1980 Flushing Raider Marching Band MBA Grand National Championships

[@csyrt]

Flushing was several points ahead of everyone in prelims. In finals, the drum line played the band off the field which was not allowed in MBA competition. This resulted in a 1.6 point penalty which cost the band the Grand National title. Another interesting fact is that every single judge had Flushing in 1st except one of the music effect judges that had them two whole points behind Tate, a very controversial score. Those two factors are what caused this show that clearly should have won to end up in second place.

[@zachlewis1437]

I marched for Tate that year and even today, that Flushing show was by far the most impressive High school band show I have ever seen. I just found this video and it still gives me chills to watch it. Fantastic job to everyone involved with Flushing that year.

[@indygo1963]

Didn't Flushing get a penalty in finals and it cost them 1st place? This is a great video find. I always wanted to see this show. I thought it was stronger than Tate's show.

[@seadog3009]

Tate High won the Nat Champs that year. I was there!

[@seadog3009]

If I remember we won with .5 of a point or something like that. The penalty was a killer for you.

[@matthudson8599]

Doesn't matter! We went home with FOUR trophies: Best Flags, Best Marching, Best Music, and Best Percussion. So, we didn't leave Florida empty handed.

[@junknspam3]

Forgot how good that was. Hi Matt, thanks for posting. :)

[@iplayfhorn]

Mostly what I remember was freezing our rear ends off in the retreat, especially after somebody got the bright idea to turn the stadium lights off during the fireworks show. We had Spanish-looking uniforms with really thin shirts, and our parade rest was more like a "parade shiver." And then when they called out the scores, they got to ninth place, and several of us said at one time, "yeah, that's us." It was one of the biggest downers of my HS career.

[@iplayfhorn]

@seadog3009 - Do you know if any more videos from that contest are out there? I'd love to see us from that year, and try to figure out how the heck our (South Cobb) score dropped 24 points in a month (from 91.15 to 67.00).

[@oznark]

Hah! I felt the sting of this 14 years later when we finished a show and I continued to run the cadence for too long as we exited the field. Wally about shit a brick. I thought his head was going to explode. Ah...good times...

[@RyanSlocum]

Just finding this video, and looking at the comments. “oznark” 😂😂😂 man, I haven’t heard or thought of that in a long time! Hope you’re well man! Say hi to the fam for me

[@nathankranzo7939]

Ryan Slocum Same to you brother

[@jwilk1281]

I marched that year... To bad the staff made that costly mistake...

[@iplayfhorn]

Flushing should have won that year. @seadog3009 - Which band were you in? I was with South Cobb (9th).

[@Matthudson2]

No one among our circles can pinpoint the exact penalty assessed. Consensus places it around 1.6 points.

[@Matthudson2]

It was 1.6 points as footage of the award ceremony included in other band's posting clearly show.

[@iplayfhorn]

Oops! I meant @Matthudson2.

[@iplayfhorn]

@seadog3009 - Do you know is any more videos from that contest are out there? I'd love to see us from that year, and try to figure out how the heck our (South Cobb) score dropped 24 points in a month (from 91.15 to 67.00).