Cougars

The Cougars drum & bugle corps was originally formed in October of 1956 under the leadership of Richard Mitchell as the Morton Grove Sons of American Legion (SAL) Post 134. 

The corps, outfitted in blue, gold and white uniforms, initiate activity in 1957 as a parade unit and entered the field of competition the following season with an appearance in the 1958 American Legion Nationals, placing 29^th. They also finished 2^nd in the SAL Nationals that same year. In 1959, the SAL group placed 2^nd in the SAL division at the IL state convention and under their new name, the Cougars, placed 9^th and 13^th respectively in the 1960 and 1961 state contest.

The Cougars competed in the 1962 VFW Nationals, finishing in 26^th position in the preliminaries along with a 6^th place finish in the IL AL state championships and 8^th in the IL VFW state conference. In their last year of competition, the Morton Grove unit placed 7^th in the IL VFW state contest and 11^th in the IL AL state convention.

In February of 1964, the corps merged with the St. Michael’s Chi-Angels of Chicago to form the Spartans.

http://rdoran.tripod.com/pge5.html; Paul Legault (DCX)