Conqueror

Conqueror drum and bugle corps was formed in the fall of 1960 by a group of 5 former Scout House members, Donn (Richard) Truman, Pete Sanderson, Dave Rafuse, Roy Wilson and
Harry McCutcheon. They were sponsored by the Optimist Club of Hamilton and were originally known as the Hamilton Junior Optimists.

They received 200 applications of which 55 were selected in their inaugural year. First practice was at Ancaster Fair Grounds. Barton community centre on Upper James soon became the winter practice site. The community centre was then located outside the urban area on Hamilton mountain, out in the country near Rymal Road. The building was torn down as retail plazas later expanded toward Mount Hope Airport. Summer outdoor drill practices were held in Kings Forest Park, nestled below the mountain in the city’s east end, which we nicknamed The Pit.

The corps name and opening fanfare came from an LP titled “Conquerors of the Ages” that Pete Sanderson picked out of the discount bin in a Hamilton mountain record store. Uniforms were designed by Donn Truman and composed of a gold top with maroon cummerbund, white pants with wide maroon stripe, to suggest the look of Roman soldiers, the conquerors of an earlier age. There were 42 members that marched that first year. Right House. Bill was also choir director of his church and occasionally conducted the horn line practices. The lawyer who arranged contracts and payments for instructors was Lincoln Alexander, who later became Canada’s first Black Member of Parliament and subsequently first Black Lieutenant Governor. He rode on the bus with us on a couple of trips to perform outside Hamilton. Original horn and drum instructors were members of the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry drum and bugle corps, which competed as the Viscounts.

The first drill instructor was Dave Jewel, a Toronto Telegram reporter working at the newspaper’s Hamilton bureau, who also marched in the colour guard of Toronto’s Marching Ambassadors senior drum and bugle corps. A number of Toronto Optimists also instructed Conqueror at various times: Al Morrison and Joe Gianna on horns in different seasons, Brian Williams on drums and Jimmy McConkey, who assisted with field show and colour guard concepts and teaching. Total budget for initial purchase of instruments was about $4,000. 

In their inaugural season, the corps competed regionally in the “Class B” division, placing 2^nd in the Ontario Provincial championships but unfortunately, under threat of disqualification for alleged use of ineligible horn players, the corps was unable to compete at the 1961 Canadian Nationals that year. In 1962, under their new name Conqueror, they won the Ontario Provincial “Class B” championships, showing remarkable improvement and taking the top score in every judging caption. But the hard-luck spectre again appeared at Nationals, as the corps received a five point penalty for lateness on the starting line. The penalty left them in second place, two-tenths of a point behind the victors.

The following year, Conqueror moved up to the “Class A” division, where they were third best in Canada at the 1963 Canadian Nationals, adding 4^th place finishes at both the New York-Canadian and Ontario Provincial championships. In 1964, the corps managed a 3^rd place finish in the NY-Canadian circuit but fell out of their Nationals’ finalist position, placing 7^th in the prelims.

By 1965, management problems plagued the corps and soon after they disbanded.

Toronto Optimists History newsletter Spotlight, page 50, July 2024 by Roy Wilson; Paul Legault (DCX)