Gold

The Gold drum and bugle corps was founded by Dr. Donald Flaherty and Juan C. Leguizamon in the fall of 2004 based in Hawthorne as part of the Hawthorne High School curriculum and supported by the school.

Mr. Flaherty actually organized a winter percussion program for the students in 2000 and over its first five seasons, the corps entered the field of competition in 2005 only within the state of California, winning the 2006 California State Open “Division III” championship, placing 3^rd from 2007 to 2009. The following season, the corps relocated to Oceanside, as Dr. Flaherty was reassigned by the Centinela school-district to oversee music-appreciation classes, where no music was performed. This was the motivating factor that subsequently redirected the organization into a new era of successful competition, maintaining their 3^rd position status in the 2010 State Open contest.

In 2011, the corps traveled out of state for the first time in their history by competing at the prestigious “Drum Along the Rockies” show, where they finished 2^nd in the “Open Class” division and would go on to finish third in the Southern California open class championships from 2011 to 2018 consecutively. In 2013, Gold was joined by students from the Chinese Lanzhou Martial Arts Institute as performers in the corps' show, "East Meets West." The school had been featured performers in the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. 

Since 2012, Gold had competed at the DCI “Open Class” championships, as a perennial finalist. From 2012 to 2017, the corps placed between 6^th and 8^th position in the “Open Class” finals and 26^th to 34^th place in the DCI “World Class” preliminary rounds during that same. Until 2015, Gold was noted for the gold finish on the horn line's Yamaha instruments, but they then switched to Jupiter Horns with a silver finish. Gold performed at numerous cities and venues across North America, including the Rose Bowl, Stanford, Marshall University in West Virginia, Center Parc Credit Union in Atlanta and Lucas Oil Stadium in Indiana. The corps has also performed at countless venues throughout Southern California including Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm and Universal Studios.

In 2018, the Oceanside unit Showed tremendous improvement as they ranked 3rd and the DCI “Open Class” finals, 3^rd in the Pacific Open championships and 23^rd in the “World Class” semifinals. In an effort to expand their horizons, Gold relocated once again to San Diego, where they placed 3^rd once again in the DCI “Open Class” finals, 3^rd in the Southern California “Open Class” classic and 22^nd in the “World Class” semifinals before the 2020 season was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, returning to the field for the non-competitive 2021 season.

Over the next three seasons, the corps’ success would continue as they finished 2^nd in both 2022 and 2023 DCI “Open Class” finals, with a 3^rd place finish in 2024; 20^th place finishes in both the 2022 and 2023 DCI “World Class” semifinals; 2022 DCI Southeastern “Open Class” champions; 2023 DCI Eastern Illinois “Open Class” champions and finished 2^nd from 2022 to 2024 in the Southern California “Open Class” championships.

In 2024, Gold finished 3rd in Open Class Finals and 21st in World Class Semifinals. In 2025, they moved up one slot to 2nd in Open Class and 20th in World Class.

Gold Youth Arts Organization, Inc.; Drum Corps World, August 16th, 2013; Drum corps International; Paul Legault (DCX) 

CORPS 3 items

Gold

Gold,SanDiego,CA,LP1,SilverOnBlack(DST-1.0)J_U_S from the Richard Elmquist Collection Contributed by Donn Stroh

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Gold

Gold,SanDiego,CA,Patch1-2012-Different(RE-4.0x4.0)J_U_S from the Richard Elmquist Collection Contributed by Richard Elmquist

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Gold

Gold,SanDiego,CA,Patch2-2013-EastMeetsWest(RE-3.0)J_U_S from the Richard Elmquist Collection Contributed by Richard Elmquist

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