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Location | Reading, Pennsylvania |
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Division | Open Class |
Founded | 1957 |
Director | Lou Tierno |
Championship titles | VFW: 1960, 1961, 1962; DCA: 1965, 1968, 1979, 1980, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 |
Uniform | Royal blue jackets, black and blue striped sash, black pants, shoes, blue gauntlets, and aussie hats with Black plume |
The Reading Buccaneers Drum and Bugle Corps is an all-age or senior drum and bugle corps based in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Buccaneers, also known by the nickname The Bucs, are charter members of Drum Corps Associates.
The Reading Buccaneers were formed in 1957 as a parade corps for WWII veterans. A field corps was formed in 1958 competing in the VFW circuit. The Reading Buccaneers captured the VFW championship in 1960, 1961, and 1962. The Reading Buccaneers were the last drum and bugle corps to win the VFW championship as the award was retired in 1962.
In 1965, the Reading Buccaneers became a charter member of Drum Corps Associates. The Buccaneers won the first DCA Open Class World Champions in 1965. They have since repeated thirteen times, in 1968, 1979, 1980, 2005, 2006, 2007 (the corps' 50th anniversary), 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, and most recently in 2015. The corps has also placed second eight times (1973, 1974, 1976, 1984, 1985, 1999, 2001, and 2011) and third seven times (1972, 1975, 1977, 1981, 2000, 2002, and 2004). They have missed being a DCA finalist only twice.
The corps won the very first DCA championship with a score of 84.50.
The corps won their second DCA championship, becoming the first DCA corps to win a second DCA title.
Led by future World Drum Corp Hall of Fame drum major George N. Parks, the Bucs captured the last DCA title of the 1970s with a score of 90.5
The Bucs pulled off a repeat with a score of 91.3.
With new uniforms, new instruments in all sections, and a full hornline playing on instruments in the key of B-flat, the Buccaneers finished their first undefeated season, cruising to victory with the second-highest score in DCA history, 98.45. The show, entitled Variations in B, featured Georges Bizet's Farandole, Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 4 - Movement 5, Benjamin Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings.