This is the year I marched with Overton. I moved over from FRA my senior year and kept looking for a performance from '86 here on YouTube, but as I finally realized our season was in '85. I marched on the percussion line and was privileged to be part of the legacy that were the Marching Bobcats. Hello to all and THANKS to the ones who post the wonderful videos. They bring back great memories. The Color Guard were trailblazers.
@NashvillePat This was the second of three times that a band would win without getting the highest finals score. The first was McGavock in 1972 when their finals score dipped under Columbia's finals score by 1.6 points. The last was Lafayette in 1994 when they dipped under McGavock by 2 tenths of a point. In all three instances the winners were the preliminary winners who held on to first place by their combined scores. Since 1995, they have been ranked based on their finals scores.
I was always impressed with the way Johnny O could turn it up 5 notches the day of CoC and surprise the crap out of the bands that had beat them all season.
@NashvillePat This happened because Rodney Webb and Jo Ann Hood were incredibly motivating directors. Somehow when you got to CoC, you just wanted to make it happen for them. Those moments leading up to the performances were just magical.
This particular year was about the only thing that my brother, sister, and I ALL did together. We were all in this band for this one moment in time. I still remember hugging Peggy on the field at awards.
I got a little tear in my eye and lump in my throat from watching this. I love you Bobby and Peggy. It was fun growing up between you two.
Regarding my earlier statement about "utterly amazing that we did what we did." The Overton Band was not made up of a bunch of top notch players. It was 5% really good players (on a good year), 25-30% decent players section players, 50% passable players, and 20% people who played maybe 20 notes in the whole show correctly, if they played at all. But MAN! I listen to this and I am just impressed at the sound our directors got from us without us even knowing how we did it.
Having been a band director for many years now, and having enough distance from that show to really watch and listen to it objectively (i.e. not just hear my part the whole time), I find it utterly amazing that we did what we did. This show was, err IS, really good. Great arrangements by Steve Smith. Knowing a lot more now about that side of things now than I did then, I have a newfound respect for the way that guy could write. Seriously.
Wow! I haven't seen that, nor has anybody else really, since the one time that we watched this on the film projector in the band room. Finals was the show on the CoC broadcast (which is on a VHS somewhere at my parents' house, I think). Finals was a rough show. Phasing in the first 30 seconds of the show, tempo difficulties, etc. It was thanks to the practice of combining prelims and finals scores that we won the show. We won prelims handily.
I have to agree with Proctor. Prelims was the best performace of the year. If I remember correctly, we actually placed 6th in the prior contest. We worked our tails off that final week to clean up the show. This has been my favorite show of all time (followed closely by the 1983 show). Thank you for posting this. It brings back good memories.
This is the year I marched with Overton. I moved over from FRA my senior year and kept looking for a performance from '86 here on YouTube, but as I finally realized our season was in '85. I marched on the percussion line and was privileged to be part of the legacy that were the Marching Bobcats. Hello to all and THANKS to the ones who post the wonderful videos. They bring back great memories. The Color Guard were trailblazers.
iamstevenmichael 1 month ago
Wow! What memories. It doesn't seem like that long ago.
kdlew1 9 months ago
Top 5 scores 1985 Contest of Champions Results Prelim-Finals-Total
1 John Overton High, Nashville, TN Rodney Webb, Jo Ann Hood 93.30 93.20 186.50
2 North Hardin High, Radcliff, KY Kevin Bowen, Russell Gross 90.40 93.90 184.30
3 Meade County High, Brandenburg, KY Paul Davis, Bruce Sonderstrom 90.90 90.30 181.20
4 Franklin High, Franklin, TN Wayne Simpson, David Hale 89.50 91.20 180.70
5 George Rogers Clark High, Winchester, KY Jeff Hood 86.60 93.80 180.40
NashvillePat 1 year ago
@NashvillePat This was the second of three times that a band would win without getting the highest finals score. The first was McGavock in 1972 when their finals score dipped under Columbia's finals score by 1.6 points. The last was Lafayette in 1994 when they dipped under McGavock by 2 tenths of a point. In all three instances the winners were the preliminary winners who held on to first place by their combined scores. Since 1995, they have been ranked based on their finals scores.
AHProctor 1 year ago
I was always impressed with the way Johnny O could turn it up 5 notches the day of CoC and surprise the crap out of the bands that had beat them all season.
NashvillePat 1 year ago
@NashvillePat This happened because Rodney Webb and Jo Ann Hood were incredibly motivating directors. Somehow when you got to CoC, you just wanted to make it happen for them. Those moments leading up to the performances were just magical.
ibrokemyfingerbowlin 4 months ago
@NashvillePat You're right. I remember watching them perform this show at MTSBOA just a few weeks before this performance, and they made a II.
asneMMan 4 months ago
I agree this was our best show.
kurtfugol 1 year ago
I'm proud to say that I personally know 3 of the people in that band =D
violinlover320 1 year ago
I just realized that my user name doesn't really say who I am. This is David Landers. Trombone player, class of 87.
groverman 1 year ago
This particular year was about the only thing that my brother, sister, and I ALL did together. We were all in this band for this one moment in time. I still remember hugging Peggy on the field at awards.
I got a little tear in my eye and lump in my throat from watching this. I love you Bobby and Peggy. It was fun growing up between you two.
groverman 1 year ago
Regarding my earlier statement about "utterly amazing that we did what we did." The Overton Band was not made up of a bunch of top notch players. It was 5% really good players (on a good year), 25-30% decent players section players, 50% passable players, and 20% people who played maybe 20 notes in the whole show correctly, if they played at all. But MAN! I listen to this and I am just impressed at the sound our directors got from us without us even knowing how we did it.
groverman 1 year ago
Having been a band director for many years now, and having enough distance from that show to really watch and listen to it objectively (i.e. not just hear my part the whole time), I find it utterly amazing that we did what we did. This show was, err IS, really good. Great arrangements by Steve Smith. Knowing a lot more now about that side of things now than I did then, I have a newfound respect for the way that guy could write. Seriously.
groverman 1 year ago
Wow! I haven't seen that, nor has anybody else really, since the one time that we watched this on the film projector in the band room. Finals was the show on the CoC broadcast (which is on a VHS somewhere at my parents' house, I think). Finals was a rough show. Phasing in the first 30 seconds of the show, tempo difficulties, etc. It was thanks to the practice of combining prelims and finals scores that we won the show. We won prelims handily.
groverman 1 year ago
I have to agree with Proctor. Prelims was the best performace of the year. If I remember correctly, we actually placed 6th in the prior contest. We worked our tails off that final week to clean up the show. This has been my favorite show of all time (followed closely by the 1983 show). Thank you for posting this. It brings back good memories.
dfugol 1 year ago
This was the best performance we ever did of this show.
AHProctor 1 year ago