A Legacy of Excellence: Tracing the History of the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps
Alumni corps performances have become a beloved tradition within the Drum Corps International (DCI) Summer Tour, especially at the DCI World Championships. These nostalgic performances, often by alumni celebrating milestone anniversaries, allow drum corps organizations to revisit their history and share it with audiences. While this article primarily focuses on the history of the Crossmen, it's important to acknowledge the broader context of alumni corps and their impact on the drum corps community.
The Genesis of the Crossmen
The Crossmen Drum & Bugle Corps was officially founded on October 1, 1974, through the merger of two existing drum corps in the suburbs of Philadelphia: the 507 Hornets and the Keystone Regiment. This union marked the beginning of a new chapter in drum corps history, combining the talents and resources of both organizations.
The corps' name emerged from a contest among its members, with "Crossmen" selected from a pool of 43 suggestions. This name paid tribute to American Legion Post 507, which itself was named in honor of John Wesley Cross, a World War I veteran. This connection to a war hero provided a meaningful identity for the newly formed corps. The Crossmen were thus eventually named for a war hero. Harold Robinson and Charles Brenneke were leaders of the early Crossmen. Sponsors included American Legion John Wesley Cross Post No. 507, Norwood, and American Legion Manoa Post No.
Early Years and Competitive Success
From its inception in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the Crossmen quickly established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the drum corps world. The corps achieved considerable competitive success in its early years, capturing the Eastern States (drum corps) Circuit Championship for seven consecutive years, from 1975 to 1981. A significant milestone was reached in 1977 when the Crossmen clinched the American Legion Junior D&B National Championship in Denver.
The YEA! Era and a Period of Transition
The winter of 1996 marked a turning point for the Crossmen as they became one of the programs sponsored by Youth Education in the Arts (YEA!). This affiliation led to a relocation of the corps' base of operations to Allentown, PA. However, this arrangement was not permanent, and in the autumn of 2006, the Crossmen made the decision to separate from YEA! and move to San Antonio, Texas. In 1996, the corps was in financial trouble and ready to fold.
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San Antonio and a New Home
The move to San Antonio represented a significant shift for the Crossmen, establishing a new home base in the heart of Texas. This relocation allowed the corps to tap into a new pool of talent and resources while continuing its commitment to providing educational opportunities for young performers.
Core Values and Performer Benefits
The Crossmen organization is more than just a drum corps; it is a 501(c)(3) education and youth development organization committed to assisting young people in becoming outstanding individuals through music and the performing arts. Modern drum corps are comprised of 165 performers who range in age from about 14 to 22. Each corps is made up of brass musicians, percussionists and a color guard. They perform an 11-minute program on a standard football field. Programs are extravagant displays of musical excellence, marching precision, color, drama, dance and emotion. All members of the corps (except the front percussion ensemble) march in intricate formations which are coordinated with the musical productions.
The organization emphasizes the development of valuable life skills, such as leadership, goal-setting, and teamwork, through the drum corps experience. The Crossmen provide opportunities for students to exercise their potential, not only as musicians, but as leaders in their communities. The Crossmen are members of Drum Corps International and they compete within DCI Division I.
The Crossmen embrace challenges and unexpected disruptions as opportunities for growth, recognizing that success is achieved through unified teamwork and unwavering strength. We know that growth comes from difficult challenges. We expect obstacles, unexpected disruptions, and adversity on our path to excellence. We value that our success happens as a single team, unified and strong.
A Unique Uniform and Traditions
The Crossmen's visual presentation has evolved over the years, with a distinctive uniform that has become synonymous with the corps. One notable feature is "Bones," a character who makes appearances at select performances, dressed in the original long, ankle-length, red-lined cape and the late 70's black uniform with large red and white stripes criss-crossing the chest. Bones is a character who appears before the Crossmen at select performances throughout the summer. He is dressed in the original long ankle-length red-lined cape. The uniform is the late 70's black version with the large red and white stripes criss-crossing the chest. Look for him to make a sudden appearance up in the back side stands to the fans' delight as the Crossmen take the field in most regional DCI shows. The crowd roars as he extends his cape out to a full red flush.
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The official corps song is "Russian Christmas Music," which is usually performed by the battery and horns. Also, every age-out member of the Crossmen has been given a special white cross for their final performance as members of the corps. Thanks to the efforts of Donna (Crowell) Reedy at the Allentown picnics, and the very generous donations of some dedicated alumni, every age-out member of the Crossmen has been given a special white cross for their final performance as members of the corps. In the past, members of the brass and percussion sections replaced the red crosses on their aussies with the white ones. However, replacing them actually damaged the aussies and the expense of replacing the red ones become an issue. As every Crossmen member and alum knows, the cross has such special meaning. And this very special keepsake has become a great way for members to look back and remember how amazing their final summer with the Crossmen was. The friendships, the performances, the cheers, and the tears.
A Bond Forged in Adversity: The Crossmen and Spirit of Atlanta
The Crossmen share a special bond with the Spirit of Atlanta, a connection that dates back to the 1979 DCI Summer Tour. An incident involving Spirit's equipment truck being blown off the road in South Dakota forged a lasting relationship between the two corps. Spirit of Atlanta and Crossmen played for each other after their first show of the 1979 tour in South Dakota, forming a bond immediately. Then they headed further west together. Spirit's buses got far ahead of the convoy. Their equipment truck was blown off the road and the truck/trailer rolled twice and crashed the cab. Luckily, the drivers only suffered a broken rib and some injured fingers. A wrecker was just about to pull the wreckage to the road, which would have destroyed nearly all of the equipment. Just then, the Crossmen buses pulled up and Robby Robinson asked for 10 minutes, during which he instructed his corps to "pick it clean." They did just that, taking the equipment into the aisles of their own buses for safe keeping. Later on down the road, Spirit was reuinted with their equipment, and a rental truck was aquired to haul it…
When Spirit's equipment truck was overturned, the Crossmen stepped in to help, safeguarding their equipment until a rental truck could be acquired. As tour progressed, Crossmen started losing their buses one by one. One bus died in Utah, forcing Crossmen to cram members onto the 3 remaining buses, and Spirit took the overload. The second bus went in California and those members rode with Spirit all the way to Denver. Then, one of the two remaining buses died, the corps missed a show in Pueblo and slowly drove into Denver for Drums Along the Rockies. Since then, there has been a large amount of good will between the two corps. They often play combined music following their home drum corps shows. "I was on that ride way back in'79. We were beginning to get our 'contest teeth' that year as opposed to being the naive bunch that we were in 77 and 78. Then we were heading down from Hot Springs, SD, to Stockton, CA, when the equipment truck got blown off the road. X-Men picked up the pieces and helped us move on down the road. Then, when their buses died, we'd pile them on with us. Then, in 1980, a couple of days after Jim Ott died on the road, we had our last show of first tour in Centerville, Ohio. Top spots were us and Crossmen. We, as a group, were pretty worthless and just plain wore out. We did the show that night and even got to play the other corps onto the field for retreat. The drum section played Jimmy Buffet's "Volcano" as the entry music. So the scores were announced…then he got to second place…paused…and announced that there was a tie between us and Crossmen. It turned out, so I understand, that Crossmen had won the show by a tenth or so, but Robbie Robinson told them to make it a tie. Drum corps is a good thing. The Crossmen from Delaware County, PA and the Spirit of Atlanta from Atlanta, GA literally became one corps off the competition field. Looking back on the experience, Harold "Robbie" Robinson, director of the Crossmen said, "For the first time in my 27 years in drum corps, I finally felt something in drum corps that I always wanted. Martin said, "We had to be of help to each other to survive. the close relationship began late one night in Hot Springs, S.D. "The two corps were out in the middle of nowhere," Robinson said. The corps competed to a crowd of approx. 4,000 people in Hot Springs. Then the Crossmen went on the field and did a show for the Spirit kids. After that it was a jam session - the two drum lines got together and played and the two horn lines played. "Hey Crossmen control, this here is the Disco Duck. Robinson answered: "Well you go on. I'm not going to put the pedal to the metal as we might blow our engines. on June 30. Martin said he was riding in the van behind the equipment truck, when suddenly the 13 ½ foot truck literally got blown off of the road. "You couldn't even tell it was a truck," Martin said, "Five of us got out of the van. I remembered most vividly telling them to see the two drivers were okay. When we got there, the driver was crawling out of the cab. I figured the other driver was dead. Fortunately, however, the driver, Paul Clayborn, suffered only a broken rib. Meanwhile, Robinson had dozed off to sleep for the first time in nearly two days. "I saw a truck up ahead but couldn't make it out right away," he said. "We pulled up and I hopped out. The wrecker was about to pull the truck up onto the road. Had he done this, everything would have been destroyed. He would have had to drag the truck over drums and horns. "The kids were hanging out the windows with tears running down their faces," Robinson said. "They had started to generate such feelings toward each other the night before in Hot Springs. The kids were thinking, what if that would have been their equipment? "Give me 10 minutes," Robinson told the driver. The corps members climbed out of the buses. "They are unbelievable," Robinson said. "The kids ripped open the rest of the truck. It was an instinctive thing. The drummers went for the drums. The kids took the drums, like they were handling a baby. They took them very gingerly and set them in the aisles of their buses. They put towels, pillows and sleeping bags around them so they wouldn't get scratched. Before long, the Crossmen had picked the wreck clean. When Martin returned, he was handed a box of nuts and bolts the Crossmen members had gathered from the grass. "We had a couple horns ruined, a cracked bass drum and a couple of uniforms damaged, but nothing major," he said. "Together the corps members took equipment off the Crossmen buses and wiped everything down. It was in Wendover, Utah, where one of the Crossmen's buses broke down. "The bus is still sitting there in Wendover," said Robinson. "Oddly enough, a Spirit bus got a flat tire not 50 yards in front of us when our bus broke down hopelessly. The driver of the bus with the flat tire, it just so happened, was the Disco Duck. He changed the tire, took the rest of the Crossmen members and we all rendezvoused at McDonald's. Robinson said for the long trip home, "Freddie (Martin) brought three of his buses to the school where we were staying and we put about nine or ten of our kids on each one. Down to two buses, the Crossmen's string of bad luck still wasn?t over. Just outside of Needles, Calif. Luckily, however, Robinson had packed a generator in the Crossmen equipment truck and was able to repair the problem himself. "We blew a hose in Apache Wells, N.M. but got that fixed. That was simple" he said. "But, then all of a sudden, we started getting flat tires. We started with new tires. About 100 miles north of Apache Wells, we had a double blowout and by this time we had gone through every spar tire. The kids were frustrated, but they knew I was just as frustrated. In fact, at one point, an Amtrak train went by and the kids tried to thumb it down to make the Pueblo show that night. The most horrifying experience was yet to happen. "That's the closest I'd ever come to being killed in all my life. "When we got into Denver, everyone just took a deep breath and went to sleep," Robinson said. When I got to the Denver show that night, I must have looked like death warmed over. Don Pesceonoe [Executive Director of DCI] walked up and looked at me and took my hand like a baby. "My God, what are we doing to each other? Robinson smiled and said, "Yeah, sure! "Too many people think of DCI as on the competitiveness, which it is, but this experience is what I want out of drum corps. Sure I want a good drum corps and the kids do too, but they've learned to help their fellow man and in turn, were repaid that favor many times over. "Our corps is a relatively new corps, being only three years old," Martin said. "The trip was a growing experience for the kids.
Later, when the Crossmen's buses began to fail, Spirit reciprocated by taking members onto their buses. This mutual support and camaraderie solidified a lasting bond between the two corps.
During the 2004 season, the Crossmen grew close to their comrades in Spirit. At DCI World Championships in Denver, CO the Crossmen represented on the field on finals night. However, Spirit barely missed finals finishing 13th place. The 2005 season was a competitive struggle for the Crossmen. By the end, the Crossmen missed DCI Finals for the first time in 17 years. Bones placed 13th in quarters and 14th in Semis. As a tribute to the class the 2004 and 2005 Crossmen showed to Spirit, the Spirit hornline honored the Crossmen with a Cross on the field during Finals retreat in Foxboro, MA. The Spirit horns used all 4 hours of their rehearsal time on finals day to perfect the giant maltese cross made of contras, baris, mellos, and trumpets.
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The 1992 Corps: A Fan Favorite
On Thursday, April 27th, 2006, Bones Nation was out in full force as the 1992 corps made the cut. The 1992 Crossmen show, entitled "Songs For Planet Earth," was a show that connected with many drum corps fans over the years, gaining an almost cult-like following. A sublime brass section, a wonderfully integrated color guard and visual program, and quite simply one of the most intense and "grooving" drumlines to ever grace the field, this show had a lot for drum corps fans to like. The judges liked it, too. It may have taken all season, but on the last day of the year, the corps vaulted past the Phantom Regiment and finished in the top 6 at DCI Finals. Both were first-time accomplishments in Crossmen history. Fred J.
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