Postscript I: 1 should mention that Mr. Rubin was right. Those sports jackets we originally saw had faded to a pale, pastel green in one year.

Postscript II: Does anybody remember the Quincy Flying Dutchmen? They came to Legion State in 1956 or 1957 in new uniforms that mode us think we were looking in a mirror. It was a direct clone of our uniform, except that their blouse color was a lighter green, like a lime green. By the next year, they and their uniforms had faded from the scene. They should have talked to Mr. Rubin.

Postscript III: Well, let's count it up-four different uniforms in four years. I thought that would be some kind of record that would stand forever, like Gehrig's consecutive game streak, but it looks like Star Of Indiana usurped that claim from us. And who is this guy Ripkin?

The year is 1952. The reputation we made for ourselves the previous year was that of a sharp, snappy, up & coming corps. Translated, that means we didn't win any titles or beat any of the big name established corps, but we looked good in the process. After all, we had new uniforms to boost our image, and Rainbow was a big hit, the equivalent of making the top ten on the record charts. So we entered 1952 with eager anticipation of a successful season; however we had a lot to learn about experience. Our local rivals, Norwood Park (later to become the Imperials) and the Grenadiers both were coming off good years in 1951.1 don't remember exactly where the Grenadiers finished, but Norwood took all the big local shows and placed 4th at Legion Nationals. Those early years were rather unusual in that it was not uncommon for some corps to be unprepared for the seasons first round of shows, so that the month of June was one of a lot of jockeying for position. And then came a BIG event for us-the Spectacle of Music in South Milwaukee. This was a major event in its time and everyone entered. It was the equivalent of a regional contest, because corps would show up that we never even heard of before. Now here is where it starts to get weird. There were some senior corps around (Boys of 76, Sharvin Redjackets, Gladstone) and they had their own division. But the junior corps had two classifications, A & B. The long standing, experienced corps like Norwood, Grenadiers, Racine Scouts, Bell Corps, Mel Tierney (previously Logan Square) all went into the A class. That left us, Madison Scouts, Kilties, and the defending champion Cedar Rapids Cadets in class B. It probably had something to do with average ages or something like that, because the A class corps had all the "big guys". Well, we won our class and we were ecstatic. We were on our way-out so we thought, but now we had to finish out the season going against all the rest of those other junior corps, and here is where all that experience came into play-off them. We placed third more times than we care to remember, while Norwood and the Grenadiers swapped victories. Undaunted, we rehearsed harder than ever, always believing that in the next show we would break the jinx, beat somebody, and place at least 2nd. How similar this was to the 1990 corps, challenging right on the heels of Phantom Regiment contest after contest in the early part of the year, believing always that we were not getting due credit for our efforts. And not breaking out until being loosened up by what we perceived was an undeserved loss to Garfield in mid season. And as you know, what happened after that really made history.

Then came Momence and the Gladiolus Festival. We were really psyched up for this one. Rehearsals went great, and everyone thought that this was it, now we break out of the 3rd place jinx. Well, what we overlooked in the process was Mel Tierney, victors of that A class in South Milwaukee. They won the show and dropped everybody down a notch. We couldn't have been more dejected.