Delta Brigade

The Delta Brigade drum and bugle corps was organized in the fall of 1990 by Robin Holt Mickey and Clem Papineau as corps director.

In their inaugural season, everything was going to plan when Mr. Papineau was called away to serve with the 142^nd Field Artillery in the Persian Gulf and returned in early summer. Although this delayed the corps’ progression, they managed to field competitively, participating in the Drum Corps International (DCI) “Class A” preliminaries, placing in 19^th position. The following year, the Brigade toured East as members of the Drum Corps East circuit, participated in the DCI South regional championships, finishing in 12^th place and culminated the season in the 1992 DCI “Division III” contest, where they finished in 27^th in the prelims.

In 1993, the corps competed in the newly formed Drum Corps South (DCS) circuit, placing 3^rd in the “Division II/III” class and improved to a 21^st place finish in the DCI “Division III” championships. The next year, Delta Brigade was able to purchase a few instruments with corporate grants and extended their 1994 tour, winning the DCS “Division III” title and participated in the “Division III” prelims in the Canadian Open and North American Open regionals, placing 6^th and 12^th respectively. They concluded the season by finishing 13th in the 1994 DCI “Division III” prelims and was voted DCI “Most Improved Division III Corps of the Year”.

In 1995, Delta Brigade defended their DCS title, was crowned them Illinois State Fair champions and placed 4th in the finals of both the Canadian Open and North American Open regionals. They closed out the season with a 6^th place finish in the DCI “Division III” finals, earning a second consecutive “Most Improved Division III Corps of the Year” award. Because of financial difficulties in 1996, Delta Brigade was unable to tour and went inactive that summer but returned in 1997, after improving corps finances. They successfully competed again, participating in the “Division III” prelims of the Canadian Open, the US Coast Guard Open and the North American Open, finishing 11^th, 8^th and 7^th in that order. The corps finished the season in 9^th position in the DCI preliminaries.

Delta Brigade did not compete in 1998, due to the illness of a key staff member, and the 1999 season began with competition with the Drum Corps Midwest (DCM) “Division III” circuit, placing 9^th in the prelims but was curtailed when a traffic accident took the lives of two staff members, Sam Gossoo and Travis Nail. During the 2000 summer competitive tour, Delta Brigade improved to a 7^th place finish in the DCM contest and made the finals in the US Coast Guard Open regionals, placing 9^th, along with 16^th place finished in both the Canadian Open and the North American Open prelims.

That same year, they were awarded the “Caballaros Award” for being the corps that displayed the true spirit of drum corps for the season. Corps members visited Niagara Falls and Chicago's  Sears Tower, and toured Washington, D.C. for two days before ending with a 20^th position in the DCI “Division III” preliminary round.

They disbanded in 2001. 

Members (25)