Blazers

The Blazers “All Boys’ drum and bugle corps was originally formed in early 1956,  sponsored by their own parents group led by Harold Goodenough and supported by the City of Lockport community, the Olcott Fire company and the Lockport VFW Post, supplying the brass instruments used by its former drum corps. They sported a white and gold uniform.

From 1956 to 1959, the corps was active within the local and regional areas of the state, performing primarily in parades and exhibitions. In 1958, they purchased new green and white uniforms.  They fielded competitively in 1960 with an appearance at the American Legion state championships, placing 7^th and became members of the New York association in 1961, participating at the circuit championships Over the next two seasons, the corps returned to parade and exhibition status before going inactive in 1964.

The Blazers reorganized in the fall of 1977 under the direction of Paul Villella with several of the former members who had sons and daughters in the new corps. The next step was hiring an instructional staff, led by Vince Bruni, drum corps World Hall of Famer and Rochester Crusaders director. The staff also included other Crusader staffers William Stork on percussion and Ed Cozzolino on brass, assisted by Thomas Haenle from Lockport.

In their inaugural season, the corps performed in parades and exhibitions and sponsored a senior competition, the “Lock City Invitational”. The following year, the Blazers toured for the first time in the “Class A” division with appearances in the prelims of the 1979 American International Open (AIO), placing 13^th and US Open, finishing 16^th. In 1980, they returned to the AIO and US Open with 19^th place finishes in “Class A” competition, adding the Key to the Sea, placing 9^th and attended the very last American Legion championships held in Boston, finishing in 5^th position in the preliminary round.

 In their final season of competition, the Blazers appeared at the Key to the Sea and US Open “Class A” prelims, with 9^th and 11th place finishes respectively, added a 14^th place finish at the World Open “Class B” prelims and ended the year with a 25^th place finish at their only DCI “Class A” championships in Montreal. In the fall of 1981, Bruni stepped down from the organization and formed a new junior competitive group, the Renegades of Rochester. This attracted several members of the Blazers and would ultimately lead to their demise.

Although there was a concerted effort to remain active, the corps lost support from the City of Lockport and disbanded in 1983.

Paul Legault (DCX)