CAVALIERS, BUCS REPEAT AS VFW TITLEHOLDERS

Royal Airs, Garfield Trail In Jr. Show;
Nearly 15,000 View Minneapolis Pageant
DCN Aug. 29, 1962

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Aug. 15 - The Park Ridge, Ill. Cavaliers and the Reading, Pa. Buccaneers successfully defended their V.F.W. National Championship crowns here tonight before nearly 15,000 fans at Parade Stadium.

The Cavaliers outpointed their crosstown rival, the Blue Island Royal Airs and ten other top junior corps, while the Bucs defeated the Irondequoit, N.Y. Crusaders and two other seniors to retain their title.

As was the case in last years Miami finals, the juniors show provided most of the suspense and excitement as the Midwestern corps continued to dominate the field, this time capturing the two top places.

The top New Jersey entries, the Garfield Cadets and the Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights, finished third and fourth respectively.

St. Kevins Emerald Knights of Dorchester, Mass. finished fifth to head the New England contingent, Cambridge, Mass. Caballeros were eighth and the Beverly, Mass. St. Mary's Cardinals came in tenth.

The remaining junior fianlists were Madison Scouts, 6th; Norwood Park Imperials, 7th; Belleville, Ill. Black Knights, 9th; Racine Kilties, 11th; and Racine Scouts, 12th.

A 1.5 point bulge in horns provided the Cavaliers with their victory over arch-rival Royal Airs, who had already toppled the champions three times in Midwest contests this season.

With 19 new men in their lineup and faced with perhaps the strongest junior competition in years, there had been some doubt about the Cavaliers ability to repeat last year's triumph, but their performance left little question in the mind of most of the spectators.

The Green Machine has retained their popular "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and their exit medley of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows". Concert this year is "Bei Mir Bist Du Schein."

The fluid-marching Royal Airs featured a medley of "Over There" and "America the Beautiful", ending in a beautiful saxaphone-like sound from the horns and a concert of "Rhapsody in Blue".

Biggest hand of the night went to the Madison Scouts for their modernistic-sounding concert of "Ballet in Brass," arranged by Music Director Nick Vendon. The Scouts' different-sounding music ranged from "Camelot" and the march "El Capitan" to arrangements of the classical "Ritual Fire Dance" by DeFalla and "Finlandia" by Sibelius.

Musically, there was no more outstanding corps on the field than Garfield, which repeated its third place finish of a year ago, from the Cadets opening contra bass-reinforced fanfare of "King of Kings" through "Climb Every Mountain", "Tonight" and "Maria."

Sac, which slipped from second last year to fourth, retained nearly all of their 1961 music, including the haunting finale of "In the Still of the Night." The Golden Knights were the victims of poor timing when the first intermission was suddenly announced after they were all set to go on the starting line.

Competition was so keen among the 33 junior corps in the daytime preliminaries that many outstanding units were eliminated. St. Raphael's Golden Buccaneers of Bridgeport, Conn. lost out by only 4, while St. Joseph's of Batavia, N.Y. received the bad news that they had failed to make the finals because of a six-point tabulating error while the corps was getting ready for the evening show.

After the outstanding junior show, the senior competition proved anti-climatic.

The Crusaders provided the only serious threat to Reading's Buccaneers, while local favorite Hamm's Indians and the Kenosha, Wisc. Kingsmen trailed badly.

Senior Finals:
Reading Buccaneers .... 82.45
Crusaders ..................... 79.90
Hamm's Indians ........... 69.80
Kingsmen ..................... 59.90

Junior Finals:
Cavaliers ................... 88.20
Royal Airs ................. 87.20
Garfield Cadets ......... 85.95
Blessed Sac. .............. 83.30
St. Kevin's ................. 82.50
Madison Scouts ........ 81.25
Norwood Park ........... 80.95
Cambridge Cabs ....... 78.80
Black Knights ........... 77.30
St. Mary's ................. 75.10
Racine Kilties ........... 74.20
Racine Scouts ........... 70.35