The highlights for the 1978 & 1979 corps as mentioned in other strings were going to New Orleans and Texas for these shows. It was on these tours that we had such memorable moments as the run-in with the Cropdusters. The results were:

1978 - Dallas
1 Saginaires 69.000
2 Spectra 66.200
3 Silver Sabers 64.650
4 Skokie Imperials 53.950
5 Argonne Rebels 53.450
6 Spartans (WA) 53.200
6 Valiant Knights 53.200
8 Sundowners 43.950
9 Royal Lancers (FL) 40.700
10 Crimson Cadets 40.550
11 Nee-Hi's 31.650
12 Bellettes All Girl 29.00

1979 - New Orleans
1 Long Island Kingsmen 72.100
2 Stardusters 68.600
3 Saginaires 67.300
4 Spectra 65.150
5 St. Croix Rivermen 57.450
6 Norwood Park Imperials 51.300
7 1st Canadian Regiment 51.100
8 Spartans 43.850
9 Vaqueros/Firemen 42.900
10 Bleu Raeders 39.700
11 Sundowners 38.700

1980 - Chicago
1 Cavaliers 83.850
1 Madison Scouts 83.850
3 St. Croix Rivermen 69.500
4 Geneseo Knights 67.400
5 Saginaires 62.800
6 Alliance 58.000
7 Americanos 57.500
8 Pioneer 55.400
9 Norwood Park Imperials 47.350
10 Sundowners 46.650

I marched in this 1980 show as a member of Madison and not the Imperials. It was a few days after DCI finals and the scores were laughable considering we had just beaten the Cavaliers by 10 points in Birmingham. I guess they had home field advantage.

1983 - New Orleans
1 Royal Grenadiers 64.100
2 Crimson Cadets 58.150
3 Vaqueros 51.800
4 Sundowners 45.200
5 Imperials, Mt Prospect, IL 44.150
6 Midwest Express 41.350
7 Racine Scouts 35.450

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 1974-1979, 1981

Jim,

Thanks for the memories of those scores. Those trips were so much fun, I had forgotten how well we did, considering where we were as a corps at that time. All the people above us were much older corps (in member age), and many were from the East Coast, where the "middle ground" was still more competitive at that time. And I had forgotten that we actually beat the Argonne Rebels, a former DCI finalist and National Champion. And we also beat our main rivals, 1st Canadian Regiment and Vaqueros.

I think VFW only had corps for one more year after that, when Crossmen won in 1981. And I had always heard that the 1980 VFW was a joke. Did Madison march a full corps that night? They were famous earlier in the 70s for not really showing up after DCI. We (Cavaliers) almost beat them after DCI in 1975 in Loves Park - the year they won finals and we were 8th - because so few of them bothered to show up. In fact, Kilties did an exhibition that night instead of competing because so few came, and most of them couldn't stand up...

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Bob,
We certainly treated that 1980 VFW show more as an exhibition. The full corps was not there, and I don't believe we practiced after DCI. But, we weren't that decimated and did an OK performance. Given that I had no problem understanding our dropping 4 points after Birmingham. But the joke was that the Cavaliers improved by over 6 points in those few days since DCI finals! I guess as a corps they were holding out all summer just waiting to spring that great performance on everyone at VFW Nationals!

I picked up these scores from http://www.corpsreps.com and they have scores up to this 1983 show in New Orleans. I'm not sure how reliable this site is, but they have a ton of score info there.

What did you do in the Corps? Soprano

What years were you a Corps member? 1974-1979, 1981

Re: 1980 VFW. It looks like BOTH Madison and the Cavaliers were a bit "shorthanded" for this show. I wonder if the Cavaliers left out the members who made the most mistakes?

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63