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So happy to hear the Whitewater story from Tom. I was a rookie in SCV and I’d never seen Cadets before so I ran inside to watch. The fall happened right in front of me. I was so green to everything I was just flabbergasted. We heard there were broken ankles. Thankful to know there weren’t. Garfield 84 is the greatest show in DCI history and I will die on that hill!!

In 1985, I was on the road as a musician. However, on a Sunday, I took a very long drive with another member of the band, and we went to a contest. I believe the night before, the Cadets had lost to Madison, who was very good that year. At this contest, Madison was strong, blew the place apart, and handily won the show. When the Cadets performed, Gene (the band member) who was not a "drum corps person", turned to me and said, "the demand of that show was outrageous". Considering the demand, they were performing pretty well, though execution was still "hit or miss" at that point, and there was much to work on. I paused and turned to Gene..."It's a great show.........but they'll never pull it off". I was wrong. Also that season, nobody totally dominated....4 corps had a shot (BD, SCV, Madison, Cadets....all 4 were within 6 tenths at semifinals), Scores were "jumpy", but I think judges were pretty open-minded that season. We were actually gigging that night, but the band leader was kind enough to stagger our breaks so that I could see the Cadets performance in my hotel room, and I also got to see the announcement of the scores. The Cadets laid out a job that night, the show was wonderful, and the rest is history......

These are great. When is part 3?

A little drum score analysis from 1983. Total drums (Field Percussion plus GE Percussion) 1st BD: 28.5, 2nd Phantom: 27.4, 3rd-tie Cadets 27.3, 3rd-tie Vanguard 27.3, 5th Bombers: 25.7, 6th Spirit 25.5, 7th Cadets were 4th in execution, 5th in exposure, 1st in excellence, and 1st in GE. It was an honor to be part of that percussion staff. I disagree that they were "not very good". Thom's parts were excellent, the drill was nuts, and the musicianship and effect were off the charts. More importantly, we reset the bar as to what a percussion section could achieve both musically and visually. They were very good and I was so proud for every one of them, as I am for every Cadet who ever wore the uniform.

"I'm not telling them anything, they are Cadets and they will do what they are supposed to do" - thank you Rich.

@TomSmith - I think that I was the third of fourth person in the chain and that I'm the one that you fell over, because I remember one more person falling after me and then seeing Rich jump over that person to break the chain. I also remember that you landed on the bell of someone's horn because your were in pain after we got off the field.

I became a Garfield ADDICT in 1984 and have never swayed. Thank you for these behind the scenes commentaries. ❤

Thank you so much for the history of the Garfield Cadets I was fortunate to compete against them in 1960 and 1961, Garfield was one of the greatest drum and bugle Corps in the history of the activity it's unfortunate but I believe in my opinion DCI is can't responsible for the demise of what was one of the greatest activities in North America. They priced themselves out of business

I played, snare drum, with the Floyd Bennett golden eagles in 1960 and 1961. We were invited to the Garfield Invitational competition, it was our second contest appearance and we came in second to last beating St Lucy's Cadets. It was an honor just to be invited over many other choices they had our brass quartet that very same year prior to the start of the Season beat the, St Kevin's Emerald Knights brass quartet who just won the National Championship we beat them by 10 with our brass quartet . Just a little background information. It was an honor for me to compete against the Garfield Cadets, in 1960 and 1961, we also competed against the golden knights, Saint Kevin's and many other top known and drum and bugle Corps in the country at that time the best we did was, fourth place, have Point behind Garfield, first place I believe with the golden knights we were two and a half points behind them, and St Kevin's came in second behind us five points was Saint Rocco's Cadets, from Brooklyn. I had to leave the golden eagles due to work right hand and arm injury at the end of the 1961 season. However in, in 1964 I joined a Long Island sunrises from 64 through 1968. I had to play symbols, we where will recognized in the activity, as a photograph of us in volume two of the drum corps world history book, in the sunrise section. Moe Knox, came up with the nickname, dynamic duo, we would imitated but never duplicated comment for at least 5 years of the course try to emulate what we did. In 1968 we won the state and National championship, and we also led the Macy Day Parade in 1968, and we were right after our Color Guard we were in front of, our Drum Corps. It was a great honor to have all that recognition ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

How lucky was I to be part of something so special and amazing - These three years set up the two I was part of 89-90

During my season, I begged and borrowed Discmans to listen to Garfield '84 on the bus. The control and sensitivity of the hornline was indeed amazing, but when they let loose, what a full-throated roar! Though I've only experienced it digitally, it has an immediacy that leaps through the medium and makes it viscerally present even listening forty years later. Thanks to all of you!

Thanks for doing this! I marched with you in 1989-1990 and aged out in 1991.

Wow, incredible stories and documentation. Thanks Eric for putting this together and thank you to all of the people who ever contributed to the legacy of The Cadets!

Barb was my first boss when I started teaching drum corps. Mr. Klesch is so right about the quality of human she is. I haven't seen seen her in a long, long, long time. I never have had the chance to properly thank her for giving me a shot and giving me as much responsibility as she did when I was still a young, unproven instructor. Knowing she had faith in me was all the motivation I needed back then. I hope our paths cross again someday. Thank you, Barb!

Thanks Eric for getting everyone together to recount their memories, 1984 was an exciting summer for the audience to experience The Garfield Cadets!

YOU HAVE MY RING!! Heh...those of you from the corps who know me fully expected that.

Hi Eric. Great show.

Kinda hope the beef stroganoff story is in this ep!

When are we going to be able to see Episodes 2 & 3?

In my heart, the very best. Love - always.

The Garfield Cadets forever changed my life. My years in the corps were filled with memories that will be with me to the last breath I take. When I watch drum corps, I mostly watch the Golden Years as my love of traditional drill and uniforms thrill me the most from that era. Garfield 1987 will always live in my heart as signature "Cadets." I dreamed of being a Garfield Cadet but knew it was just a crazy dream like being an astronaut. Then in 1988 my dream came true. Meeting George Zingali face to face was... priceless! Some stories can't be told, but they make me smile and make me laugh. George was the closest thing to Mozart I have ever known. Every year now, I miss my summer gym floor family. I hope to see many of you in heaven some day soon.

As someone who was the right age to march during this era (desperately wanted to…never got the chance), videos like these are a bittersweet reminder of everything I missed. It’s nice to hear all the background stories of those shows that I found so awe-inspiring.

Rick...didn't you almost march 84 BD anyway?? We could've marched together! Kathy...BD didn't worry about that, re the height duff...Preston Howard (La Fiesta Frenchie solo) is over 6 ft and was usually next to Lisa Glaeser, who was around 5' 3"!

RIP Cadets

I marched in the Blue Devils (81-85) and really enjoyed your 82 show (and the following years). This was a fantastic video to sit through. Great job putting it together and fun perspectives to see. At that time, regardless of the corps, we all had our struggles. But we all learned to work through the challenges and do the best we could. All of your experiences, we could say the same thing in the Blue Devils. Except, I'll throw out, our drumline had some serious drummers. But we had folks in the hornline who had to be told which button to push (not many, but we had them).

Hi all. Thanks for taking me down Memory Lane. I just wanted to add some extra thoughts on some of the topics discussed. The "Death Camp" between first and second tour was at Tallman State Park in Rockland Co. and near the Dominican Center where most of the "Out of Town" kids stayed. Why we were late to Key to the Sea: In 82 we performed at the US Open in Marion, OH which was held in a Baseball stadium. The staff pulled the tarp over the infield before we performed and the owner of the stadium was not very pleased with us. In 83 the US Open Prelims was in a different stadium than the baseball stadium for finals which we were banned from. To make up the prize money we were losing Hoppi decided to have us go up to Key to the Sea show. The equipment truck ran out of gas and I remember that only Tony Rickie had his horn. Most of the fans had already left and only Spirit and a few others were actually in the stadium for Prelims. After finals that night after leaving the field we marched over to Spirits busses and played our show for them. A few shows later we got to play "Georgia on my mind" together with Spirits hornline. Thanks again for the memories. FHNSAB. Bob Mayer Euphonium 82 - 83.

Wow! What a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at the 1983 Cadets! I’ve been a Cadets “Super Fan“ since 1982 and had the privilege of volunteering at the office after the move to Erie. Being around so much rich drum corps history and volunteering for the corps I’ve loved since high school is something that I will always cherish.

I would love to see some of the younger alumni that are still marching included in the series!

So sorry I missed the Zoom! Can't wait to see the entire presentation.

Phenomenal Eric! Can’t wait to see the whole episode. Thank you for producing this labor of love FHNSAB ♥️💛🤍

Just a few weeks ago, I went into an old briefcase looking for something specific. However, in the back pocket were 2 cassette tapes from judges circa 1981 (I know some of you are saying....this is about 1983-85....but give me a second). I played them for kicks on the stereo. When the second one finished, I was in the other room for awhile (I forgot to go back and hit stop), suddenly I hear music.....a recording that I forgot that I had made.......it was at rehearsal from I believe in January of 1982. We (the pit) had just started working on Rocky Point Holiday, and I wanted to see if some things were going to work.....we learned close to half of it, but it was a total mess, even at a tempo quite slow....lol.....and I did change some things..........but even then, I could tell that it was going to work........we didn't even have "the instruments" yet.....I "borrowed" a few from the band room from the school we were rehearsing at, as well as some concert timpani......they had 3 fairly bad pedal timpani, and then poor Michael had 2 marching crank timpani of ours to try to get through things. That "Rocky Point Song" worked out pretty well, though....so much so that we did it again....and I only added a few additional things to match the brass changes in 1983. The first time I saw the Z pull from the top of the truck at Mahwah, I almost fell off of it. Quick forward to 1984, I was a consultant, but pretty much did nothing. I show up In Georgia, watch a run-through, and some of the percussion staff comes up to me and asks, "what do you think.....any suggestions?" My reply was, "I've got nothin'.....it's wonderful.....it's perfect"............In 1985, I was on the road as a musician, and no longer involved. I did get to a Sunday show at mid-season.....I said to the drummer of my band, "it's a great show..........but they'll never pull it off"............I WAS WRONG!!!

FHNSAB❤

For Holy Name Shall Always Be.........if not on the field, ALWAYS in our hearts......A L W A Y S ❤🥁🎵🥁🎶