1987
Music
He’s Gone Away
American Overture
3rd Symphony
American Salute
Awards & Recognitions
Jim Jones retires as Director
Corps Members
Drum Major: Tony Monterastelli
Guard Captains: Trish Estes & Michelle Heiney
Teresa Andreen, Amanda Anderson, Amber Berryman, Becki Cook, Russett Cool, Bonnie Ferguson, Gayle Garner, Kari Gilbert, Amber Hayden, Kim Noe, Jamie Oldham, Jeannine Ray, Jackie Sawyer, Carrie Shetter, Jennifer Smith, Bobbie Jo Spaine, Jamie Stimac, Lisa Wetherbee, Jerri Webber, Janell Williams, Pat Amann, Russell Holcomb, Nick Philips, Sam Santisteven, Mark Trautman, Paul Waters, Mike Bailey, Chris Carter, Chris Cox, Brian Pfeffer, Shawn Alsup, Bob Bulham, Cormack McCarthy, TJ Simmons, Kris Squires, Jane Brown, Jamie Carr, Scott Dunn, Kevin Redmond, Kent Barton, Andy Carr, Chris Gunderson, Steve McDonald, Clay Sloan, Dan Duckworth, Becky Bollinger, Mike Casteel, Al Gunsch, Dan Morehead, Ron Ornelas, John Stafford, Kelly Thompson, Jennifer Weigandt, Tim Anderson, Elizabeth Gill, Hal Gordon, Royce Perkins, Sheryl Sparks, Jenny Burnett, Randy Chaffe, Jim Brown, Mario Freese, Teresa Marsh, Jennifer Perkins, Bob Strueber, Kim Thomen, Ben Bartholomew, Patti Chagnon, Haywood Embry, Jason Genova, Kyle Gilbert, Randall Lewis, Mark Monterastelli, Lynn Sargent, Sheron Thomen, Karen Tucker, Terri Woods, Shannon Brown, Jason Buckingham, Jeff Eyers, Roger Hall, Ross Hocksteadler, Susan Hohstadt, Kathy Lindberg, Kevin McCarville, Carl West, Scott Wood, Kirk Bertagnole, Brian Heiney, Angela Lade, Bernard Rosenberg, Scott Slutter, Phil Becker, Jim Bougor, Ed Medford, Boyd Perkins, Robert Ripley, Sean Walker, Kent Wood
From the 1987 DCI Championship Program:
It takes a minute to get everyone on the field and the Troopers are using that time as a part of their “completely new look,” says program consultant Michael Cesario. As the opener kicks off, the drummers have yet to take the field. It is a subtle, yet literal pun on the opening and closing numbers. During “He’s Gone Away – the boys are indeed away. The girls curl on and off the field, literally pulling the drum line into the picture, so Johnny Comes Marching Home in the form of the drummers,” Cesario laughs.
“There are some unusual twists to the visual book. It has an interesting blend of negative and positive space—it’s a very musical book,” he says.
The opener is a rich and fully realized brass choral arrangement of an American folk song, while American Overture is a “folk song-inspired, western-type wind ensemble piece,” Cesario says. It is the new and old Troopers all wrapped up in one exciting package. While American Overture is “very much state of the art,” the closer is “very much a Trooper hit parade – it’s trademark central. Johnny Comes Marching Home is knockdown drag out – they’re going to be ripping out the stadium seats,” he predicts.
Look for some “light-hearted pictographs” in Copland’s Excerpts from 3rd Symphony, such as cowboy hats and boots “to pop up on the field,” Cesario warns. And in Johnny Comes Marching Home, lookout for “several Trooper visual trademarks.”
A Personal Remembrance
by Pat Chagnon
By most accounts, 1987 was far from successful for the Troopers. Coming off back-to-back finalist appearances, the corps carried plenty of pressure to repeat. As I was told, many veterans of the past two seasons opted not to march, leaving a very young corps to compete in 1987. We struggled in the early season, but by the beginning of August, something happened…something magical.
It seemed we were stuck in the mid-seventies score-wise for what seemed like forever. Night after night, we held tight to a score in the seventies. All excuses aside, we just didn’t seem to move. Until we left Bloomington, Indiana and arrived in Marion, Ohio. It was now August and the end of the summer season fast approaching. For me, the end of my participation in junior corps was fast approaching, too.
We had only a few regular season shows left before we headed off to Madison for DCI week. We had to move up. Two shows in Marion…maybe. Our first test was prelims. I remember horn warm-ups. Shorty paced up and down with only a can of Dr. Pepper in his hands. Finally, he reverently placed that can in the center of the arc and asked us to pray…pray to the Dr. Pepper god. It was, after all, the drink of the 80’s. We had a great warm-up, and a subsequent great prelim show.
We lined up for a corps picture after the performance, but it wasn’t easy to do as we paced anxiously for the announcement of our score. I can still hear the stadium announcer... ”I have a score for the Troopers…Eight -----“. That’s all we needed to hear…the magic number 8. Guard, drummers, horns, it didn’t matter who was standing next to who. You just grabbed the person next to you, hugged, and jumped up and down. It was great moment for all of us. Later that night, our score jumped again. The spirit of the corps soared. There was a renewed sense of pride. We seemed to float into Madison on some sort of high…a high induced by the magic number 8…and a can of Dr. Pepper.
