Blue Devils

TEAM ID. 2506

Blue Devils

The Blue Devils formed when in 1957, Bill Martin resigned as manager of the The Martinettes—an all boy drum corps and girl drill team. Ann and Tony Odello and the Concord branch of the V.F.W. acquired the unit and founded the Blue Devils—named "Blue" for the V.F.W. color and "Devils" after Concord's local land mark, Mt. Diablo. Starting with fewer than 50 young members, the inaugural edition of Blue Devils took the form of an all-boy "Drum Corps" unit with only percussion instruments and a separate all-girl marching team.

In 1958, the Blue Devils added glockenspiels (bells) to their percussion line thus becoming a Drum and Bell Corps. Concurrently, the Majorettes baton twirling unit was set up as an independent unit of the organization though The Blue Devils Drum and Bell Corps continued to provide the Majorettes with musical accompaniment during parades and shows. Both units achieved early success in competitive field show events and city parades.

In 1961, The Blue Devils added color guard to the unit and competed against other ensembles in the California in the state junior division. The Blue Devils Junior Drum and Bell Corps—a mix of boys and girls—achieved remarkable success; going undefeated in the California State Championships from 1957 to 1970.

Mr. Tony Odello resigned as manager of The Blue Devils Drum and Bell Corps in 1964 and Jerry Seawright assumed the managers duties with Erlene Shaffer as manager of the majorettes. In 1965 the Twirlers fielded a group of twelve members to compete in field shows and parades.

In 1968, a third unit was added to the Blue Devils when the original Junior Drum and Bell Corps elected to compete as a Senior unit and a new Junior Corps was established. All of these units did so well that in the late 1960's, the Senior Drum and Bell Corps decided to make the transition to a full Drum and Bugle Corps.

In 1970, the Blue Devils recruited 10 brass players to join the talented percussion line and Color Guard from the Bell Corps. On February 14, 1971, the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps attended their first "standstill" competition in Downey, California. By the spring of 1972 The Blue Devils had grown in size to more than 70 members and traveled on their first summer tour to compete with groups in the Pacific Northwest. The Corps did very well and changed their category from B to A status that same year.

The Blue Devils first toured on a national level in 1973, competing with hundreds of other organizations across the nation in Whitewater, Wisconsin. By placing a very respectable 23rd in the Whitewater National competition, the Blue Devils “A” Corps gained associate membership in prestigious Drum Corps International association (a status given to only the top 25 national groups.) Also during 1973, the Junior Drum and Bell Corps was converted to a B Bugle Corps, and an even younger-aged C Bugle Corps was established.

In 1974, the Blue Devils A Corps earned a full DCI membership by their 9th place finish at the DCI Championships in Ithaca, New York. Concurrently, the Twirling Corps continued to grow and attended their first U.S. Twirling Association (USTA) National Championships in San Francisco. The Twirlers were 40 members strong at the time and were accompanied at this competition by Blue Devils B Drum and Bugle Corps.

The Twirling Corps continued to grow after their first trip to the National Championship in 1974. They won their first National Championship in 1977 and went on to win six National Corps titles and twelve National Team titles, the most recent one in 1997. The Twirlers were gold medalists at the U.S. Trials in '82, '83, '84 and '86. They went on to compete in the World Championships in those years, and in 1983 and 1984 won two back-to-back World titles.

In 1975 the A Corps made a tremendous jump to 3rd place at the DCI Championships in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1976, the A Corps won their first Drum Corps International Championship, sweeping all categories.

Since 1975 the Blue Devils have never finished out of the top five and have won the DCI World Championship title in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023. The Blue Devils' record of 21 DCI championships stands as an envied accomplishment in the drum corps activity. Adding to their impressive record setting DCI world championships, the Blue Devils in 2005 won the prestigious World Music Contest in Kerkrade, Holland.