Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps
SCV logo
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| Location | Santa Clara, CA |
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| Division | World Class |
| Founded | 1967 |
| Director | Charles Frost |
| Championship titles | American Legion - 1970 VFW - 1971 DCI - 1973, '74, '78, '81, '89, '99 |
| Uniform | (2016) Red jacket w/patterned White sash White gauntlets White gloves (horns) White pants White shoes & socks Black "Aussie" hat w/white feather plume |
| Website | http://www.scvanguard.org/ |
Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps (also known as "SCV", "Vanguard", or just "Santa Clara") is a World Class (formerly Division I) competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in Santa Clara, California, the Santa Clara Vanguard is one of the thirteen founding member corps of Drum Corps International (DCI) and is a six-time DCI World Champion.
What began as a disagreement among supporters of a drum and bugle corps has evolved into one of the finest and most entertaining corps in the history of the activity.
On the evening of March 6, 1967, citing differences of opinion in the artistic direction of the Sparks Drum & Bugle Corps, parents voted to disband the group and return to being a drum and bell corps with majorettes. After the vote, three dissident adults took concerned corps members aside and asked them if they would rather continue a drum and bugle corps instead of becoming a drum and bell corps. With a resounding "yes!," a new corps was born.
A new booster club was organized that very night. Gail Royer, music instructor for the Sparks, was a local elementary music teacher and an American Legion judge. He would be the director for the new corps. The naming of the new corps had to wait until the kids met for rehearsal the next week. At that time, after discussing several possibilities, they settled on the name - Santa Clara Vanguard.
One week later, the newly christened corps marched and won their first parade, San Francisco’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The big trip in 1967 was to Southern California to compete in the Anaheim Kingsmen’s second annual Festival of Music. The corps placed fourth there (losing to the Diplomats by 0.15 points). Corps members had the opportunity to observe the great U.S. Air Force Academy Drum & Bugle corps for the first time that weekend, getting a taste of what was possible in the drum corps medium. It was also the weekend that they met two young Kingsmen instructors who would play large roles in the corps’ future, Pete Emmons and Fred Sanford. Just before the corps’ final performance of that first year, Gail Royer honored the corps’ first age-outs with the original Green Feather Ceremony, a rite that has continued down the years.
In 1968, the corps embarked on its first tour to the Midwest in order to measure itself against more experienced corps in full contests. Gail Royer was trying to prepare them for VFW Nationals in Philadelphia the following year. Although they did not place high at any of the competitions, the tour was a success because of the competition experience and the exposure to the national competition scene. Corps members made many friends and gained the respect of fellow performers from such elite corps as 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 in 1968 to win their first California Color Guard Circuit Championship, and the corps won its first standstill competition. The corps also won its first field show that year, on August 3, 1968, at the Anaheim Kingsmen’s Festival of Music. Santa Clara Vanguard capped off its year by winning the first of many California State Open Championships.
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