Oregon Crusaders

The Oregon Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps is an inactive World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Portland, Oregon.

There have been three different "foundings" for what is now known as the Oregon Crusaders.

1) The original Oregon Crusaders corps was founded in Oregon City in 1971 by brothers Ron and David Jones, with 15-year-old David as Corps Director and 16-year-old Ron as composer, arranger, and drill designer. In its inaugural season, the corps was comprised of ed of a drill team with drum line, and was distinguished for suffering a bus breakdown while the 40-member group was en route to its only scheduled performance of te summer. The brothers reorganized the corps in 1972, and they acquired the sponsorship of the Dickinson’s Gourmet Preserves Company (which is now owned by Smuckers), and the corps took the field as Dickinson’s Oregon Crusaders. In 1973, the corps briefly merged with the Imperial Cadets of Portland and marched that one season as the 115 member Imperial Crusaders. The corps was again the Oregon Crusaders in 1974 and beyond, but after the Jones brothers aged out, the corps lapsed into inactivity and became one more defunct corps among the many. (The Jones brothers would, many years later, work with the current corps--- the reason that this is considered to be one of the three foundings.)

2) In 1999, Rick Wise started a brand new corps in Medford that was named the Southern Oregon Crusaders, but the corps soon also fell by the wayside.

3) In 2001, some of the survivors of the Southern Oregon Crusaders and a new group of staff members reorganized the remnants and made a new go at it in Portland as simply the Oregon Crusaders (OC) with Bill Perkins as executive director.

From 2001 to 2003, the corps grew and performed valiantly throughout the western U.S. while garnering the attention of the larger drum corps community. They built their reputation despite having membership with little or no drum corps experience and a shoestring corps budget that necessitated the corps' borrowing uniforms, horns, and percussion equipment rather than buying their own.

In 2004, on the way to their first Drum Corps International (DCI) World Championships in Denver, the Oregon Crusaders performed in 14 Division III contests in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, California, Arizona, and Oklahoma. They won them all. Then, they took first in Division III semifinals over 17 other corps before winning the 2004 DCI Division III World Championship.

In seven of the next eight seasons, the corps competed in Division II and the renamed (in 2008) Open Class and was a Finalist each year. 2011 was the first year that all Open Class corps advanced to World Class prelims. After being runnersup in Open Class, OC finished 22nd in World Class semifinals.

In 2012, the Oregon Crusaders performed in 11 Division II contests in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio on their way to the DCI Open Class World Championships in Michigan City, Indiana. They won them all. Then, they took first in Open Class prelims over 13 other corps before winning the 2012 DCI Open Class World Championship, the corps' second undefeated crown. Moving on to World Class prelims in Indianapolis, OC again advanced to semifinals with a 19th place finish.

In 2013, DCI approved the Oregon Crusaders' move to World Class. OC has since been a World Class semifinalist each year through 2017.

On January 13, 2019, the corps informed DCI that it would not compete in 2019.

[Oregon Crusaders; Drum Corps International; Drum Corps World, 7/9/04, p.6]