I have hesitated to enter my thoughts concerning Don Warren and the Cavaliers since I am a late comer to drum corps, but I could not resist the opportunity to do so any longer. My feelings toward the Cavies are ambivalent. They struck me as being a corps, more talented than the Imps in the 70's, but in most ways no different and at that time still comprised of local talent. If I had any misgivings about them it was their boosters since they had little respect for the effort made by other corps even if they were superior or inferior to them.

I am in complete agreement with Bill concerning Don Warren. He is every bit the gentleman that Bill so aptly describes. Since I was a complete drum corps novice, when I took the managership of the Imps, I was more than happy to take advice from those with drum corps experience I badly lacked. Many individuals were invaluable in supplying that knowledge, mostly within the
Imperial family, and to name them all would be impossible. No one was more willing to share his advice and experience than Don Warren. He told me that he would help in any way he could with one single exception. The exception was that he would not tell me who his financial backers were. He pointed out that when he first founded the Cavaliers that he used Norwood as his example and went so far as to ride their buses to get knowledge. Certain elements of their organizational setup he chose not to follow. I think those who really know Don would agree that though the Cavies are most important to him, that the drum corps activity would be a very close second. Their is little doubt, without Don's advice and expertise, that Norwood would have ceased to exist ten years earlier than it did. I will always be greatful to Don and though I understand why some may not agree I think they would feel differently if they knew him as a man instead of an adversary.


As for the Cavalier bashing anyone who said it doesn't exist has not read very carefully some of the various threads on this site and to say it doesn't is erroneous and hypocritical. Whether it is deserved or not is a another question entirely. I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Right on, Jim. Xactly.

Sometimes it is hard for people to separate a PERSON from his creation .. as with Don Warren and the Cavaliers. I think that most people who have met and/ or worked with Don Warren respect him as a person and as an extremely competent manager. He was, and is, a very fair, honest and likeable man.

As for Cavalier 'bashing'.. I still maintain that I have seen very little of that on our alumni website. Expressing dislike or pointing out a problem isn't 'bashing'. There was an extensive discussion of the Cavaliers on our site in 2010 .. search for the "Cavaliers- Reflections and Opinions' thread. There is NO unfair 'bashing' of the corps there .. but a good review of many opinions.

Good point, Dave, about the man and his creation. With Don, he talks about his wife as much as his corps. The activity is not as big a thing as his corps, it seems to me, as it does to Jim too. He still does bleed green. He is deeply concerned about his wife (nice lady!) with her very bad back. He said they ran out of insurance money to cover her treatments and now she's in a bad way. He's worried. Then, there's his own health, about which he doesn't say much. He said that the corps has always been a wonderful avocation for him and is still a great escape (in a good way) for him. The boys, the boys, the boys. That's Don.