nisei Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 All of us here are involved in marching band today, and we can name the best in our state; Reagan, Winston Churchill, L.D. Bell, I won't go on, but you get the point. However, I'm interested in the kings of marching band "back then." The first one I can think of the top of my head is the famous Spring 1993 marching band. Can you name the top bands and what years, all the way back to the 80's, maybe even in the 70's.. (Don't depend completely in placements in competitions) AND.... Where are they now? How have they progressed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 San Antonio: MacArthur won the State Marching Contest each year from its official inception in 1983 through 1985. Sadly, the SA: MacArthur band has never been able to bounce back after the sudden death of their director shortly after their 1985 Championship. All of best bands back then were from West Texas (Like Odessa Permian), Round Rock, and San Antonio. In 1985 an unheard of thing happened. A Texas band (Westfield) went to BOA Grand Nationals. Not only that, they got 2nd in Finals! Then came 1986 which was a huge shake up as far as the top bands. This year saw Duncanville as the first State Champion other than SA: MacArthur, the first Houston band in Finals (Westfield), and a total of 3 Dallas area schools in Finals (Duncanville, JJ Pearce, Denton). Duncanville and Westfield, of course, are still well known powers, Denton is also still a power in 4A, and JJ Pearce continued to be a power until around 1998 when their director left for the University of Houston. Starting in 1987 came the reign of Westfield with them coming up with 3 State Championships in a row to match SA: MacArthur. And, lo and behold, the infamous (on the BOA boards at least) Austin: Crockett band claims strong Finals spots in two of those years. 1990 was Duncanville's second State Championship and Westfield's second 2nd place at BOA Grand Nationals. For some reason, Westfield did not attend UIL State that year; I'm not sure if GN was on the same day or if Westfield didn't want to tire the kids out with too many competitions. This was also the first year for the UIL State competitions to be held only every other year and thus when you start seeing a sudden influx of Texas bands in the BOA world, especially in the off years. In 1991, Duncanville, Spring, and Westfield continued to be the top dogs and showed it off in the BOA world. At the Fort Worth BOA Regional, the placements turned out 1. Duncanville, 2. Westfield, 3. Spring. Both Duncanville and Spring went to GN and made Finals that year with Duncanville leaving with an Outstanding Music Award. Then the new reign of Spring ISD lasts from 1992 through 1999. The four State Championships in those years went: 1992 1. Spring 2. Westfield, 1994 1. Spring 2. Westfield, 1996 1. Westfield 2. Duncanville (Spring got a new director that year), 1998 1. Westfield 2. Spring. And, of course, there was the famous Spring 1993 in that time period, and you also have Westfield's 3rd 2nd place finish at BOA GN in 1995. Of course, Duncanville was always in the running during all of those years, but 92-94 were also really strong years for Pearland, and 1996 is when Churchill started to become a huge power. This is all that I have time to type for now, but I think that we all know pretty much what happens after then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bariphonium Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 For all of the 90's I remember that Spring, Westfield, and Duncanville were names to be feared across the state. Churchill took the bronze in '96 (unless I'm wrong?) and in '97 set the score of 96.00, the highest regional score to date. They have seemed to be in a bit of a decline, however; I haven't noticed any great placements from them except the "usual": Finals placements at State and BOA regionals. They did, however, place 1st in prelims for State '04 (they dropped to 5th in finals). I have a more specific question, though: where was SFA during the 90's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbui Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 QUOTE (bariphonium @ Mar 29 2006, 01:07 PM)I have a more specific question, though: where was SFA during the 90's? Stephen F. Austin HS in Sugar Land opened up in 1995. They were a decent band back then. Made UIL Area and placed in the teens at BOA Regionals. Although, they did advance to Finals a couple of times. I believe it was 4th at the 1996 Houston Regional and 3rd at the 1999 San Antonio Regional. The new millennium started a new era for the Stephen F. Austin Band Program. Dean Westman, former Santa Clara Vanguard Music Arranger and current Bands of America Educational Director, took over as head director at Stephen F. Austin in 2000. The year after that, that's when the band started to get really really good. In 2001, the design team of Jim Casella, Mitch Rogers, Gordon Henderson, Don Hill & Ralph Hardimon came in and the band break out year with their 'Metropolis Symphony' show. 2002 was a banner year for the band. SFA won their first ever BOA Regional (Huntsville) and went on to place 5th in Finals at their first trip at BOA Grand Nationals. And the rest is history.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danpod Posted March 29, 2006 Report Share Posted March 29, 2006 That's the thing. The "usual" placements for them are pretty great. Churchill and L.D. Bell are, by far, the two most consistent bands in the State of Texas, in terms of placing high at UIL AND BOA. A quick history on them from my old directory.. 1996: Houston Regional - 2nd Place UIL State Marching - Bronze Medal 1997: Houston Regional - 1st Place Waco Regional - 1st place (Highest Regional Score in BOA History) 1998: San Antonio Regional - 1st Place Houston Regional - 2nd Place Grand Nationals Finals - 9th Place 1999: San Antonio Regional - 1st Place Houston Regional - 4th Place Grand Nationals Finals - 9th Place 2000: San Antonio Regional - 2nd Place UIL State Marching - Bronze Medal 2001: San Antonio Regional - 3rd Place Houston Regional - 3rd Place 2002: Arlington Regional - 5th Place San Antonio Regional - 5th Place UIL State Marching - 4th Place Grand Nationals Finals - 10th Place 2003: Arlington Regional - 4th Place San Antonio Super Regional - 5th Place (Highest Music) 2004: La Joya Regional - 1st Place San Antonio Super Regional - 2nd Place UIL State Marching - 5th Place (1st place in Prelims) 2005: Houston Regional - 1st Place Arlington Regional - 2nd Place San Antonio Super Regional - 6th Place The Head Director change came during the Summer of 2001. Even the best programs in the State have suffered a huge decline the year or years after a Head Director change but with these guys, you can't really tell. Sorry for the long list, but my old directory was sitting in my room and I just couldn't help myself =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moose Posted March 30, 2006 Report Share Posted March 30, 2006 Bands like Leander, The Colony, Seguin, and Robert E. Lee were all consistent Finalists back in the day. BOA San Antonio 1998 - 3rd - Leander 4th - Robert E. Lee 7th - Seguin BOA San Antonio 2005 - 20th - Seguin 24th - The Colony 30th - Leander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterNick Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 I just wanted to point a little something: In 1998, Kingwood high school advanced to the 5A state marching contest, becoming the first 5A military marching band in over a decade to make it to the state level. Other military style marching bands that have made it over the years: 3A: Rusk High School Lindale High School Pittsburg High School 2A: DeKalb High School Hemphill High School 1A: Overton High School (won state in 2001) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon Posted March 31, 2006 Report Share Posted March 31, 2006 Yes, Kingwood was awesome! They came in 9th in Prelims, just ahead of LD Bell and only 2 spots out of Finals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autumn Posted September 14, 2006 Report Share Posted September 14, 2006 Longivew High School was pretty much the ruler of them all throughout the '70's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smusic Posted September 15, 2006 Report Share Posted September 15, 2006 The 80's: Alice HS and Kingsville HS used to be powerhouses in the 80's as well as Laredo Nixon and Laredo United in 5A. Mercedes HS, Los Fresnos HS, Edcouch-Elsa HS in 4A during the 80's. Also Gregory-Portland, and Dickinson used to be a giants in 4A through the 80's and early 90's. Gregory Portland HS used to come in 1st in prelims and then choke in finals and end up in 4th and 5th place. Of course I have to give Duncanville credit because they have been the most consistent and successful program overall. The fact they have been around for two decades and are still so dominant really amazes me. Seems like Westfield is still hanging around and dominanting as well. It is good to see both those programs doing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G'townPIT Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 In the 80's Georgetown won 5 straight 4A state marching titles and received the Sudler flag of honor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HashBrownJM Posted September 17, 2006 Report Share Posted September 17, 2006 In the 80's Georgetown won 4 straight 4A state marching titles and received the Sudler flag of honor. That's incredibly impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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