I Wish They Would Have Attended GN

[boahistorybuff]

Given the cost of travel, it is understandable that high school marching bands can not attend Grand Nationals every year. Some bands in the past have opted not to attend simply to give their students opportunities at other trips and/or compete in other circuits. I am going to create my list of top three bands per year going back to 1980 who I thought would have done well at Grand Nationals and/or had a show that would have resonated with the GN audience. In some instances the band I chose did not even participate in BOA that given year and in some cases they did but did not win their respective regional (I just think they had a show that could have peaked late season). So here are my top three per season. Now this is very subjective. I am sure others have different bands they wish attended a given year. Feel free to express your opinions. And yes I realize many of you are not as old as me and can not go all the way back to the 1980s and 1990s. That is OK. 

1980
1. Chesterton IN
2. Norwin PA
3. West Genesee NY

1981
1. West Genesee NY
2. Herscher IL
3. Independence CA

1982
1. Herscher IL
2. West Genesee NY
3. Northrop IN

1983
1. West Genesee NY
2. Northrop IN
3. John Overton TN

1984
1. West Genesee NY
2. North Hardin KY
3. Westfield TX

1985
1. Rocky Mount NC
2. Ben Davis IN
3. Liverpool NY

1986
1. Westfield TX
2. Ben Davis IN
3. Cicero North Syracuse NY

1987
1. Rocky Mount NC
2. Westfield TX
3. Ben Davis IN

1988
1. Center Grove IN
2. Westfield TX
3. West Genesee NY

1989
1. Westfield TX
2. West Genesee NY
3. Duncanville TX

1990
1. Kiski Area PA
2. Duncanville TX
3. Center Grove IN

1991
1. Westfield TX
2. Center Grove IN
3. Lassiter GA

1992
1. Spring TX
2. Kiski Area PA
3. Westfield TX

1993
1. Westfield TX
2. Kiski Area PA
3. Lassiter GA

1994
1. Spring TX
2. Westfield TX
3. West Genesee NY

1995
1. Kiski Area PA
2. Spring TX
3. Lassiter GA

1996
1. Westfield TX
2. Lassiter GA
3. Homestead IN

1997
1. Lassiter GA
2. Winston Churchill TX
3. Kiski Area PA

1998
1. Spring TX
2. Lawrence Central IN
3. Westfield TX

1999
1. Lassiter GA
2. Spring TX
3. Westfield TX

2000
1. Lassiter GA
2. LD Bell TX
3. Spring TX

2001
1. Lasster GA
2. Ronald Reagan TX
3. Winston Churchill TX

2002
1. LD Bell TX
2. Westfield TX
3. Tarpon Springs FL

2003
1. Lassiter GA
2. Stephen F Austin TX
3. Homestead IN

2004
1. Ronald Reagan TX
2. LD Bell TX
3. Winston Chuchill TX

2005
1. Marcus TX
2. James Bowie TX
3. Kennesaw Mountain GA

2006
1. Marcus TX
2. Ronald Reagan TX
3. Stephen F Austin TX

2007
1. Marcus TX
2. Kennesaw Mountain GA
3. Winston Churchill TX

2008
1. Marcus TX
2. The Woodlands TX
3. Cedar Park TX

2009
1. Tarpon Springs FL
2. Kennesaw Mountain GA
3. Stephen F Austin TX

2010
1. Marcus TX
2. The Woodlands TX
3. James Bowie TX

2011
1. LD Bell TX
2. James Bowie TX
3. Homestead IN

2012
1. Marcus TX
2. The Woodlands TX
3. Homestead IN

2013
1. Broken Arrow OK
2. Tarpon Springs FL
3. Hebron TX

2014
1. Claudia Taylor Johnson TX
2. James Bowie TX
3. Leander TX

2015
1. Tarpon Springs FL
2. Flower Mound TX
3. Claudia Taylor Johnson TX

2016
1. Flower Mound TX
2. Broken Arrow OK
3. The Woodlands TX

2017
1. Claudia Taylor Johnson TX
2. Hebron TX
3. Vandegrift TX

2018
1. Ronald Reagan TX
2. Hebron TX
3. Flower Mound TX

2019
1. Ronald Reagan TX
2. Broken Arrow OK
3. Vista Ridge TX

2021
1. Hebron TX
2. Vandegrift TX
3. Tarpon Springs FL

[hewhowaits]

Not a surprise that in recent years the list is Texas-heavy.

[hewhowaits]

2020
1. Everybody
2. Everybody Else
3. Whoever I forgot above

[supersound]

Blue Springs 2019 imo

[principalagent]

Jan 21, 2022 8:29:30 GMT -6 supersound said:

Blue Springs 2019 imo

It would have made Leander’s thrashing of class 3A less painful, but they wouldn’t have gotten close to taking a caption from them.

[dbalash]

Prospect 2001.  Would have been interesting to see how they would have fared after putting a 3+ point shellacking on Centerville & PCEP at Toledo (I know, I know, early season.)

[boahistorybuff]

Jan 21, 2022 13:23:20 GMT -6 dbalash said:

Prospect 2001.  Would have been interesting to see how they would have fared after putting a 3+ point shellacking on Centerville & PCEP at Toledo (I know, I know, early season.)

I think Prospect would have had a really good chance of making finals that year. All the big name Illinois bands had good shows that year.

[marimba11]

I think I will always contend that Broken Arrow would have swept captions in 2013. Utopia had serious LD Bell 07 vibes and was just so, so clean. It was a spectacular show to see. 

I also think Tarpon could have medaled with Unidentified. 



Flower Mound would have won in 2016, at least I would have hoped so! 

[hostrauser]

Fred C. Beyer H.S., CA in 1993 (Dr. Gary P. Gilroy, director) and Thousand Oaks H.S., CA in 1998 (Greg Llacer, director) are two of the only CA band shows after 1990 that I feel could have competed for the Eagle. Thousand Oaks especially, in the late 1990s, was a beast. Etiwanda was regularly attending Grand Nationals and making finals during that time, but Thousand Oaks usually thrashed them when they competed head to head.