-Toledo, OH: Key To The Sea- We stayed consistent with a next-to-last 76.9 but started to close the gap as we were only .35 behind the Guardsmen and, just like our last appearance here in '74, retreat got rained out.
Friday, August 13- Marion, OH: U.S. Open- Our last show before DCI and in an eerie repeat of '73, the truck broke down en route to the stadium and we were assessed 3 points in late penalties. Maybe because of this mystical link to Kingsmen history or maybe because we realized that we had nothing to lose, we got psyched up and performed our best show of the year, scoring a 75.05 with the penalties.
Saturday, August 14-Marion, OH: U.S. Open- Our 8th place 76.45 in finals was only .70 behind the Squires, we managed to beat the Marquis and our mindset began to change from DCI Associate to DCI Finalist. We had been gaining an average of 1 point a day and we needed to be in the 80's for a shot at the top 12, we remained in Marion for a few days of intense rehearsal while someone drove to Butler to bring back our original drivers.
Thursday, August 19th- Philadelphia, PA: In a managerial decision that remained controversial for months afterward, we actually stayed in a hotel that night.
Friday, August 20th-Philadelphia, PA: DCI- We were originally scheduled to follow the Belvederes, but the 1976 DCI Championship Prelims began with the Anaheim Kingsmen.
The crowd response and standing ovation was overwhelming but, possibly because of the early
hour or lack of sleep, we somehow lost the edge and could only muster a 76.9. We were
disappointed but not devastated, as we had gained 14 points in 3 weeks on the road. That
accomplishment in itself was astounding and we had achieved what we had set out to do: bring
the Kingsmen back to the competitive arena. (It can honestly be said that the Kingmen were in 1st
place at DCI prelims in 1976, if only for a little while!) After prelims had ended for the day, we
headed for the high school that was supposed to be our lodgings for the night, but due to some
communication error, it was locked tight. We wound up throwing an impromptu end-of-tour
party on the field, ultimately sleeping on the ground or in the buses. It was a warm night and great fun.
EPILOGUE: THE LONG ROAD HOME
Tuesday, August 24: The busses leave for California!
Saturday, August 28th-Anaheim, CA: Stopped at a YMCA for showers, then to La Palma Park to perform for a Senior Citizens Picnic. We finally got to the corps hall at 4:00pm, unloaded and disappeared into the sunset with the battle cry; "See You in September!"
WHAT THEY WERE SAYING ABOUT US IN 1975:
It was difficult to keep reading all these things and not keep our hopes up….
"We've heard some conflicting and somewhat discouraging reports regarding the strength and direction of Southern California's powerhouse, the KINGSMEN. According to one source within the organization they could, if all goes well and according to plan, produce one of their largest and finest units to date. Another source, however, says the Kingsmen are more or less "marking time" until certain changes come about and their financial difficulties resolved.
We saw the Kingsmen at a recent standstill in San Bernardino sporting a near-full percussion section and guard and approximately thirty horns. Knowing the Kingsmen as we do, thirty horns in mid-march is nothing to push the panic button over. We recall the winter of '71-'72 when the Kingsmen were averaging a mere eighteen horns at rehearsals. By May they pulled it all together to win DCI three months later.
Musically the Kingsmen will make one major change. They plan to drop last season's opener of "Mambo" and replace it with a very exciting and highly intricate new "West Side Story" medley. The remainder of their rep. from the pen of the highly talented Kit Squires will remain basically intact from 1974".
Dale Karrigan, Drum Corps America, May 1975
"Our May cover features the "Big Blue" of Orange, CA. The Kingsmen have experienced numerous difficulties this winter and have been the subject of quite a few wild rumors. According to recent reports the corps has overcome most of the problems that plagued the organization during the off-season and are well on the way to a very successful recovery."
Drum Corps News, May 1975
"Kingsmen inactive in '75? Not so! The Kingsmen are competing in 1975 and plan on a national tour. A slow winter for the corps, yes. Even a not so good spring; but then it was like that in 1972. Remember 1972? That was the year the "slow" Kingsmen won the U.S. Open and the DCI Championship. So, don't mention the word "slow" or behind schedule because I don't think those words are in their vocabulary".
Drum Corps World, May 1975
"KINGSMEN: Everyone from California to Maine has them buried and the flowers wilted already. That is, everyone but the staff, management and the members. I will be the first to say that had more than their share of problems this past winter, but with a couple of changes in the last month and a half, those problems are being solved and eliminated one by one. The Kingsmen, according to management, are committed to a national tour and when the timekeeper pulls the trigger, they will be there. For now you'll just have to take it from one who still believes and has all along".
Marie Williams, Drum Corps America, June 1975
"The following is an interview with former Kingsmen Drum and Bugle Corps Director, Don Wells.
America: Why did you leave drum corps last fall?
Wells: My participation with drum corps left me financially destitute. Before my association with drum corps, the only major decision I made each year was whether to drive a new Cadillac or Lincoln. By the time we returned from the '74 tour, my decisions were reduced to whether I should spend my last dollar on lunch or dinner.
America: Did you plan to return to drum corps when you left?
Wells: I had written a detailed survival to carry the corps through 1975. I had hoped the corps would make it without me. The plan called for some knock-down infighting with some business people who laid us away and there just wasn't anyone with what I call alley experience to go to war. My backup plan was that I believed I could make my personal life solvent by April 1st, and that would still allow time, Kingsmen time anyway, to put a competitive show together.
America: Will the Kingsmen be competitive this year?
Wells: I would not insult the intelligence of our young people putting them on the starting line unless I thought they had every chance to go all the way.
America: Will you use a lot of imports?
Wells: There is no such term in my drum corps dictionary. What is the difference between traveling 20 miles or 2000 miles? If a young man or woman wants to be a Kingsmen and has the talent and dedication to wear our uniform, then he or she is a Kingsmen. We don't care about the origin of the body. It is the heart that makes the corps.
America: Do you really believe that the financial hardship can be overcome?
Wells: The Kingsmen on paper are not in that bad of shape. It is just the cash flow is so negative. We have a new board chairman who will help a great deal, and while Rocco was running a one man show, he did some outstanding public relations work that should materialize. One of the major keys will be assistance from drum corps fans across the United States. If they will get behind us and purchase the souvenir items we are offering, we can definitely make it. The Kingsmen belong to every fan who digs down and buys what he or she can. You might very well call it, "Own a piece of the Kingsmen"."
Kingsmen 1975-A Champion Lives, Drum Corps America, June 1975
"I have tried very hard to not let my first love show through in my writing and I hope you'll forgive me if I deviate from my fight to keep things on even keel for now.
The Kingsmen of Anaheim will not go on tour this year and my heart is very sad for the members. The Kingsmen members worked hard to keep the corps alive, but they had to deal with adults. Adults thought all they had to do was have a title or the time and everything would go on as it always had. By the time the cry for help went out it was almost too late. It could have been done, but again the corps members had to depend on adults and again they were disappointed.
I won't mention names because each will know in his heart what his or her role has been this past winter in the Kingsmen. I blame myself partly because I didn't scream loud enough or long enough, but I'm willing to say, it will not happen in the Kingsmen if I have to use my last breath to prove it.
There are already a number of steps that have been started in the last few days to insure the Kingsmen a new beginning in September and because the members are Kingsmen, they are saying it will happen. 1976 will see the best of the Kingsmen ever!
The Kingsmen didn't die, they just aren't going on tour in 1975. They counted too heavily on a number of adults that in the end didn't give them a chance. The Kingsmen had the will and the ability; what they lacked and needed most were the few adults that also had the will and ability."
Kingsmen Close Doors On 1975 Season, Marie Williams, Drum Corps America, July 1975
WHAT THEY WERE SAYING ABOUT US IN 1976:
Most of the Drum Corps press that season was focused on the Blue Devils, Madison and the Bridgemen, with the Kingsmen being relegated to the same fate as the Kilts and the Muchachos; dealt a death blow and out of the picture. By late August the picture had changed…
"We couldn't resist using this fine Jane Boulen photo for the cover of our Philadelphia issue. The Anaheim Kingsmen not only got back on the field this season…They're making a very determined effort to shoot right back to where they left off when the 1974 season ended. If ever there was a success story of a comeback…it's this corps."
Drum Corps World, August 20, 1976
"The Anaheim Kingsmen added this strong placement to a string of personal victories for the corps which started with winning a spot in the finals in both the DCI Midwest title show in Whitewater, Wisconsin and the DCI North show in Pontiac, Michigan just several days before this show. It was a personal victory for the corps since the Kingsmen were not on the field during the 1975 season and they have made tremendous progress in making a determined comeback this season. Their 77.30 might possibly indicate that if the corps continues to progress at the rapid rate they have thus far on this nationals tour, they might qualify for a spot in the night show in Philadelphia."
Drum Corps World at American International
"The Anaheim Kingsmen showed what they were going to be doing throughout the balance of the eastern swing…improving like crazy. Since their first appearance in competition at the Thousand Oaks show in Southern California last July 3rd, they have jumped a phenomenal 16 points and are bound to go even higher as the Philadelphia goal gets closer."
Drum Corps News at the Big V
"As I sit with the recap in front of me, let me try to reconcile the differences between what I saw and the final, somewhat surprising results. First, the Kingsmen's last-place finish. M&M execution score was low, probably because they were pushing hard. Low GE Drums might be believable, but low GE Horns is hard to believe"
Paul Stott at DCI North, Drum Corps World, September 1976
"Much to the delight of corps fans, the revitalized Anaheim Kingsmen claimed the field next. Although their arrangement of Hill Where The Lord Hides does not develop into what it should, this unit still loves curvilinear forms, field coverage and choreography. The drumline has returned to top-notch form and led them to 2nd place and a score of 77.40"
Norman Umberger at American International, Drum Corps World, September 1976
"The next corps is one that I'm sure everyone will join me in welcoming back to the field: The Kingsmen of Anaheim, California. The pride, class and discipline that made up the Kingsmen of old are still there and their very appearance brings on standing ovations. They have that aura of a champion. People say that will take two or three years to build the corps up to what it was; if they don't win a major title next year I'll be very surprised. Ed Turner and Rene Le Ritz lead the corps through basically the same repertoire as in 1974: opener of Mambo from West Side Story, concert of Stan Kenton's Artistry In Rhythm and closer of Tower Of Power's So Very Hard To Go. For a production, Cheshire Cat Walk/Hill Where The Lord Hides. The show is presented well; drill and color guard work are up to the usual Anaheim standard of excellence. Welcome back, Kingsmen! Ninth place and 76.90 for the two-time Key To The Sea champion."
Robert Glaub at Key To The Sea, Drum Corps World, September 1976
"Prelims were exciting from the very beginning, for none other than the Kingsmen were the first to compete, and the stands were packed to see where in fact they had come this year, and the Kingsmen were up for the task. I have to feel that they had a super year, for with a young corps that competed for the first time in July, they made GIANT strides by Nationals. They put on clean, enthusiastic performance that yielded them a 76.90 which they have every reason to be proud of. I've heard that their staff had them believing that they would make finals, and that the corps was disappointed with a 76. If that's true, it's a travesty.* They put on a good show, and, believe me, the audience was pulling for them 180 degrees different than then when some fans exhibited a year or so after they won DCI in 1972, when too many people held that stupid resentment that the Kingsmen had deprived Santa Clara of something that Santa Clara deserved. No booing at prelims this year. On the contrary!"
Steve Fain at DCI, Drum Corps World, September 1976
*Not true. We knew what we were up against and the staff did use a possible DCI Finals shot as a motivator, but they never tried to raise our hopes beyond a realistic level.