Hurricanes Northeast Circuit Champs

"3 Day Convention Held At Springfield"
DCN Sept. 12, 1962 issue

More than 1500 playing members of the Northeastern Circuit and their families moved en mass into Springfield over Labor Day weekend to hold the first combined convention and Championship ever held. The entire city of Springfield was thrown wide open and the red carpet was laid out to welcome the conventioniers. The Sheraton-Kimball Hotel and motel was the center of activity and the overflow was handled by many cooperating hotels and motels.

The convention started off with a banquet for the members in the Embassy Room which was attended by more than 100 of the circuits members. The evening was highlighted by the appearance of the television WHYN, channel two news department.

Portions of the banquet was televised and the main speaker, Mr. Ed Carroll of Agawam, greeted all the member Corps and oulined what the Riverside Park committee had planned for the visiting Corps members.

The evening banquet was quickly followed by a meeting of the executive staff of the circuit. Mr. Fred Rose was elected President for the coming year.

Saturday saw the arrival of thousands of Drum Corps fans from all sections. The afternoon activities included the complete individuals for the circuit, followed in the early evening by a parade at Riverside Park by five of the competing corps.

It appeared for a while that rain would dampen the activity, but the Corps performed to the enthusiastic cheers of the fans.

Military Ball was held in the main ballroom following the parade, and more than 1,000 guests overflowed the hall. Throughout the main ballroom and ajoining rooms the sweet music of the dance band was occassionally interupted by the exciting rhythms of the Corps returning from practice as they marched into the main hotel lobby to the elevators. It seemed at times that the Fleetwood Record and the Litte Rhody display would be completely over-run. The corps mostly stayed to a 11:30 curfew and then the parties continued on in the many hotels and motels around the area.

Bright and early Sunday morning the day of the competition saw the arrival of a few thousands more Corps fans from the Pittsfield competition held the night before. Large contingents from the Skyliner Corps were present, led by their director Henry Mayer.

The preliminaries started at 1 p.m. and the stands were crowded as the Corps each came on and competed. Rain interupted the competition preliminaries once and threatened to stop the entire event.

The last corps finished about 5 p.m. and the finalists were not known until 5:30. Repeated efforts by the Riverside Park personnel to clear the stadium so that the area could be prepared for the evening championship failed because the crowd waited to get the listing of the finalists.

The corps finished in the following order:
1. Hurricanes .............................. 86.75
2. Marksmen ............................... 84.766
3. Amboy Dukes .......................... 84.533
4. Gay Blades .............................. 84.05
5. Criterions ................................ 83.183
6. Yankees ................................. 82.366
7. Jersey Devils ........................... 81.883
8. Sunrisers ................................ 79.583
9. Vagabonds ............................. 78.683
10. Thunderbirds ........................ 77.866
11. Kingsmen ............................. 77.116
12. Jolly Whalers ........................ 77.016
13. Wanderers ........................... 74.983
14. Buccaneers ........................... 72.566
15. Stateliners ............................ 71.733

The gates to the stadium for the evening Championships opened at 6 p.m. and the stadium filled up quickly. The Corps competed under perfect weather conditions.

The Hurricanes had the show all the way from their opening theme. The Amboy Dukes finished second - the big surprise of the evening. Many unhappy people stood in disbelief while the Marksmen and Gay Blades finished in third and fourth order.