Vanguard Historical Society

06/09/2026

We recently lost Pete Emmons, who came to our corps with Fred Sanford in 1968. Three years later, we won the American Legion National Championship, and a year later, the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Championship. He created our visual identity and changed the activity.

06/02/2026

1981 Young Persons Guide

05/11/2026

Who we are or were, once in our lifetimes.

05/11/2026

Vanguard Alumni,
As members of the Vanguard family, we know how powerful our shared history is. Every performance, every tour, every moment adds a piece to the story of who we are. The Vanguard Historical Society (VHS) is renewing its focus to capture that legacy in a new way, and we’d love for you to be part of it.
Here’s what we’re working on:
We’re shifting toward smaller, focused projects that spotlight the unique stories that connect generations of Vanguard members. We are planning to document these stories in a lower-effort way than previous projects, focusing on written content and using existing media without the need for additional video editing. Some of these current projects include:
A history of the cymbal line through the decades
The story behind the guard song, If You Believe (and tic tacs!)
We also have some Decades Project videos that were started, but not completed, for 1975, 1994, and 2013 SCV.
Once our current projects are completed, we will support groups interested in documenting specific years or other identified topics. If you have an interest in Vanguard history, storytelling, or simply want to help preserve and share our legacy, we invite you to join us.
As a group of volunteers, to complete projects, we need your help! To get involved, complete the linked survey to learn more about our upcoming projects and meetings.
Thank you for keeping the spirit of Vanguard alive—both on and off the field.

The Vanguard Historical Society Team

Help gather and tell the stories of Vanguard History. Indicate your interest below. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.

04/29/2026

This is a combined video of 2 years of our corps development. In 1975, we can see the visual interpretation of the music start. In the cymbal lines feature, check out the size of the plates. In 1987, the growth was evident in all captions of the corps presentation.

04/29/2026

At our biweekly meeting of the VHS, the show clip we watched was another 2 different years to accentuate the growth of sound coming from the field.
Electronics in Drum Corps were first implemented in 2004. Lots of discussions around this topic were held at the DCI Annual meetings, both good and bad. The addition of this new rule took many years to “get it right”. Microphones were added mainly under the keyboards, with cables leading to an amplification device and then to speakers. You can see the speakers on the front of the ensemble area.
With rule changes to enhance the medium, along with equipment upgrades, the sound on the field today is magnificent.
2004 and 2024

03/04/2026

Giving the tour maps a perspective, 1968 was our first trip to the Midwest. The first segment of the map is our first competitions with either parades or field competitions; some days we had both.

As the phrase goes, back in the day, many show promoters would hold parades in the morning with field shows in the afternoon or evening.

Some of the photos are from Google and some from members who thought ahead and took cameras.

1968 was the first year of Santa Clara Vanguard taking a trip to the MidWest.

02/27/2026

Our second tour map to be posted is of the 1992 tour. There is an icon next to Santa Clara Vanguard that opens the map legend. Remove the check mark next to directions to remove the line between cities. You can isolate specific segments if you wish. They are temporary and will revert when you are done.

It will be

02/25/2026

We are testing a new element in our history. This is the 2026 schedule following what is posted on DCI. We are working to provide a map for every year.

These are the Cities that DCI Competitions will be held during the 2026 Competitive season during the summer of 2026.

02/28/2025

The Decades Project has begun work on the years that end in 5. 1985 is the only year with a Year Book, and this one is good. Being in the middle many members are multi year before and after 85 so all years should know the members of this year.

This is a Flip Book and all pages are viewable. This was uploaded by Michael Cline and has been converted to this format.

If you have history to be uploaded or you would like to become part of the VHS, checkout this page: https://history.scvanguard.org/contribute/