Welcome to the History of the Racine Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps - Part 2: 1953 - 1963.
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History of the Racine Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps Pt. #2: 1953 - 1963
By 1953, because of the popularity and growth of the Junior drum and bugle corps activity since World war II, the
Racine Scouts were not only finding many more opportunities to compete locally, but they were also finding much
stiffer competition with many more top notch drum and bugle corps now competing locally too. Such local Junior
drum and bugle corps as the Chicago Grenadiers, Chicago Cavaliers, Norwood Park Imperials, Milwaukee Millitaires,
Racine YMCA Kilties, Cedar Rapids Cadets and the Madison Boy Scouts had all now grown in talent and experience
to the point where they were all now national championship contenders. Other national championship caliber corps
from this area would continue to emerge in the next few years too such as the Des Plaines Vanguard, Belleville
Black Knights, Chicago Royal Aires, and the St. Paul Scouts. As a result the Racine Scouts’ competitive successes
became much harder to come by during this era as they now routinely competed against these national
championship caliber drum and bugle corps.
For the rest of their “Open Class” years, the years from 1953 - 1974, the Racine Scouts found themselves
competing in the most competitive area in the country. The Midwest’s drum and bugle corps dominated the drum
and bugle corps scene nationally during these years and the Racine Scouts were a part of this collective success.
They were always contenders both locally and nationally as well. However, as one would expect, some years were
more successful than others.
1953 saw the Racine Boy Scouts compete at a national championship for the first time since 1941 when the
American Legion National Championship was then held in Milwaukee, WI. In 1953 the VFW this time held their
National Championship in Milwaukee, WI and the Racine Boy Scouts competed there in a number of events. Racine
Scout Jerry Dunn won 1st place in the individual Soprano Bugle Contest. The Racine Scouts’ Color Guard took 3rd
place in the Junior Division at VFW Nationals. Twenty color guards competed in the Junior Division. Unfortunately
the Racine Boy Scouts drum and bugle corps just missed making finals. Only the top six corps from prelims made
finals. They finished in 7th place in preliminary competition missing making finals by only ½ of a point. Two
captions, drums and cadence, cost them dearly! The Racine Scouts took 2nd in M & M, 3rd in bugles, and 5th in
G. E. in prelims and they had a perfect 10 in inspection. Interestingly, the Racine Scouts were sponsored by and
competed as the Junker-Ball Post 1865 from Kenosha, WI. The Racine Scouts wouldn't compete in another national
championship until 1962 when they traveled to Minneapolis, MN to compete at the VFW National Championship.
Also in 1953 the Racine Boy Scouts attended the National Jamboree in Irvine Park, California. While there the
Corps played at the opening of Disneyland and played a concert at Hollywood & Vine.
1954 started out great for the Racine Scouts as they took first place at the Chicago Grenadiers annual full-corps
indoor standstill contest against five of the Midwest’s best drum corps. This, however, would turn out to be their only
victory in 1954.
The Racine Scouts were criticized numerous times by various writers in “Midwest Corps News” magazine for not
competing much in the summer of 1954. They opted instead for many non-competitive turn-outs like their trip to
Traverse City, Michigan in which they left on July 5th for about a week and attending the Chicagoland Music
Festival August 21st for an exhibition. Their summer schedule with many of these non-competitive turn-outs
caused them to miss many of the local contests in the summer of 1954. It was felt that the Racine Scouts were too
good of a corps and too popular of a corps to pass up competing at so many local competitions. In other words,
they were missed!
On August 21, 1954 Special recognition was given the Racine Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps Saturday night at
the 25th anniversary of the Chicagoland Music Festival.
Before an estimated 80,000 spectators, the Racine corps opened the festival with a 10-minute concert. The
opening spot was given to the Racine Scouts, honoring them as one of the corps which competed in the first music
festival’s drum and bugle corps competition in 1930. There is no drum corps competition in today's festival.
As the corps did in 1930, the 1954 edition left the field, marching in the formation of a Christian cross and
playing "Onward Christian Soldiers".
While undergoing a final inspection before taking the field, the corps was greeted by Jack Webb of television and
radio fame.
On Friday June 10th, 1955 the Racine Boy Scout drum and bugle corps traveled out of town for the weekend to
Ontonogan, Mich., on Lake Superior, to help in the celebration of the opening of the new White Pine Copper Mine.
The corps marched in the parade on Saturday afternoon and played concerts Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
On Friday June 17th, 1955 the Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps left for Camp Chippecotton where they spent the
weekend.
At Cedarburg’s “Festival of Music” contest the Racine Boys Scouts took second place. The contest was won by the
Skokie, Ill., Indians. Because the Racine Scouts were the highest placing drum corps from Wisconsin at this contest,
they won the right to appear at the Milwaukee Journal's Music Festival on Tuesday, Aug. 30. They did and they
were the only drum corps to appear during the main program at this festival.
On Friday August 26th, 1955, the Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps left for Constantine, Michigan, where on
Saturday it played during the program at the state plowing championships. The corps returned to Racine late
Sunday after an appearance at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana.
1956 saw the organization of the Racine Jr. Boy Scouts drum and bugle corps. This followed the trend started a
couple of years ago by the Madison Scouts to organized “feeder” corps.
On Friday morning, May 5th, 1956, the Racine Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps left for St. Joseph and Benton
Harbor, Mich., to participate in the Spring Blossom Festival. There they took part in a program Friday night, a
parade Saturday afternoon and a program Saturday night before returning to Racine Sunday.
During the summer of 1956 the Racine Scouts competed with a much smaller corps than in previous years. They
did, however, remain a very competitive corps taking many 2nd and 3rd places in competition.
1957 saw the Racine Scouts field a rather young and inexperienced corps which, like the previous three years, took
many 2nd and 3rd places in competitions throughout the summer.
On Sunday, July 7th, 1957, the Racine Boy Scout drum and bugle corps traveled to the national Boy Scout
Jamboree at Valley Forge, Pa. Forty drum corps members were among the 70 Racine County Boy Scouts that
attended the jamboree.
The group left Chicago by train that Sunday afternoon and visited Niagara Falls and New York City before they
arrived in Valley Forge on Wednesday, July 10. The jamboree was held July 12-18 and afterwards the scouts visited
Washington, D.C., before they arrived back in Racine on July 22.
The Racine Scout corps performed several times during the week-long jamboree.
On August 16, 1957 the Racine Boy Scouts competed in the Catholic War Veterans National Convention’s contest
held in Milwaukee and they came in 6th place.
In October of 1957 the Racine Scouts organized a Junior Corps for the purpose of training their younger Boy
Scouts.
The Racine Jr. Boy Scouts drum and bugle corps’ first public appearance was in the 1958 Memorial Day Parade in
Racine. They also participated in Racine’s July 4th parade in 1958. The Jr. Boy Scouts equipment originally was
purchased in 1935 by the Drum Corps Mother's Club. In several instances current Jr. Boy Scouts are playing on the
instruments which were issued to and played by their fathers.
In 1958 the Racine Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps appeared in new uniforms at Midwest Drum Corps competition
on July 3rd in Horlick Athletic Field. The Corps replaced their old wool serge uniforms with official olive drab, wool
gabardine uniforms with white neckerchiefs and the corps emblem.
Competitively in 1958 the Racine Boy Scouts drum and bugle corps experienced its least successful year in its
history. The Corps best finish was third place on Labor Day in Janesville’s “Parade of Champions” Contest. This
high finish at Janesville was made possible mainly because most of the area’s top corps were not at this contest but
instead were in Chicago competing for the American Legion National Championship.
In 1959 The Racine Boy Scouts fared a little better competitively than they did in 1958. They took second place at
Edgerton, Wisconsin Rapids, Appleton and at Menominee, Michigan and a third place at the Wisconsin American
Legion State Championship.
Competitively in 1960 the Racine Boy Scouts had about the same success as they did in 1959. For example they
again took second place at Wisconsin Rapids and Appleton for the second year in a row.
In August of 1960 the Racine Boy Scouts attended the Boy Scout National Jamboree which was held in Colorado
Springs, CO. On Saturday night, August 30th, the Racine Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps appeared on a
nationwide television program, "World Wide 60," which told the story of the Boy Scout National Jamboree held in
Colorado the previous week. The Racine drum corps was selected to appear from the many corps attending the
jamboree.
Again in 1961 the Racine Boy Scouts were about the same competitively as they were the previous few years. For
example they took 3rd place at Wisconsin’s American Legion State Championship just as they did in 1959, 3rd place
in Janesville just as they did in 1958, and they dropped one place at Wisconsin Rapids from 2nd place in 1960 to
3rd place in 1961.
The “small corps” or “compact corps” concept and winter standstill competitions for them originated in Wisconsin in
1960. The idea was to give drum corps something to do during the winter in addition to color guard competitions.
By 1962 most drum corps in Wisconsin had a small corps that competed at small corps standstill competitions during
the winter and spring months. By 1962 this concept had caught on with some Illinois and other Midwest drum corps,
so they now had competing small corps by this time too. The popularity of small corps lasted until the DCI era
began in 1972.
Anyway, in 1962 the Racine Boy Scout Drum and Bugle Corps placed first in prelims and finals in the Midwest States
Small Corps Championship. This finished a small corps season in which the Racine Boy Scouts never finished out
of the top three in any small corps contest.
On the last weekend in May of 1962 the Racine Boy Scouts drum and bugle corps traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana,
as guests of the Anthony Wayne Boy Scout Council. There they performed as the feature attraction at the Scout
Circus. Also during their stay in Fort Wayne the corps put on two field drill exhibitions and other musical and color
guard performances.
The summer of 1962 saw a much improved Racine Boy Scout Corps over previous years. Both the Racine Boy
Scouts and the Racine Jr. Boys Scouts won their respective classes at the Wisconsin VFW State Championship.
The Racine Boy Scouts also traveled to Minneapolis for the VFW National Championship. There the corps made
finals and finished in 12th place while its color guard came in 3rd place.
In 1963 the Racine Boy Scouts drum and bugle corps was one of the few corps that traveled to Seattle, Washington,
to compete at the VFW National Championship. Of the 17 junior corps that competed at this VFW National
Championship, only three of them came from East of Casper, Wyoming. At the 1963 VFW National Championship,
the Racine Boy Scouts placed third in both prelims and finals. The Racine Scout Color Guard also came in third
place. In individual solo competition at VFW Nationals, Racine Scout Tom Stanton took first place in Soprano Bugle
while Racine Scout Jack Mathe took first place in Tenor Drum competition.
For 1963 "Pageantry Life" Magazine had the Racine Scouts rated as the 9th best drum corps in the Midwest.