Nisei Ambassadors

"The Ambassadors were first organized in 1959 by the Chicago Nisei Post of the American Legion, and made their public debut at a southside Veteran's Day parade in borrowed uniforms and equipment. They have made great strides in the past ten years. Last year, their tenth anniversary, was an auspicious one in their goal of continuing to climb upward in the old "Rating Game" of which all class "A" corps are always so conscious. Although in some respects, last years expectations were not as rewarding as many had hoped for, The Ambassadors did not stand still. There were many disappointments, but the "Go For Broke" motto sustained them and their esprit de corps held them together for many wins. Of interest, last month's cover photo was a display of Bob Scholl's talent.
This year the management of the Ambassadors is again very optimistic. With the usual winter doldrums that all corps experience at this time of the year, many exciting things were happening at Nisei hall. Everyone was encouraged with the winter music practices as the hornline continued to average well above last year in attendance. Then with the arrival of the new Olds G/F horns the tempo picked up and everyone took a marked increase in the process of mastering the new music presented to them for the coming year. Mike Ramelli, The Ambassadors' musical director has once again given them something that is really great and exciting, and I am sure the 1970 musical repertoire will be appealing to the audiences in the stands as well as the judges.
The corps book has been arranged and instructed by Mike Ramelli. The accompanying percussion arrangements have been arranged and instructed by the nationally known instructor Mitch Markovich, who once again has come up with outstanding percussion scores which will enhance the overall musical presentation of the 1970 Nisei Ambassadors.
At this writing the M&M portion of the Ambassadors presentation is well under way. Dale Peters, the perennial favorite of the M&M world has been challenged by Ramelli's music to come up with a new and entirely different type of drill to complement this years musical repertoire. One thing for sure, this years "Off The Line" will be a new and different innovation for the Ambassadors. In addition to the entire new set of G/F horns, the Board of Directors' next exciting move is to supply the drum line with a complete new set of drums to complement the new horns.
The corps structure of the Nisei Ambassadors is uniquely different from others in the drum corps world. The Board of Directors which is made up primarily of distinguished gentlemen of Japanese-American ancestry It is their duty and obligation (all voluntary) to provide the ways and means of supplying the funds to assure the continuing existence of this great youth organization, for the youths of all ethnic groups that comprise the roster of the Nisei Ambassadors. It is because of the expert managerial staff that the Ambassadors can hold their own with any corps, what with the most recent acquisition of Jim Unrath and Bill Evans working together to pool their years of knowledge and experience in guiding corps to their ultimate goal. Both Jim and Bill enjoy a drum corps reputation enviable to all. Both men came directly from major midwest corps with only one thing in mind... to make the Ambassadors one of the most prominent corps in the nation.
The Nisei Ambassadors, with their surprisingly good start into the forth-coming season, will undoubtedly be a corps to reckon with this year. Their morale is high and this year surely should be the Nisei's year as they have worked very hard to perfect themselves in a unit to be respected by other corps."
[From the April 1970 issue of DCD]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nisei Ambassadors, formed in 1961, was a junior marching and maneuvering corps based in Chicago, Illinois. They were sponsored by the Nisei American Legion Post 1183, and maintained an affiliation with the Illinois Drum Corps Association and the All American Drum and Bugle Corps and Band Association.

One of the corps' instructors was Truman Crawford, legendary director the U.S. Marine Corps Drum and Bugle Corps.

[Encyclopedia of Drum and Bugle Corps, 1966; DCW, 3/02, p.4]

LOADING.....