Chieftains

The Chieftains drum and bugle corps was originally organized in 1947 as the Martocci-Capobianco American Legion (AL) Post 750 of Roseto. In November 1946, a committee, appointed by the Post’s commander Michael Romano, tasked Alfred Nittle, Daniel Pozzuto and Joseph Trigani to formulate a plan to form the corps.

Throughout the first part of their story, the unit, dressed in fancy red and white uniforms entertained the crowds, participating in local, regional and out-of-state parades and events, changing their name to the Chieftains at least since 1956. The corps entered the field of competition in the 1959 PA AL state convention, placing 4^th in the “Class B” division, returning to a 3^rd place finish in 1960.

The group went inactive in 1961 before reorganizing in the fall of 1983 under the leadership of corps director Rod Yetter with the support once again of the Martocci-Capobianco Legion Post. The new corps membership included past members of the Yellow Jackets of Bangor, the Blue Eagles of Wind Gap, the Sentinels of Emmaus and the Buccaneers of Reading.

Formed as a parade and standstill corps, the Chieftains, based in Roseto performed from 1984 to 1987, restructuring the organization as a competitive field unit and becoming members of the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) circuit in 1988, placing 16^th in the prelims. The next year, the Chieftains moved to the Lehigh Valley in Allentown and competed in the DCA prelims yearly from 1989 to 1996, placing between 13^th (1993 and 1994) to 18^th (1989). While in Allentown, they drew membership from all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut.

In 1997, as hosts of the DCA championships, the Lehigh Valley group competed in the very first DCA “Class A” division contest and was crowned the 1997 champions. They acted as hosts the next two seasons, graduating to the “Open Class” division where they finished in 12^th place in both 1998 and 1999. From 2000 to 2004, the Chieftains continued to operate as a parade and exhibition corps.  A substantial part of their energies was devoted to forming and developing a new junior corps, the Lehigh Valley Knights.

They disbanded in 2005.

 DCW, 4/7/89, p.6; A History of Drum & Bugle Corps; http://members.aol.com/lvchiefs/index.htm]; Paul Legault (DCX)

CORPS 1 items

Chieftains

Chieftains,LehighValley,PA,Pin1-IndianChief(RCR)AA_U_S from the Richard Elmquist Collection

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