Monday Memory: Coming Back Strong after Missing a Year
In 1978 the Bluecoats were sitting on top of the Ohio drum corps world. Tucked into their belt was state championships with the VFW and American Legion, but in their cap? How about the coveted American International Open Class A title? But the accolades hid deeper challenges, according to Director Tom Jakmides about their trek to the Championship Week in 1978, “At the end of the 1978 season… our equipment truck died in Kansas City, our uniforms were six years old and our horns were falling apart.”
But in 1980 the corps came roaring back. Thanks to the countless hours of work, volunteers stitched together new uniforms to replace the worn our original ones. Staff, many alums, put together a quality show. And the Class A corps put on the field numbers that were pretty close to what they left off with in 1978: 44 brass, 36 guard and 27 percussion. The schedule for the year was fairly robust for a corps coming off a financial crisis, with 12 contests and 6 parades.
That resurgent group in 1980 left none of the past behind, as the corps kept the family feel going. In a newspaper article from the season, co-founder Ralph McCauley equated the corps with the pop music hit “We Are Family” saying “We help each other and have respect for each other.” Member Lisa Stan echoed saying “I listen to tapes and think about the drills. There’s nothing at home I would rather do than be with the corps.” Drum Major Kriss Davis said, “I have a full-time job, I’m going to school and I have to have money to keep paying my bills, but I would give all that up before I would give up Bluecoats.”
That 1980 corps ended the season, which beyond any competitive result is the biggest success the season could have yielded. But competitively, the corps made the trip to Birmingham, Alabama Ultimately, Jakmides told the Canton Repository something about the corps that rings true today, “Most of the young men and women who are active in drum corps are active in school, active in church — they’re the leaders in whatever they do,” he said, “A lot of their success is due to what they learn here.”
Roaring back indeed. This won’t be the last time the Canton Bluecoats would face an off-season of adversity but the first time laid the foundation for how to come back strong.
