Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps

James E. "Jim" Jones, a Casper, Wyoming building contractor and a veteran of the World War II United States Army Air Forces founded the Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps in 1957 as an activity for local youth. In his own youth, Jones had won the American Legion individual snare drum championship while a member of Casper's Sons of the American Legion drum and bugle corps, in which he had also been the corps manager from age fifteen. He decided to name the new corps the Troopers to honor the 11th Ohio Cavalry, a United States Army unit stationed at Fort Caspar, Wyoming Territory, to protect supply trains during the Indian Wars of the 19th Century. In order to fund the new corps, Jones took out a $4,000 loan to purchase drums and bugles.[3]

In its first season, the Troopers were sponsored by the Casper American Legion post, were strictly a parade corps, and made the corps' first appearance at the State American Legion Convention in Riverton, Wyoming. At that first performance, the corps played "Ghost Riders in the Sky," "Wagon Wheels," and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", which would set the tone for Trooper musical programs for decades to come. In 1958, the corps entered its first field competitions, and, being the only corps in Wyoming and one of the few in the Great Plains region, it was necessary for the Troopers to travel extensively to compete in drum and bugle corps competitions. Jones chartered passenger buses to carry the Troopers across and around the country on trips that would last for several weeks, making the corps a "touring corps", a concept that was unusual at the time. Also rare for the time was the Troopers' willingness to allow girls into the brass and percussion sections of the corps. And, in order to help cover the expenses of their touring, the corps' buses were accompanied by the "Sheep Wagon", a trailer set up to look like a small covered wagon that sold souvenirs of the Troopers' visits to the contests in which they competed. Another Troopers innovation was the move away from strictly linear drill; they introduced a circular drill element, the "Sunburst" which still draws enthusiastic crowd approval.[4]

The Troopers' "sheep wagon" souvenir stand.

The Troopers not only gained a wide-ranging fan base through their travels, but the corps was a successful competitor. Their first "national" contest was the 1961 American Legion Championships in Denver, where the corps finished fourth; they would finish in third place the following year in Las Vegas. The Troopers' first major victory was in the 1965 World Open in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 1966, the Troopers won the VFW Nationals. The corps won the CYO Nationals three years in a row, 1968-70. 1970 was probably their most successful season, when they won their second VFW National Championship in Miami Beach, added their third CYO title in Boston, earned their third World Open crown in Lynn, Massachusetts, and appeared on national TV during the halftime of a Minnesota Vikings NFL game.[2][4] In 1971, the Troopers were the stars of a television special, "The Troopers Are Coming", narrated by actor Walter Brennan.[5]

The Troopers, 2008.

In 1971, at the urging of 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 (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.[6]

In 1972, the Troopers, 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, the Troopers finished in sixth place in a competition that featured thirty-nine corps from the East, the South, the West Coast, the Midwest and Great Plains, and Canada. For DCI's first four years, Troopers were an annual finalists, placing second in 1973. Then, through the mid-1980s the Troopers were in and out of DCI's Top Twelve Finalists.[4][7]

When Jim Jones retired as the Troopers' director in 1987, he was succeeded by a string of directors who were all alumni of the corps. This, however, did not translate into competitive success; from 1987 through 2005, the corps finished in fourteenth place twice, but otherwise were ranked in nineteenth to twenty-fifth place. Then, in 2005, the DCI Board of Directors suspended the Troopers from competition for non-compliance with membership rules. The corps was inactive for the 2006 season, while they reorganized. The Troopers board named Wyoming businessman and Troopers alumnus Mike Ottoes as interim director. One of Ottoes' first actions was to announce the organization's commitment to compliance with DCI's rules and the intent to return to the field in 2007. In April 2006, DCI gave preliminary approval for the Troopers' return to Division I competition in 2007, and the corps soon after named Fred Morris, who has an extensive background in drum corps management, as Corps Director, with Ottoes becoming Executive Director of the organization. On October 3, 2006, the Troopers were reinstated as a DCI Division I corps.[5]

The Troopers returned to competition on June 19, 2007 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. At Clovis, California on August 5, the corps earned a score above 80 points for the first time since 1995. At the DCI Championships, held in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, the Troopers placed twentieth. In 2008, they would improve to sixteenth place, and in 2009, the Troopers' twelfth-place finish would earn a spot in DCI's Top Twelve Finalists for the first time since 1986.[8]

In addition to being a competitive corps, the Troopers have made appearances at professional and collegiate sporting events over the years including games of the Denver Broncos, Philadelphia Phillies, and the United States Air Force Academy. The Troopers were the first competitive drum corps to participate in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. The corps represented the state of Wyoming at both the 1993 and the 2001 Presidential Inaugural Parades. The Troopers have also performed in concert before World's Fair attendees, NATO Defense College delegates, and Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.[9]