The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps
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| Location | Rosemont, IL |
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| Division | World Class |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Director | Joe Roach |
| Championship titles | American Legion- 1966, '67, '69 VFW-1957, '59, '61–'63, '67, '72, '74, '76, '80 (tie) DCI-1992, '95, 2000 (tie), '01, '02, '04, '06 |
| Uniform | Kelly green blouse w/white wings & collar & green back White and black baldric w/mirror buckle White gauntlets w/black trim White gloves (horns) Black pants Black shoes & socks White "Aussie" hat w/black band & white plume |
| Website | cavaliers |
The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps (also known as "The Green Machine") is a World Class (formerly Division I) competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in Rosemont, Illinois, the Cavaliers was one of the thirteen founding member corps of Drum Corps International and is a seven-time DCI World Champion. The Cavaliers is one of only two remaining all-male corps, the other being the Madison Scouts.
The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps was started in 1948 by Don Warren, Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 111 in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood after being impressed by the Racine Scouts. Dressed in traditional Scout uniforms embellished with shoulder braids and white gloves, the corps was a parade corps until 1950. In 1949, the corps found an additional sponsor in the American Legion Thaddeus Kosciuszko Post 712 of Chicago's Little Warsaw neighborhood; rather than mispronounce the name, the corps members shortened it to K-712. This sponsorship allowed the corps to purchase "new" uniforms; 100% wool U.S. Army surplus dress shirts and pants dyed midnight blue, worn fully buttoned and with puttees. The following season, they were happy to accept the gift of hand-me-down uniforms from the General George Bell Post's corps, until discovering that the "new" new uniforms were even hotter wear for marching in summer parades. The corps' association with the Bell Post corps also led to their getting drum corps instructors. Initially, Don Warren had arranged for instructors from the Quinlan & Fabish Music Company to teach music to the members. After seeing the Bell Corps rehearsing, he decided that it would be more relevant to have instruction on drum corps, so Johnny Line and Art Garikes were signed on to teach Kaz-712 about drill and drum corps competition.
The corps entered the world of field competition for the first time in 1950, adopting the name of Chicago Cavaliers and green as their main color. For competition, the corps learned more marching than parading down the street and a complete musical program. While many corps of the time had only their locale or their sponsor as the name of their corps, the youngsters in the Kaz-712 corps wanted a distinctive name, as had the Austin Grenadiers, one of Chicago's top corps of the day. When a new cigarette brand was introduced with much fanfare, the corps members' reaction was unanimous. They adopted the Cavalier name and the logo of the cigarette brand as the corps' logo (the "Standing Man" at the top of this page), they all ordered pins of the Cavalier logo from the cigarette company, and the K-712 corps became the Chicago Cavaliers. For entering field competition, new uniforms were needed that were cooler than the old wool ones in both style and practicality. The members designed the new uniforms with black pants, black shakos with white trim, a belt with a big silver buckle, and satin blouses in a unique color—chartreuse. The uniform maker informed them that, after a summer's wear, their sharp, chartreuse uniforms would be sun-bleached to pastel blandness, and he recommended that they chose a color that would last--- Kelly green.
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