Bluecoats

Canton, OH United States
Founded: 1972

Active Junior
World Class

Year	Position	Score	Theme/Songs
1975			Fanfare and Coronation March * Variations on America * Gospel John * Living for the City
1976			Quejada * Drum Fugue * I Believe * Turkey in the Straw * Theme from Gold * Theme from S.W.A.T. * Bridge Over Troubled Water
1977	35	65.500	Le Coq D'or * Porgy and Bess Medley * Carmina Burana * Bridge Over Troubled Water * Fanfare from Quejada
1978	28	68.500	Farandole (from L'Arlesienne) * Corazon * Sweet Inspiration * Oklahoma Crude * Where He Leads Me * Stoney End * Big Noise from Winnetka (from Reveille with Beverly) * New York, New York (from On the Town)
1980	38	52.050	Farandole (from L'Arlesienne) * Left Bank Express * Encore in Jazz * Friends * Exodus
1981	31	59.600	Barnum * Aquarius (from Hair) * Encore in Jazz * Porgy and Bess Medley
1982	33	56.250	Compendium Suite * Carnival * Aquarius (from Hair) * Root Beer Rag * Pavanne (from American Symphonette no. 2)
1984	29	66.600	Run Back to Mama * Night in Rome * Bugle Call Rag * Magnum Opus * For Your Eyes Only
1985	28	70.200	Run Back to Mama * Lover Man * Walk Between Raindrops * Sunrise Lady * Race with the Devil on Spanish Highway * One Voice
1986	15	80.300	Hungarian Dance No. 5 * Doodletown Fifers * Salt Peanuts * Everything Happens to Me
1987	11	85.700	Bye Bye Blues * Autumn Leaves * Body and Soul
1988	11	86.700	That Old Black Magic * Take Five * Autumn Leaves
1989	8	90.300	Johnny One Note (from Babes in Arms) * My Funny Valentine (from Babes in Arms) * Sing Sing Sing
1990	8	89.200	Caravan * I Got It Bad (and That Ain't Good) * Don't Get Around Much Anymore * It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing
1991	11	84.400	Nutville * Palookaville * A Whiter Shade of Pale
1992	11	84.600	A Day in the Life - Nowhere Man * Eleanor Rigby * The Long and Winding Road * Penny Lane * A Day In The Life * The End
1993	9	87.200	Standards in Blue - A Tribute to Dizzy Gillespie - All the Things You Are * 'Round Midnight * A Night in Tunisia
1994	9	84.300	Blues - Things Ain't What They Used To Be * Blues for Alice * In a Sentimental Mood * Sandu * C Jam Blues
1995	7	89.500	Homefront: 1945 - Come Rain or Come Shine (from St. Louis Woman) * Shippin Out * I'll Be Seeing You * Newsreel * Sing Sing Sing
1996	7	86.300	American Celebrations - Auld Lang Syne * My Funny Valentine (from Babes in Arms) * Taps * Yankee Doodle Dandy * Strike Up the Band (from Strike Up the Band) * Prophet's Margin * Christmas Time is Here (from Charlie Brown Christmas) * Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (from Meet Me In St. Louis) * Auld Lang Syne (reprise)
1997	11	85.600	Midnight Blue . . . Jazz After Dark, The Bluecoats' Way - Harlem Nocturne * Moon * You and the Night and the Music
1998	10	87.100	Four Seasons of Jazz - Winter * It Might as Well be Spring * Summertime (from Porgy and Bess) * Autumn Leaves
1999	13	83.000	Music of Chick Corea - Armando's Rhumba * Duende * Leprechaun's Dream * Celebration Suite
2000	12	84.400	Threshold - Intro * And On The Sixth Day * The Witch * Air Antique * Finale
2001	8	90.750	Latin Sketches - Intro 2001 * Candelabra Rhumba * Red Cape Tango * Tango - Finale
2002	7	91.500	Urban Dances - Sunrise * Paradise Utopia (from Concerto for Bass Trombone) * Overture from Dancer in the Dark * Pedal to the Metal (from Motor City Triptych)
2003	7	90.750	Capture and Escape - Time to Take Back the Knights * Adagio for Theresa * Mediterraneo * Libertango * Code Name: Eternity * Original
2004	6	92.125	Mood Swings - In the Mood * Ride * One Day I'll Fly Away (from Moulin Rouge) * Hunting Wabbits
2005	5	94.450	Caravan - Caravan * Incantation (from Quidam) * Ombra (from Cirque du Soliel) * Hajj
2006	4	93.175	Connexus - The Roots of Coincidence * Distorted (from La Nouba) * My Heart and I * The Tihai
2007	7	94.050	Criminal - Criminal * Battle Music * Small World * Room Service * Smooth Criminal * Hummingbird * Timbuktu * Every Breath You Take
2008	6	93.175	The Knockout - On The Waterfront * The Boxer * Rocky * Rocky IV * Rocky III
2009	6	93.150	IMAGINE - Imagine * Children's Hour of Dream * Hunting Wabbits 2 * Sky Blue * Haitian Fight Song
2010	3	96.400	Metropolis: The Future is Now - 160 BPM from Angels and Demons * AHA! * Metropolis * Asphalt Cocktail
2011	7	92.050	Brave New World - Creep * Deus Ex Machina * Harvest:Concerto for Trombone
2012	6	92.550	UnMasQued - Masquerade (from Phantom of The Opera) * Filet (from La Reve) * Flume * Ritual * Love Dance (from Ka) * blue cathedral * Epiphanies (Fanfares and Chorales)
2013	5	93.350	...to look for America - America * Agnus Dei * Hallelujah * City Life * Spring (from The River) * Ebony Concerto * Concerto for Wind Ensemble, Mvt. 5
2014	2	97.175	Tilt - Uffe's Woodshop * Platinum Rows * The Hymn of Acxiom * to wALK Or ruN in wEst harlem
2015	3	96.925	Kinetic Noise - Shaker Loops * Electric Counterpoint * Woods * Gene takes a Drink * An Animated Description of Mr. Maps * Dense
2016	1	97.650	Down Side Up - Jose/ Before John 5 * Heat of the Day * Raga Raja * Udacrep Akubrad * Great Gig in the Sky (from Dark Side of the Moon) * Down Slide Up * Todo Tiende
2017	5	95.163	Jagged Line - Prelude * Psychopomp * Grow Till Tall * One Study One Summary * Zomby Woof
2018	3	96.950	Session 44 - Bird & Bela in B Flat * American Concerto * The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines * Pretty Saro * Home (from Congo Square) * God Bless the Child
2019	2	98.238	The Bluecoats - Revolution Number 9 * Strawberry Fields Forever * Penny Lane * Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band * A Day in the Life * What Goes On * Love Me Do * I Want To Hold Your Hand * Yesterday * Eleanor Rigby * Within You Without You * Here Comes The Sun * A Little Help From My Friends * Blackbird * Dear Prudence * Come Together * I Want You (She's so Heavy) * The End * Hey Jude
2020			Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2021			Lucy - The End * With a Little Help from My Friends * Hey Jude * Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds * I Am the Walrus * Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite * Tomorrow Never Knows * I Want You (She's So Heavy) * Golden Slumbers * Carry That Weight
2022	2	97.325	Riffs & Revelations - Taming the Dragon * The Garden * Taizo * Nautilus * moonmoons * Momento Magico
2023	2	97.738	The Garden of Love - Eleven * The Woods * The Garden of Love * Finding and Believing * 45 * Bump * So Many Layers of Colour Become a Deep Purple Heart (To Steve Reich)
2024	1	98.750	Change Is Everything - Change Is Everything * Foreplay * The Four Sections---Mov.4 * Rose * Threshold * Plans We Made * The Four Sections---Mov.2 * Agape * Love/Lover/Friend * Dymaxion * Lost It To Trying
2025			- - (Repertoire not available)

Position 200+ indicates Division II, Position 300+ indicates Division III, Position 400+ indicates Mini Corps.

CORPS Photos

2024 404 Photos

The Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps is a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Canton, Ohio.

In 1972, Canton police officers Babe Stearn and Ralph McCauley, the director and assistant director of the Canton Police Boys' Club, met with Canton businessman Art Drukenbrod to discuss forming a music program at the Boys' Club. Besides being a businessman, Mr. Drukenbrod was a musician who had played drums with many of Canton's big bands over the years. He was also a member of Canton's American Legion and VFW's national champion senior drum and bugle corps. He readily agreed to the idea of a youth musical group for the Canton Boys’ Club; he supplied the drum corps knowledge and instruction, with some help from his old drum corps buddies, while Stearn and McCauley provided the future musicians.

The young corps members chose the name "Bluecoats" in tribute to the police department's retired police officers and as recognition that they were a program of the Police Boys' Club. They made their drum corps debut in competition in 1974.

On the road, old surplus Army buses painted blue initially carried the corps throughout the country. Those outdated vehicles were gradually traded in for used school buses and then for air-conditioned motor coaches.

In the early days, meals were served from an abandoned U-Haul trailer pulled by parents' cars; the trailer sometimes held fresh eggs, purchased economically when volunteers agreed to collect them themselves. The old U-Haul eventually became a van and then an old travel trailer, before the corps eventualy acquired an eighteen-wheeled semi-trailer kitchen.

Today, as the corps travels around the country during its summer tour, it moves in a convoy composed of several buses to carry the members and staff, a semi-trailer equipment truck, the aforementioned cook truck, a souvenir van and trailer, and several support vehicles.

The evolution of the Bluecoats was greatly enhanced when in 1984 another Canton businessman, Ted Swaldo, took the reins of the organization to prevent the corps being shut down. Swaldo's management abilities and enthusiasm provided the catalyst that not only propelled the Bluecoats into national recognition as a competitive unit, but it also served as a model for other youth organizations throughout the country.

The first corps from Ohio to make the DCI finals (in 1987), the Bluecoats in those days found themselves in high acclaim around the country for their crowd-pleasing big band jazz. As the Bluecoats continued to rise in prominence, the applause from the crowd grew into a roar of "Bloooooo!" as the corps enters the field and at the conclusion of their musical program.

Founded in and supported by the people of the "Hall of Fame City," Canton, Ohio, the Bluecoats home show has become a part of the induction festivities for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is located in Canton. The corps has failed to achieve DCI Finals only once since 1987, just missing with a 13th place finish in 1999

In 2010, the corps medaled for the first time at the DCI World Championships, taking the third place bronze with their production "Metropolis: The Future Is Now." They followed that in 2014, making corps history again by taking the 2nd place silver medal for their wildly popular show, "TILT." In 2015, their production entitled "Kinetic Noise," once more took home the bronze.

At the 2016 DCI World Championships, the Bluecoats "Down Side Up" program won 1st place in World Class Finals, with the corps becoming only the tenth to become DCI Champions since the competition began in 1972. The show earned the corps' highest DCI score of 97.65 and won both the General Effect and Music captions.

For 2016, the Bluecoats abandoned their traditional uniforms in favor of a more informal costume designed with the show's near-constant motion in mind. The brass and percussion wore white and the color guard yellow, both with a swirling, sequined blue accent stripe running from the left hand to the shoulder, across the chest, and down the right leg. Those 2016 Bluecoats also became the first corps to win the DCI title while wearing no hats, helmets, shakos, or any other headgear.

The corps dropped to fifth in 2017, but moved up to third in 2018 and second in 2019.

The 2020 DCI season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Most corps returned to the fiels in a noncompetitive format in 2021.

The Bluecoats made it a Silver Medal Threepeat in 2022 and 2023.

In 2024, the brass and percussion wore white with red stripes, while the guard wore red on yellow. The corps finished an undefeated season by winning the Jim Ott Award for high brass, the Don Angelica Award for best GE, the John Brazale Award for top Visual performance, and scored its highesst score ever at 98.750 to take home its second Championship Trophy and the gold medal. They became the eighth corps to win multiple World Championship titles.

[Bluecoats; Drum Corps International; A History of Drum & Bugle Corps, Vol. 2; Drum Corps World]

Members (123)

Member Name	Section	Years Involved
(Cook) Schnuth, Diana	Mellophone	1997
Ackerman, Andrew	Baritone	1992
Aires, Christopher	Euphonium	1992 to 1995
Aires, Drew	Baritone	1991 to 1992
Arnold, Anthony	Euphonium	1997
Barlow, Frank	Soprano	1993
Beall, Andy	Percussion (cymbals)	1997
Bell, Mike	Bass Drum	1994 to 1995
Borgman, Scott	Mellophone	1993
Boswell, Bill	Front Ensemble	2004
Brandt, Mike	Colorguard	2003 to 2004
Burka, Scott	Contra	2003
Campbell, Roderic	Bassline	2000 to 2001
Carpathios, Michael	soprano bugle	1989
Carpenter, Mitzi	Color Guard	1991
Carpenter, Shawn	Visual Staff	2000
Carr, Brian	Baritone	1995
Carr, Brian	Soprano	1996 to 1997
Catley, Cracker or Jon From Texas	Baritone	1998
Chappell, James	Tenors	1981
Conigliaro, Joe	Snare	2000
Crandall, Dawn	Contra	2000
Daly, Justin	Trumpet, Flugelhorn	2019
Davis, Meghan	Mellophone	2004 to 2005
Day, Scott	Tenors	1986 to 1988
Devins, Conor	Pit	2010
Doop, Paul	Staff	1989
Dugan, Ray	Snare	1988
Dulce, Julius	Euph	2000
Duncan, Tiffany	Colour Guard	1992 to 1993
Eckard, Rachel	Colorguard	1981 to 1982
Fanti, Ken	Snare/Color Guard	1983 to 1988
Fisk, Travis	Mellophone	2002
Fortier, James	Euphonium	2013
Fosdick, Mark	Contra	2000 to 2003
Foster, Austin	Euphonium	2008
Funk, Rick	Percussion-Xylophone	1977
Gamble, Jackie	Colour guard	1996
Garay, Chris	Snare	2007 to 2008
Garretson, Colby	Baritone	2002
George, Bill	Baritone	2000
Gill, Kathie	Mellophone	1975 to 1977
Glaze, Rob	Contra	1987
Gregorczyk, Drew	Mellophone; Horn Sergeant	2004 to 2007
Grimm, Salem	Euphonium	1986 to 1987
Groves, Chris	Baritone	1995
Haffner, Arnold	Bassline	2004 to 2005
Hageman, Eric (Cowboy Bob)	Soprano	1997
Hall, Brandon	Euphonium	2001 to 2002
Hanrahan, Michael	Baritone	2008 to 2010
Havard, Allison	color guard	2002 to 2004
Holmes, Greg	Color Guard	2003
Holmes, Greg	Color Guard	2003 to 2005
Hosier, Bart	Soprano	2002 to 2003
Koenig, John	Euphonium	1996
Kraynak, Ian	Front Ensemble/Drum Major	2001 to 2003
Lasley, Caryn	Color Guard	2004
Ledezma, Ismael	Trumpets	2002 to 2005
Ledezma, Ismael	Visual Staff	2006 to 2008
Lewis, Dan	Mellophone	2001
Lindsey, Holden	Baritone	2005
Little, Matt	Snare	1996
Macon, Alan	Euphonium	2003
McAllister, Christopher	Mellophone	2004
McConnell, Garry	snare	1974 to 1977
McPhee, Dave (ANTMAN)	Brass Staff	1995 to 2004
McPherson, Jay	Brass Instructor	1989 to 1990
Meenach, Brooke	Trumpet	2002
Melton, Jeffery	Snare	1988
Menter, Keith	Soprano	1987
Miller, Scott	Contra	1992
Nelson, Josh	Bass Drum	1999
Netting, Tom	soprano	1975
Norin, Tyler	Baritone/Euphonium	2015 to 2019
Nuhn, Benjamin	Trumpet	2005
Oleksa, Liz	Mellophone	2000
Peters (Williams), Sandra	ColorGuard and Flagline	1973 to 1974; 1977 to 1980
Peterson, Bryan	Contra	2001
Phillips, John	Percussion	1982 to 1988
Phillips, John	Percussion (Mostly Bass)	1982 to 1988
Prentice, David	Baritone	1998
Rathbun, Travis	Baritone	2002
Reese, Jennifer (Deloris)	Soprano	1994
Reese, Jennifer (Deloris)	Mello	1995 to 1997
Reese, Jennifer (Deloris)	Staff	1998
Roth, Sarah	Soprano	2005
SMOOT, AMY	Colorguard	1999
Sarver, Julie	Soprano	2007 to 2008
Saxe, Matt	Baritone	2008 to 2010
Scheck, Michael	Soprano	1999 to 2003
Shepherd, Ryan	Bassline	1990 to 1991
Shirey, Christine	Color Guard	2003 to 2006
Shirley, Chris	Baritone	2004
Shriver, Eric	Snare	2004 to 2006
Shumick, Christopher	Soprano	2000
Shumick, Christopher	Mellophone/Assistant Conductor	2001
Shumick, Christopher	Trumpet	2002
Sines, Allaina	Trumpet	2005
Smith, Dan	Euphonium	1984
Smith, Kim	cymbals (hopefully)	2004
Smith, Matthew	Front Ensemble	2003 to 2005
Snyder, Anna	Colorguard	1999 to 2002
Spreadbury, Roma	Guard	1977 to 1978
Stone, Kevin	Euphonium	1993
Sutter, Paul Flutters	Brass - All sections	1978 to 1985
Tanabe, Michelle	Snare	2005
Tessier, Joshua	Baritone	2000
Tome, Jessica	Percussion/Front Ensemble	2001 to 2002
Turbeville, Megan	Colorguard	2003 to 2004
Vielhaber, David	Bass Drum	2002 to 2003
Warfield, Bryen	Tuba	2007 to 2010
Webb, Darren	Contra	1990 to 1991; 1993
Webb, Marc	Baritone	1988 to 1991
Wells, Will	Contra	2000 to 2002
Wells, Will	Baritone	2003
Williams, Ryan	Contrabass	2000
Williams, Ryan	Contrabass	2000
Wilson, Kim	Colorguard	2002 to 2004
Wise, Jeff	Baritone	1986; 1988 to 1992
Wleczyk, Meghan	Bluecoats	2006 to 2008
Zielinski, Alex	Bass	2001
amrine, phil	mellophone	2002 to 2003
roth, sarah	Trumpet/ Sop	2005

CORPS 55 items

Bluecoats

0 3 Photos

1973 1 Photos

1974 1 Photos

1975 1 Photos

1976 4 Photos

1978 6 Photos

1981 9 Photos

1982 8 Photos

1984 19 Photos

1985 44 Photos

1986 72 Photos

1987 20 Photos

1990 24 Photos

1991 1 Photos

1992 1 Photos

1997 3 Photos

1999 3 Photos

2000 10 Photos

2001 5 Photos

2002 63 Photos

2003 35 Photos

2004 16 Photos

2005 64 Photos

2006 15 Photos

2007 90 Photos

2008 25 Photos

2009 211 Photos

2010 81 Photos

2011 146 Photos

2012 262 Photos

2013 101 Photos

2014 148 Photos

2015 92 Photos

2016 87 Photos

2017 110 Photos

2018 148 Photos

2019 270 Photos

2021 60 Photos

2022 428 Photos

2023 190 Photos

2024 404 Photos

Members (123)