Monday Memory: Before there were Bluecoats
Before they were the Bluecoats, a drum & bugle operated in the same facility that would become the first home of the corps. In 1969, the Canton Police Boys Club put out their usual newsletter and on the front page ran a story about the third year that club had operated a drum & bugle corps. While not a competitive unit on the field, the corps did hit the streets on the parade circuit. The Boys Club corps would continue on for another three seasons before the move would be made to form a competitive unit that would compete on the football field.
Familiar names appear on the front page of the Police Boys Club news: Art Drukenbrod and J. Babe Stearn. Babe was the Executive Director of the Boys Club and Art a local downtown tailor who marched drum and bugle corps with the Canton VFW post known as one of the national powerhouse groups in the '50s and '60s. It was the Canton Police Boys Club Drum & Bugle Corps that marched past Drukenbrod's shop on Cleveland Avenue during the Hall of Fame parade, that fired Art's engine and brought him to the group. Art lobbied Ralph McCauley and J. Babe Stearn to take the next competitive step with their club musical group and on December 1st, 1972, the Bluecoats were born.