1972 - The Final Competition Schedule · 1972 Color Guard 1 · 1972 Color Guard 2 · 1972 Color Guard 3 · 1972 Color Guard 4 · 1972 Recording
"The last victory was recorded by the '72 Corps, which, in fact, did carry on the tradition by steadily improving and by capturing several first places."
"The last contest appearance was in Ridgefield in September of '72. The last song played was "When You Wish Upon A Star".
"The tradition that began on a June day in Wildwood ended on a chilly April afternoon in the upstairs of the German Hall. The Corps simply did not have the people or resources to put out a competitive unit. Fred Dooley and John Demko put the question to the 30 loyal members there. Should the Corps continue as a Class B corps? The answer was painful but unanimous -'NO'. " - from Tim O'Brien's A (not so brief) HISTORY OF THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
In fact, the corps was in the midst of a comeback in 1972. The horn line had regained much of its former excellence, with a recovered soprano section and many veterans remaining in the lower sections. The second year with a female color guard showed a large and capable group. The drill was contemporary and atypical for BS, showing much more movement, field coverage, and creativity than past drills - all important ingredients to be competitive in the changing world of drum corps, where GE had become a discriminating factor. Ironically, a weak section was the drum line - which had been the major strength of BS for almost two decades. Nonetheless, the entire corps showed the class of the BS glory years, in spite of where it placed in competition or which sections were perceived as weak. With class was the only way that BS ever presented itself.
The music score and its execution by the horn line was noteworthy in 1972. Dick Burns created an outstanding book: Procession of Baccus from Leo Delibes' Sylvia; a contemporary National Emblem color presentation that reminded the crowds of the Golden Knights' roots - featuring a full corps wheel center field; a combined concert entrance and concert, Get It On, which was an extremely difficult, energetic, and chromatic piece - brilliantly executed by the horn line; a production number of Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, and a haunting exit of When You Wish Upon a Star, followed by a Baccus refrain.
When speaking with veterans who marched in 1972, one story comes to mind that perhaps sums up their frustration during '72. At the US Open Championships, BS put on a strong show in the prelims - so much so that it turned the heads of the crowd and members of the competing corps. The corps would not make the finals - for the first time in such a competition in a period spanning over 20 years. But as the corps was leaving the field, several Knights heard the young members of a California corps saying, "Wow...they were great! Who was that?" Who was that?! It was the corps that had won 9 National titles, 11 Dream Contests, and the first World Open. It was the corps that, at that time, was the only drum corps that had won 245 contests in its competing history that represented 52% of all contest entered. (It wasn't until the 90's that this record was achieved by another corps - the Blue Devils.) BS was the corps that placed first or second in more than 80 percent of all contests from '54 on. It won 9 of 13 Nationals from '54 through '63, and between '54 and '70 it placed in the top 4 in 18 out of 21 nationals. From '58 through '63 BS placed first 112 times in 135 contests. Who was that, indeed!