Tarheel Sun was founded in 1995 by people from the Raleigh NC area. The corps competed in Division II for the 1996-1998 seasons, going from near last place to 3rd and 4th place in 1997 and 98 respectively. 1999 and 2000 the corps competed in D.C.I. Division I, but because of management issues and a lack of money the corps had to go inactive. The five seasons that Tarheel Sun competed were all special in certain ways. I was glad to be part of the corps for two seasons, 1997 and 1998.
After being a serious D.C.I. freak in high school, I decided that I had to march somewhere, and that place was Carolina Crown, where a good friend of mine had marched for a few years. After a friend could not make it to camp, we decided that Tarheel would be more practical to get to camps, plus we'd have a support system of VA Beach people there. Little did I know there would be a full charter bus of VA Beach members of Sun, nearly 40 by my count.
The 1997 Tarheel Sun was full of a few people who had marched the 96 season, and a TON of kids around the age of 15 who had never marched in a drum corps. That first season for us newbies to the activity was interesting. Many of us had never felt some of the pains and emotions that go along with marching drum corps, but by the end we were all seasoned vets. No one told me that when you marched corps there wasn't much food....that staff would make you bake outside for hours and you'd perform at 5 PM with a Division II corps. I didn't know that without water breaks you'd dehydrate, and that the weirdest parts of your body would ache after holding up a horn at attention for 2 hours after a show, punishment for leaving a housing site late. Yeah, it was hard and old school, yeah we didn't win any visual trophies or first place, but that was a wonderful summer because it opened my eyes quite a bit. I came back from Orlando some 40 pounds lighter with a nice tan and a new mentality!
1998 was a unique build upon a good season for the corps. Many Phantom Regiment staff members came to Tarheel to help build the corps and make it a division I powerhouse. Greg Cesario wrote the drill, his brother Michael worked as a consultant. Bob Smith also worked with us, bringing a bunch of amazing young teachers from Regiment. Bob taught us a lot about how to carry ourselves as members of the drum corps, and taught me even more about how to look good on the field. The show was called "A Stan Kenton Suite", a show that I really enjoyed playing!
Marching Tarheel Sun was special because many of the members were people I grew up with. To this day I can see them and feel like we've been hanging out forever. In fact, many "heels" can be found marching in various Drum Corps around the US today. I chose to leave the drum corps in 1999 after feeling like I had accomplished all of the goals I had set for myself at Sun. While many people did not support this, I stuck to my guns and many of my friends supported me as I worked my way up to Newark Delaware. |
