Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps

On the evening of March 6, 1967, citing differences of opinion in the artistic direction of the Sparks Drum & Bugle Corps, its parents support group voted to return the corps to its former activity as a drum and bell corps with majorettes. After the vote, three dissident adults took the corps' members aside and asked them if they preferred to continue as a drum and bugle corps or to become a drum and bell corps. After the members declared for drum and bugle, their parents immediately started a new booster club to support the new corps. Gail Royer, a local elementary school music teacher and a judge for American Legion music competitions, who had been the Sparks' music instructor, was named as the director for the new corps. The new corps waited until its members met for rehearsal the following week to select a name. After discussing and rejecting several possible names, the corps chose: Santa Clara Vanguard.[2]

Only one week after its founding, the newly christened corps marched in and won its first parade, San Francisco's St. Patrick's Day Parade. The unit's major trip of the 1967 season was to Southern California to compete in the Anaheim Kingsmen's second annual Festival of Music, placing fourth. At that show, Royer recruited Kingsmen instructors Pete Emmons and Fred Sanford to instruct the Vanguard color guard and drum line. [2]

In 1968, the corps embarked on its first tour to the Midwest in order to measure itself against more experienced corps in full contests. Gail Royer was trying to prepare them for VFW Nationals in Philadelphia the following year. Although they did not place high at any of the competitions, the tour was a success because of the competition experience and the exposure to the national drum corps scene. On the local front, the SC Vanguard Color Guard beat the Anaheim Kingsmen in 1968 to win their first California Color Guard Circuit Championship, and the corps won its first standstill competition. The corps also won its first field show that year, on August 3, 1968, at the Anaheim Kingsmen's Festival of Music. Santa Clara Vanguard capped off its year by winning the first of many California State Open Championships.

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 lost to several corps, but repaid those losses 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 21 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 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 [also known as the "Alliance"], 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.[3][2] Otherwise during that season, SCV competed in three "majors"; they were third at the CYO Nationals, second among thirty-seven corps at the World Open, and won the VFW National Championship in Dallas, Texas.

Buses belonging to the Santa Clara Vanguard

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.[2] 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 with its 'Phantom of the Opera' show. After that nine-year streak, the Vanguard had sixth, fourth, and seventh place finishes before the corps' original director, Gail Royer, stepped down after the 1992 season and died soon after. Dr. Len Kruszecki was appointed as Royer's successor, but SCV placed no better than 5th during his four seasons. 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; Jeff Fiedler, 2009–15, and Charles Frost through 2019, the Santa Clara Vanguard continued its unbroken string of appearing in every DCI Finals since 1972. The Vanguard is the only corps able to make such a claim. After a 19-year drought, their 2018 show 'Babylon' returned Vanguard to the top of the leader board, with its 2nd highest score (98.625) ever in a DCI final's event.[2]

The Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps is sponsored by Vanguard Music and Performing Arts (VMAPA),[4] a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has a Board of Directors, corps director, and staff assigned to carry out the organization's mission. Kevin Brooks is Chairman of the Board, and Charles Frost is the Executive Director. The organization also sponsors the Vanguard Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps, the Santa Clara Vanguard Independent World Winter Guard, the Vanguard Winter Percussion, and the Vanguard Community Arts Initiative which provides music education programs to the community, including private music lessons and performing ensembles such as the SCV Big Band and the SCV Youth Brass Ensemble.[5]

Source:[6]

Gold background indicates DCI Championship; pale blue background indicates DCI Class Finalist; pale green background indicates DCI semifinalist.

At the annual World Championship Finals, Drum Corps International (DCI) presents named awards to the corps with the high average scores from prelims, semifinals, and finals in five captions. Santa Clara Vanguard has won these caption awards:

Don Angelica Best General Effect Award

• 2018

John Brazale Best Visual Performance Award

• 2018

George Zingali Best Color Guard Award

• 2017

Jim Ott Best Brass Performance Award

• 2018

Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award

• 2004, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Prior to 2000 and the adoption of the current scoring format, Santa Clara Vanguard won these captions:

High General Effect Award

• 1972, 1973, 1974 (tie), 1975, 1978, 1987, 1989, 1999

High Visual Award

• 1981, 1984 (tie), 1985, 1987 (tie)

High Color Guard Award

1974, 1978, 1981, 2017

High Brass Award

• 1984 (3 way tie), 1987 (tie)

High Percussion Award

• 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1988, 1989, 1991 (3 way tie), 1998

• Official website