THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2008
Rosemont Cavaliers To Honor Founder Don Warren
By DWIGHT ESAU
Journal Reporter
Seize the moment.
It was the summer of 1946 in Chicago's Soldier Field. A group of Boy Scout troops were conducting a jamboree. Don Warren, a 20-year-old junior assistant scoutmaster with Logan Square Troop 111, watched a Racine, Wisconsin Explorer Scout group perform a drum corps exhibition.
"I was impressed with it, and I felt we needed something new for our troop," he recalled. "I decided to try that."
In the fall of 1948, he organized his willing troop members into their own drum corps, soon to be called -
The Cavaliers.
Today, 60 years later, after seven Drum Corps International ((DCI) world championships and having achieved world-class status, the Cavaliers, known as the "Green Machine," are one of the pre-eminent drum and bugle corps in the world.
Founder Warren, who has been volunteer president of the Cavaliers throughout their existence, will be honored at a special tribute Aug. 3 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, which has been the organization's corporate home for more than 30 years.
The event also will mark Warren's 80th birthday, which is Aug. 19.
Obviously, the corps has a special incentive this year to win its eighth DCI world title, which will be competed at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis Aug. 7-9. The Cavaliers' 2008 summer tour begins with a special camp May 24-31 at Northern Illinois University.
This year also marks another milestone in the Cavaliers history. Warren has written a book, "Building the Green Machine," his own personal history of the organization.
It is currently being sold exclusively through the Cavaliers, and will be available in bookstores after May 1.
Drum and bugle corps largely emerged out of scouting organizations in addition to the military in the mid-20th century.
In those early days, when funding for equipment and travel was scarce, most corps sought financial support wherever they could get it.
The Cavaliers initially were sponsored by American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) posts in Chicago, and participated in their first competition in 1956, when they placed third in an area contest sponsored by the VFW.
They won 12 VFW and Legion championships in the next 24 years, and began competing in DCI national contests in 1972. They won their first DCI national title in 1992, repeating the feat in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
In the last decade, they have placed no lower than 4th in the annual DCI world championships. Since 1985, they have finished out of the top five at DCI events only once, and have achieved 48 top-five finishes in all competitions since 1956.
While drum and bugle corps and the world have changed dramatically since the 1940s, the Cavaliers have kept their all-male marching member tradition throughout their history. According to their website (www.cavaliers.org) the corps says one of the most frequently asked questions is, Why the all-male tradition?
Here is what their website says: "Even though the marching corps is male only, the Cavaliers have many incredible women whose support has made the corps successful.
"These moms, sisters, friends, girlfriends, daughters, wives, and others have been absolutely vital to The Cavaliers.
"It's not that the Cavaliers think men can do it better, or that women can't hack it, it's that they want to rejoice in the brotherhood that can only be felt by working, sweating, and bleeding with other men. It's a special type of bond. There is a lot of excellent corps out there that accept women; the Cavaliers do not.
"Are the Cavaliers being all-male what makes them great? No, it's part of what makes them the Cavaliers."
Over the years, many women have served in management, administrative, and instructional staff capacities for the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers maintained their administrative offices in Rosemont for many years, and today they conduct auditions and training sessions at Rosemont School and Triton College. They hold their annual New Year's gala in the Stephens Convention Center.