A Legend is Born
In 1956, a legendary drum corps was formed. The Rockford Rangers (with an all-girl color guard named the Rangerettes) was born because people wanted to see a competitive corps. Now, have you ever heard of this group? Probably not, because they are now the group who has all of us shouting "I AM SPARTACUS!" Yes, the Rockford Rangers thought that the name did not suit them. They took their new name from Stetson D. Richmond's records, so before the corps had made any public appearances, they changed to the Phantom Regiment (the all-girl color guard now the Phantomettes). You now see them winning the World Championships, but back in 1962 that was not the case. When they decided to buy some high quality horns from the Commonwealth Edison Drum and Bugle Corps, their performances began to improve. In 1964, the Phantom Regiment had their best season. The corps was quickly becoming what you see them as today, but what happened next was a terrible tragedy. A fire in the corps set them back, and when they tried to perform in the 1965 season, they had to back out due to the lack of finances. In 1967, on September 11th, the corps was reborn. [Okay, don't get mad at me for getting off track or anything, but look at that date. Thirty-four years later, exactly on the date they were reborn, America lost 2,976 people from a terrorist attack. Who knew that they had something in common?] "The reorganized Phantom Regiment began its first season in three years with a small corps that signed the first roster Jan. 10, 1968. There were 28 charter members." As the years past and the 1970s crept into view, the Phantom Regiment was on it's way back up the drum corps ladder. The 1974 season had 128 members, one hundred more then only four years before. During this year, they made it into the Drum Corps International World Championships for the first time, finishing in 11th at Finals. "In 1975, the corps placed 10th. In 1976, it placed 4th. And in 1977, 1978 and 1979, the corps placed second, only a tenth or two from becoming World Champion." Almost 20 years later, they tied for first with the Blue Devils. In the 2008 season, the Phantom Regiment got a lucky break, and won (not a tie, but actually won) the World Championships. When the announcer announce that the Blue Devils had gotten second, the noise was so loud, that you could probably hear it in the next state over. They crowd wasn't cheering for the Blue Devils- oh, no. They were cheering because Phantom had gotten first. Just writing this is really exciting; remembering how it all went down. I was there, my first time being at Finals. And my god! That, along with many other reasons, makes me want to come back for my second year, and third, and fourth. I never want to leave. Oh, by the way. I think the announcer knew what was going to happen, because he said "the Blue Devils" really fast, so he could say it before the fans started screaming. And, lol. When he actually announced that Phantom had won, you could barely hear it. I think everyone in the corps world was cheering for them. They finally got what they deserved. *All quotes are taken from http://www.regiment.org/
