DONNY MY GUESS THEY WERE FORMED AROUND 1948-49 I WAS AN ORIGINAL. WHITE UNIFORMS WE WERE TAUGHT BY TOM COSTA THERE ARE PHOTOS AROUND AFTER TOM COSTA JOE GENARRO AND CARMINE CLUNA . THERE WERE MANY AS CORPS BROKE UP THEY CAME TO US. THINK THE BROKE UP IN THE LATE 60'S AT THAT POINT I WAS TOO OLD 21 WAS CUT OFF THE PICTURE YOU HAVE ON THE SITE WAS A COUPKLS YEARS BEFORE T HE BREAK UP HAVE YOU CALLED THE NEWS,POST ETC.
I just sent you a picture and a history of how and when Loreto Cadets was started. Somewhere I read where someone had erroneously written that the Knights were started as an off-shoot of the Boy Scouts. The drum corps was started without any Boy Scouts and in the beginning, only Loreto school students were eligible to join. Later on, Public School students were admitted. It was a great youth activity at that time and kept many of us "off the streets". Toward the end, it seemed that the youth activity aspect was replaced with just acquiring people from elsewhere (and not bringing in parish youths to train) for the sole purpose of "winning" competitions. Unfortunately, this was a trend in other parishes also and so the parishes decided not to continue to support the activity as it had evolved. I guess it wasn't a parish activity anymore.
The postings about the Loreto Knights stirred some memory in me of a group that may have been formed near the end of WWII and may have some connection with the Knights. I was either in grade 7B or 8A (1944/1945) when one of my pals and I joined a group that met in the auditorium in the basement of OLL. Some kids had uniforms others just had military style hats. We were taught military protocol and marching. I can't vouch for any continuity from that time to later years when the group competed.
I joined the OLL Cadet Corp. while attending OLL in 1958. The uniforms were white, blue and gold. Correct me if I am wrong but I think we became the Loretto Knights when our uniforms changed to black and orange and the girls became guide ons at the end of the columns and carried small knight flags, which I was one of.
The name "Loretto Knights" was designated for the drum corps by Director/Instructor Tom "Major" Costa. I supplied the emblem of the Knights for our flag, which, incidentally was taken from, believe it or not, a brand of Scotch whisky. We were formed somewhere in 1948 and at that time only Loretto Parochial School students were allowed to join. Some time later, public school students were allowed to come into the unit. Once again, there was no prior unit or Boy scout troop involved in the drum corps. I do recall there was a group of Boy Scouts in the parish, but they had no affiliation with the Loretto Cadets. At one time we had only 13 members left of the original start of the corps. Mike Martino was one of them, and so was I. Sal Contello, another "original", and I left the unit in the mid fifties to join the Navy.
Hello Rocky, I stand corrected. You would know better than me. I just never heard us called Knights before the uniform change and the little flags with the knight symbol. We just were referred to as the cadets. Whatever, it was a great group and I am proud to have been one of them.