15,000 See Hawthorne Win 'Cavalcade Of Champions'

DCN Aug. 29, 1962 issue

LEWISBURG, Pa., Aug. 11 - The Hawthorne Caballeros captured their third straight Cavalcade of Champions crown before a crowd of nearly 15,000 here this evening in a contest marred by improper placing of the end line markers.

It was not until after an exhibition corps and the first two competing units, the Pittsburgh Rockets and Baltimore Yankee Rebels, had competed that officials discovered that the end line flags had been placed on the line that marks the end of the football field instead of on the goal line, as is customary.

After much discussion the contest was resumed, but at retreat it was announced that the Rockets and Yankee Rebels would be considered exhibition corps and their scores would not be announced.

The Reading Buccaneers were runner-ups, closely followed by the Archer-Epler Musketeers and the Reilly Raiders.

It marked the fifth time that Hawthorne has won the Cavalcade, sponsored annually by the Milton Keystoners.

The winning trophy was presented by Miss Pennsylvania, Crystale Leigh Martin of Milton.

Serving as runners during the evening were members of the Comancheros, junior corps sponsored by the Keystoners.

The Keystoners' special guests for the evening were the Belles of St. Mary's. The Belles' guard is well-integrated into their drill. Two of the rigle-bearers are featured during "Avalon" as they execute headchoppers, spins, etc. At the end of this number the girls have a bit of a bugle manual followed by a bombshell-type portion of drill. This is another corps that has adopted "Bill Bailey" as part of their show.

Also they're featuring the tom-tom effect with one bass drum during concert, another trick that has proved so effective! For a few moments it appears that their cymbalist has lost one cymbal during "Time Waits For No One" while actually it is being put to good use by one of the drummers. At retreat, their majorette, Roberta Schmidt, accepted a trophy for the corps.

Pittsburgh Rockets have abandoned "King of Kings" as an opening fanfare in favor of their 1958 original fanfare which was known as "Hooten's Hideaway". Just about the only music remembered from last season is "Two Different Worlds", & "Right Out Of This World". As in the past this year's guard is an important part of the drill which, incidentally, was written by one of the corps members, Guy Carricato.

This is the third consecutive year that Will Hooten drum majored at this contest. And each year with a different corps! Of course, this time he shared honors with Don Connors from Yankee Rebels. The Rebels have really found a show-stopper in "The Stripper". By the way, their "stripper" is Nick Rizzi who is from their French Horn section. For those who have been asking----Skip Groff's buddy featured in the bugle duo during "Return To Me" is Paul Tragesser (from St. James Cadets).

Recently Reading Buccaneers added a new member to their staff. His title is production co-ordinator. You'll readily recognize the name---Frank McCormick. In the short time that Frank has been with the corps they've made some changes in drill and particularly in that accompanier "You Make Me Feel So Young". (The buglers used to be spread apart now they are closer together.) "Doodles" Rorbach's color guard is one of the few to carry 4 riflemen and it and it really adds to the effectiveness of a guard.

For the fifth time and the third consecutive year, Hawthorne presented one of their usual shows with the usual results -- they won! The smallest Caballero, Dickie Silverbrand, joined his famous papa for retreat ceremonies. A side-lite that not everyone may have noticed: After Archie's Bud Johnson shook hands with Ralph Silverbrand, he repeated the gesture with each of Hawthorne's mascots. In return he received a smart salute from each which he promptly returned!

From some of the rumors that were circulated over the Winter months, one could expect that Reilly would have little to offer for '62. This is far from what they were able to show the Lewisburg crowd. It's shades of the past with a little of the '57 music featured along with some numbers that are completely new. Then there's typical Reilly gimicks in drill, too plus a spot where two riflemen shine!

If Archie looked larger than usual it's because of 6 snares and 3 tenors being used in drum line plus a larger bugle section. Everytime we tried to count, we lost track but there were some who claimed there were 52 buglers. Oh yes, Archie's another corps to adopt the tom-tom effect for concert. You may not believe it but that "Camelot" concert just grows on you every time you hear it!

The scores:
Hawthorne ............ 88.02
Reading ................ 84.95
Archie ................... 84.55
Reilly .................... 83.73