Austin Lancers

The Austin Lancers drum & bugle corps was originally formed in the fall of 1957 by John Flaherty and Donald Rysavy and were sponsored by the American Legion Post 91. The Austin AL Post 91 Juniors branched out for the Austin AL Senior Post corps.

In their first three seasons, the Austin Juniors were mostly a parade and exhibition corps but did compete at the MN AL state championships in 1958 (3^rd) and 1959 (4^th) before returning strictly as parade corps due to a lack of membership in 1960. In 1961, the corps, under the direction of Donald Peck, was renamed the Spamtown Lancers by the parents committee and joined the Badgerland Association and the MN AL Drum and Bugle Corps Association. The corps’ colors were gold and black, with white trim and they purchased new bugles that year through several fund raising events.

They also sponsored their first drum corps competition, Fantasia, that would be held annually until 1968 and finished in 3^rd position at the MN AL championships. In October, they organized the Austin Kidets, a feeder corps. The following season, the corps, under the direction Richard “Tex” Hallman, continued its progression with a 2^nd place finish at the MN VFW championships and was crowned the 1962 MN AL state champions. They also entered their first National championship with a 27^th place finish at the VFW Nationals.

During that season, the corps had to change their name due to legalities of the trademark law by dropping the word “Spamtown” to the Austin Lancers. Austin was renown through the Hormel Foods company as “Spamtown USA” and they deemed there was a commercial infringement. In 1963, the corps enjoyed perhaps its most successful season as they were a 9^th place finalist at the American Legion National championships. The corps won the 1964 MN VFW championships’ title and an 2^nd place finish at the MN AL state championships.

In June of that year, tragedy struck the corps when drum major and leader Richard Oihus was involved in a serious car accident and passed away from his injuries. He was returning from a competition in Wisconsin the following morning. The 1965 season was highlighted with a 9^th place finalist finish at the Midwest Dream contest as the corps competed extensively within the Badgerland Association. The Lancers finished 3^rd at the 1966 MN AL state championships and returned to the American Legion Nationals for a second time, placing 36^th in the preliminaries.

In their last season of field competition, the corps, under the direction of Douglas Denison, competed regionally maintaining a very respectable ranking as members of the Badgerland. Due to a lack of membership in 1968, the unit, under the direction of Paul Hallman, converted to parade corps status but were unable to stimulate enough interest to reorganize and the corps disbanded in 1969.

The Austin Lancers received great support over the years from both the American Legion Post 91 and their parents committee as they proudly represented the Austin community throughout the Midwest.