In 1968, the Corps embarked upon its first tour to the Midwest in order to be evaluated with more experienced corps in full contests…
Gail wanted to prepare the corps for the VFW nationals in Philadelphia the following year. Although they did not place high at any of the competitions, it was considered a successful tour because they learned a lot and had exposure to the national competition scene. It was during this brief exposure in the Midwest that the corps members made many friends and gained the respect of fellow performers from such elite corps as the the Casper Troopers, Kilties, Cavaliers, and Blue Stars. Many of these friendships continue to this day.
On the local front, the SC Vanguard Color Guard beat the Anaheim Kingsmen on March 16, 1968 to win their first California Color Guard Circuit Championship. A week later the Corps won its first Standstill on March 21, 1968 in Stockton, beating the Joaquin Caballeros among others. The first public performance of “Procession of the Nobles” occurred afterward with the US Air Force Academy Drum & Bugle Corps as the audience. The Corps also won its first field show that year on August 3, 1968 at the Anaheim Kingsmen’s show! In October, the Corps also won its first of many California State Open Championships.
1968 was also year of the first “Pacific Procession” field competition. This contest was named for the new opener, “Procession of the Nobles”. It was held in Spartan Stadium on June 8, 1968. Sadly, the audience was small as the country was still mourning the loss of Senator Robert Kennedy who had been assassinated only a few days before.
“Procession of the Nobles” presented the Corps with two major challenges. First, no one had ever really played an entire piece in odd-time while marching. At that time, odd meters and tempos were reserved mostly for the standstill “concert” portion of the show. Second, Gail’s arrangement included the original intro with 3 measures of the opening rhythmic statement. When Pete & Joe started teaching the “Off-the-Line” drill they quickly realized that because of those 3 measures, most of the piece would involve right-foot step-offs. It took one minute for Gail to solve the problem by eliminating one of those measures in the middle of a drill rehearsal.
“The Vanguardian” became “The Flock” It was first released on October, 1968 and published using a real printing press!
