1962

After a very successful season in 1961 which included 13 first and 2 second place finishes in 19 appearances, highlighted at Silver Creek, N.Y. on September 3, 1961 by capturing the coveted NY-Penn Championship and Flag, the Corps entered the winter “off” season which is dedicated to learning new music and drills for the coming year.

The Drum Corps banquet, always a highlight of the “off” season was held on November 26, 1961 at the Hamburg Hotel. Awards were given at this time to Kenneth Trask for best new member and Dick “Mac” McClain for Kingsmen of the year. As usual it was a gala affair and a good time was had by all.

Corps Officers for 1962 were as follows:
President Marlon Goodheart
Vice President Mike Trask
Secretary Ken Chopinski
Treasurer Sam Hitka
Senator Gene Forness
Commander Leroy Thompson
Business Manager Jack Keller
Bugle Sgt. Dick LaVesque
Drum Sgt. Bob Cline
Color Guard Sgt. Pete Brown
Field Director Dick “Mac” McClain
Drum Major Ira Chatley
Chaplain Jim Kessler
Custodians Ira Chatley
James Crawford
Harry Goddard
Publicity Agent James Kessler
Instructors:
Bugle and Arrangements Milt Shetler
Drums Doug Reynolds
M&M Dick “Mac” McClain

Competitions for 1962

Hamilton, Ont. 2nd place $600
Kitchener, Ont. 3rd place $250
Guelph, Ont. 2nd place $375
Falconer, NY 3rd place $400
Castile, NY 2nd place $200
Titusville, PA 3rd place $400
Salamanca, NY 1st place $200
Batavia, NY 1st place $125
Warren, PA 4th place $400
Geneva, NY 1st place $400

Total prize money including competitions and parades was $4,800 [About $20,000 in 2006 inflation-adjusted dollars]

Since entering M&M competition the Kingsmen 1962 season was their most successful year. They won first place in 11 of 13 parades and defeating corps in field competition that in previous years were considered beyond reach.

Some of the highlights of the 1962 season were:

July 14th, 1962 – third annual “Music in Motion” competition held at Howe Field, Hamburg, Ny. This show was a credit to the Corps’ hard work and we were rewarded by an overflow crowd. This was our most successful show, financially and musically. We made $1,800 [$6,600] on this show after distributing prize money to winning Corps and paying misc. expenses.

Other highlights included defeating the Appleknockers from Geneva at Salamanca and successfully defending our NY-Penn Championship at Batavia.

Shortly after our last appearance at Warren, Penna. on September 3rd, 1962 we entered our “off” season of rehearsals and preparation for the coming season.

J. Michael Trask, Vice Pres. 1962