This was the year that SCV “arrived” as a national contender…
The season began with the American Legion State Championships in Sacramento on June 27, 1970. The corps not only won their first Legion State Championship, but they did it with their first ever wins over both the Anaheim Kingsmen and the Velvet Knights.
“Let ‘er Rip!”
– G.R. to the corps, behind the stands at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento after Retreat
Early the next morning the corps left on their third annual contest tour outside of California. Six nights later in Racine, Wisconsin, they set the world of drum corps on end! Volume 4 of Fleetwood Records’ “Midwest 1970” says it all. Side 1 of the record contains the performances of both the Casper Troopers and SC Vanguard at the July 3, 1970 show before what was traditionally one of the toughest drum corps crowds in the country. The crowd reaction to SCV, from the time the corps exploded onto to the field through the end of the show… with stadium announcer shouting “Wonderful Show! Wonderful Show!” cannot be described in words. With the announcement of the scores, SCV found themselves just two points behind the legendary Casper Troopers (and well in front of other corps that they only ever dreamed of beating). Gail summed it up best to the corps’ small staff on the sidelines, saying as only he could… “We’ve finally made it!”
By the end of the following weekend (on July 11, 1970 at the North American Drum & Bugles Corps Championship in Marquette Stadium, just outside of Milwaukee) Santa Clara had defeated every competing corps in the country. To leave the field after such giants as the Troopers, Cavaliers, Blue Stars, Garfield Cadets, Madison Scouts & Kilties was a defining moment in Vanguard history.
Due to limited finances, the corps was unable to travel to Miami to compete for the VFW National Championship that August. Instead, the they car-pooled to Portland, Oregon, where they defeated their old California rivals, the Kingsmen and Velvet Knights. In doing so they won both the American Legion National Color Guard and Drum & Bugle Corps Championships.
This was the first year SCV played G.R.’s iconic arrangements of music from “Fiddler on a Roof”. For the closer, G.R. had originally wanted to play “Leaving on a Jet Plane”. However, Don Angelica talked him into doing “Bridge Over Troubled Waters”.
