Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps - History

History

In March of 1967, the Sunnyvale Sparks Drum and Bugle Corps decided to stop being a drum and bugle corps, and revert to the unit's former activity--- a drum and bell corps with majorettes. When some of the parents asked some of the members if they would rather continue as a drum and bugle corps, the answer was a loud and clear, "Yes!" At 10:15 that evening, March 6, 1967, the new booster club held an impromptu meeting, electing officers and appointing Gail Royer, a local school music teacher and American Legion drum corps judge, as the corps' first director. They also scheduled their first "official" meeting, to take place a week later as the new corps was having its first rehearsal. After the first rehearsal, the members got together and hashed out the possible names for their new corps, settling on the Santa Clara Vanguard (SCV). Only a week later, the corps was named the top drum corps in its first parade, the San Francisco St. Patrick's Day Parade. During its first season, SCV only traveled as far away as Los Angeles for the Kingsmen's show. During that inaugural season, the corps was already developing traditions; prior to the final contest, Gail Royer held the first “Green Feather Ceremony” for the corps' "ageouts" who were marching their last show, and a two page mimeographed newsletter was the first issue of what would become the "Vanguardian" which continues to this day as the "eVanguardian".

Prior to the start of the 1968 season, SCV hired two young instructors away from the Kingsmen, future DCI Hall of Fame members Fred Sanford (drums) and Pete Emmons (M&M). The corps toured the Midwest that summer, in preparation for the corps' planned debut at the 1969 VFW Nationals in Philadelphia. Although the corps did not have much competitive success, they did win their first "standstill" contest, the color guard won the state championship, and the entire corps gained much experience, especially after competing against the Midwestern powerhouse corps. In their show, the corps performed Rimsky-Korsakov's "Procession of the Nobles", the first long "odd" meter piece to feature marching, rather than being performed during the stand-still "concert" portion of the show. 1968 also saw SCV host its first home show, named the "Pacific Procession", to honor their feature musical piece; unfortunately, the show was poorly attended, taking place right after the assassination of Robert Kennedy. The Vanguard made its first trip to the East Coast in 1969. At their first VFW Nationals in Philadelphia, the corps finished in thirteenth place of the sixty-three corps, just missing Finals. The members then visited Washington, D.C., where the corps played their musical program on the steps of the Capitol Building, and New York City. In the corps' second "major" show of the season, SCV placed ninth of the forty-one corps in Class A at the U.S. Open in Lynn, Massachusetts. Santa Clara closed out the Sixties by beating every other major corps in the country in 1970; they did lose to several corps, but repaid those loses with wins. Finances prevented the corps from attending VFW Nationals in Miami, but the corps traveled in their own automobiles to Portland, Oregon for the American Legion Nationals, where they defeated twenty-one other mostly West Coast corps to win the 1970 American Legion Junior National Championship.

In 1971, at the urging of Troopers founder Jim Jones and Cavaliers founder Don Warren, the Blue Stars, Cavaliers, Madison Scouts, Santa Clara Vanguard, and the Troopers formed the Midwest Combine. This action was taken in reaction to the rigid, inflexible rules of the American Legion and VFW (the primary rule makers and sponsors of both corps and shows) and the low or nonexistent performance fees paid for appearing in the various competitions. The corps felt that not only were they having their creative potential as artistic performing groups stifled, but they were being financially starved. (A similar group of Eastern corps, the United Organization of Junior Corps, was formed by the 27th Lancers, Garfield Cadets, Boston Crusaders, Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights, and Blue Rock.) The Combine members felt that the corps should be making their own rules, operating their own competitions and championships, and keeping the bulk of the monies that those shows earned. For the 1971 season, the corps stuck together, offering show promoters the five corps as a package. Despite pressure on show sponsors, judges, and other drum corps, the Combine corps were not only booked into a number of shows together, but they found a host for a show of their own, which was a spectacular success despite fears of failure that lasted until a standing-room-only crowd arrived literally at the last moment. Otherwise during that season, SCV competed in three "majors"; they were third at he CYO Nationals, second among thirty-seven corps at the World Open, and won the VFW National Championship in Dallas, Texas.

In 1972, the Santa Clara Vanguard, along with the nine other corps from the Midwest Combine and the Alliance, plus the Anaheim Kingsmen, Argonne Rebels, and De La Salle Oaklands were founding members of Drum Corps International, which remains as the sanctioning body for junior corps in North America. At the first DCI World Championships in Whitewater, Wisconsin, SCV finished in third place in a competition that featured thirty-nine corps from the East, the South, the West Coast, the Midwest and Great Plains, and Canada. Santa Clara would remain among DCI's top three corps for the organization's first eight years, winning the DCI World Championship in Whitewater in 1973, in Ithaca, New York in 1974, and in Denver in 1978. SCV would close out the Seventies by falling to seventh place in Birmingham, Alabama in 1980 with a totally asymmetrical drill that was probably slightly ahead of its time. The corps' dominance was partly due to superb drumming, partly due to innovative drill, but largely due to a strong, supportive organization.

Santa Clara recovered from the down season of 1980 by winning its fourth DCI World Championship in '81. Then, over the next seven years, SCV would place second five times and third twice before winning its fifth DCI title in 1989. After that nine year streak, the Vanguard would fall to sixth in 1990, fourth in '91 and seventh in '92. After the '92 season, the corps' original director, Gail Royer, stepped down and passed away soon after. Dr. Len Kruszecki was appointed as Royer's successor, but the corps continued to finish in fifth through seventh place. In 1996, J.W. Koester became SCV's director, and the corps placed fifth at DCI, improved to third in '97, second in '98, and won its sixth DCI World Championship in 1999. Under the directorship of Rick Valenzuela, 2000-05; Jeff Pearson, 2006-08; and Jeff Feidler since 2009, the Santa Clara Vanguard has continued its unbroken string of having appeared in every DCI Finals since 1972 and is the only corps able to make such a claim.