Oregon Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps - History

History

The original Oregon Crusaders junior drum and bugle corps was founded in Oregon City in 1971 by brothers Ron and David Jones, with 15 year old David as Corps Director and 16 year old Ron as composer, arranger, and drill designer. The first year corps consisted of a drill team with drum line, and is distinguished for suffering a bus breakdown as its 40 members were en route to the unit's only scheduled performance. The brothers reorganized in 1972, acquiring sponsorship of the Dickinson’s Gourmet Preserves Company (now owned by Smuckers) and fielded as Dickinson’s Oregon Crusaders. In 1973, the corps merged with the Imperial Cadets and marched as the 115 member Imperial Crusaders, but returned as the Oregon Crusaders in 1974 when the two corps split. After the Jones brothers aged out, the corps lapsed into inactivity.(See Note)

In 1999, Rick Wise inaugurated a corps in Medford then known as the Southern Oregon Crusaders, though not affiliated with the original entity. In 2001, some of the Southern Oregon Crusaders personnel along with a new group of staff members reorganized the unit. Bill Perkins was named executive director, and Portland, Oregon was designated as the corps' new home. The name was also shortened to, "The Oregon Crusaders." From 2001 to 2003, the growing corps performed valiantly throughout the western US garnering the attention of the larger drum corps community despite fledging membership and shoestring budget, including borrowed uniforms, horns and percussion equipment. In 2004, the corps traveled throughout the Western United States on its way to the DCI World Championships in Denver, where the corps won the Division III title, to complete an undefeated season. The corps has made Finals of Division II/II, and now Open Class, every year since, while marching more than 100 members. Under new rules in 2011, the Oregon Crusaders, after finishing second in Open Class for the second year in a row, also marched in the World Class Preliminaries and finished 22nd, outscoring three World Class corps. In the 2012 season, the Crusaders did even better, finishing the season as the undefeated DCI Open Class champion in Michigan City, Indiana before advancing to the World Class Preliminareis in Indianapolis, where the corps advanced to semifinals, finishing nineteenth of thirtyfive corps. In October, 2012, the corps announced its move into DCI's World Class.