The 1981 Cavalier winter guard show was the last in the regular corps uniform. Hurling equipment to We Will Rock You, Shaft, and the music of Devo and Boston, the Cavaliers edged out the Phantom Regiment and the Guardsmen for their first gold medal. In 1982, they followed it up with their first color guard theme show, portraying the Jets from West Side Story in green satin jackets, blue chinos, white Chuck Taylor high-tops, and bandana headbands. Many people must have vivid memories of the audience standing for the last full minute of the show, unable to sit down because of the rapid-fire tricks, toss-tumbles, and somersaults. In 1983, the Cavaliers gave Chicago its first "three-peat" by performing their James Bond theme show. This show, as the videotapes still indicate, was the culmination of a five-year Cavalier ascent. The Bond winter guard was as near flawless a show as you will ever see. For me and many other fans, WGI has never recaptured the magic and excitement of those early 1980s.

The Cavalier winter guards of the early 1980s left their audience breathless, their competition demoralized, and the rest of the Cavaliers organization hopeful. By dominating the color guard world for three straight years, they raised the expectations for the summer corps. There was a change in mentality and attitude in the early 1980s, albeit a slow one. Management and members alike asked, "If we can win WGI titles every April, then why can we not be a bigger player at DO each August?"

The Cavaliers wowed the Montreal audience at 1981 nationals with Dave Flynn on the trap set during Sing, Sing, Sing and the famous hesitation step over in Softly. To the dismay of the audience, however, the corps finished 10th and, in response, blew the stands down with a raucous encore as they marched off at finale. The Cavaliers; barely squeaked into finals in 1982, taking 12th place in prelims and 11th in finals, largely on the strength of their marching execution. Anyone who remembers the first show of 1982, however, at Hanson Field in Chicago, would consider 11th at DCI a major accomplishment. The corps finished their opener, The Pines of Rome, a measure apart side to side. Drum Major Rick Lunn did all he could to keep the show from stopping altogether. As a reward for tolerating the 1982 campaign, the members were fed copious amounts of tuna, tuna, and more tuna. The 35th anniversary program in 1983, complete with a Mike Boo opening composition of Jade, was not significantly better as the corps placed 10th in prelims and 9th in finals at nationals in Miami. Our big competition that year was the Geneseo Knights, the Freeelancers, and the Crossmen. The high point of the season for me, as a rookie, was marching with my brother, Paul Seal, and other great Cavaliers like John Anderson, Kenny Eichorn, Ski, Beano, Mike Turner, and Bobby "Bobcat" Johnson.

The 1984 program was finally a step in the right direction. With Don Juan as an opener and The Pines of Rome as the closer, it was a vast improvement over other recent program designs. We were so proud of our opener that year, we chose to play it continuously at the Coal Miners Convention at McCormick Place in April of 1984. Remembering the stunned faces of coal miners as we marched by in a single file, wearing sport coats, ties, and plastic coal miners' hats, I rank this as one of the most embarrassing and funniest moments of my Cavalier career. It ranks up there (or down there) with our off-season exhibition at Thillens Baseball Stadium on the northwest side of Chicago in 1987 or 1988 (my memory has mercifully blocked out the exact date). With an incredibly low turnout, someone thought it would be a great idea if the ten horns and one drummer who did show up would parade around the base paths while playing the National Emblem March. Hall of Fame announcer Jack Brickhouse was especially impressed by Bruce Peters pinch hitting on American flag. Jim Shaw, the Wiggins boys, and Marco Buscaglia all were there that ignoble day. I certainly hope we were paid well...

Alas, in 1984, although the guard was strong and the corps was marching decently, the horns and drums were still not playing well enough to compete with the big boys: more specifically, the Blue Devils, the Santa Clara Vanguard, Phantom Regiment, and the Garfield Cadets. As a 16 year-old in the stands at Grant Field in Atlanta, I remember watching Garfield perform their West Side Story show. The Cavaliers had been on much earlier (still daylight), so we knew we would have a lot of time to drink sodas and watch the other corps who were beating us by anywhere from five to fifteen points. I also knew that Garfield, only four or five years earlier, had been an old-time corps struggling to recapture past glory and compete with the big boys. What I did not know and could have never dreamed was that, only two years later, we would beat those same Garfield Cadets.