The St KevinEmerald Knights
Senior Drum & Bugle Corps.
Boston, Massachesetts

The St. Kevin Emerald Knights
Junior Drum & Bugle Corps

By Paul “Flabo” Flaherty
Boston, Dorchester, Massachusetts

Never having been a great student in a history class this will not be played out in a names and dates listing format. Rather it will be one person’s commentary. The observations to follow are made through experiences, which I personally have enjoyed by being associated with one of the finest and most entertaining Drum Corps that has performed on many different football fields in the quest for fame and glory in the 50’s and 60’s-------.
“The Saint Kevin Emerald Knights” from Boston, Massachusetts.

The Corps, a.k.a. “Kevins,” was actually started in 1947 as a drill team by Father J. Joseph Kierce, who had been transferred to this new church parish in Dorchester, MA from the Immaculate Conception Church, Winchester, MA. “I. C.” had a powerhouse drum corps named the “Queensmen” in the parish.
Father Kierce immediately made the move to have a drum corps in St Kevin’s parish. Thus there was another CYO drum & bugle corps on the scene in Boston, MA

“St. Kevin’s” stumbled around football fields for years ranked in the Class “C” grouping of drum corps.
Finally capturing the Class “C” title in 1954 to move up to Class “B” where it looked like the Corps would be stuck for another 7 or 8 years before being good enough to move up to Class “A”---MAYBE?
It was then that the magic hit for “The St Kevin Emerald Knights.” Bernie Beaulieu, your local insurance man, director of the Corps, sometime in the middle of 1955 put the team of Bergdoll & Fisher together. When I say “magic”, it was magic. Here was Mr. Frank “Buddy” Bergdoll, a Firefighter from Hyde Park, MA and Mr. Cliff Fisher, a telephone repairman from, Hingham, MA. Mr. Bergdoll taught bugles and Fisher taught drums and marching. We didn’t have the fancy names for those positions back then. The Corps became an entirely different machine with everyone treating this thing that we spent so much time on very seriously. There was not a gloomy face in the crowd. Through the year 1955 people were starting to learn their craft under the team of “Mr. Bergdoll and Cliff.”
(1)

The Corps took the field in 1956 by storm. No, it wasn’t the best Corps on the judging sheets but it was the Corps that was the mover and shaker. Placing in the first or second position at every contest through the year. In those days, the 50’s, there were two major circuits operating in the New England area, which created sort of a dilemma for “St. Kevins” at the end of 1956 competing season. Because the Corps had been one of the frontrunners throughout the year, one of the circuits moved the Corps into Class “A.” The other circuit left the Corps in Class “B,” which meant the Corps had to learn two routines for the year 1957, one for Class “A” and another for Class “B”
1957 in Class “B” was a clean sweep for the Corps from beginning to end. The Corps won every contest and went undefeated. In Class “A” it was not a clean sweep but it was the makings of what was to come. This was the first year that the east coast of the nation was exposed to “St Kevins” and vice versa. The Corps ventured to its first “Nationals” in Atlantic City, NJ. From the opening strains of Pagliacci to the final notes of “Sleep,” the crowd was with the Corps. “Tiger Rag/ One O’ Clock Jump” concert with solos by “Buzzy” Bergdoll, had the convention hall swinging. “St Kevins” became an instant crowd favorite.

Interestingly, the Corps was lucky to be in the final ten at all. Unfortunately for St Patrick’s of Jersey City, NJ, they suffered a penalty thereby opening the door for “St Kevins” to capture the tenth spot and make it into the “Finals.” Taking quick advantage of the momentum, “St Kevins” moved up to a seventh place finish in the finals. This was a portent because “St Kevins” was always a part of the “Finals” in every “Nationals” they competed in. Including the notorious, “Boston” Nationals in 1967, when there were only seven corps selected for the finals.
1958 was another growing and thriving year for the Corps. The ranks were expanding with new talent. The team of Bergdoll & Fisher churned out a program, which was different and innovative in its design. The concert, “Volga Boatmen” was performed with a French horn duet aptly handled by “Buzzy Bergdoll & Larry Bell.” It was during this tune that Cliff decided that the horn line should “place” their horns on the ground and perform a rhythmic clapping. Of course the judges went crazy because at the time there existed a rule, which applied to “dropped” equipment, stating the loss of one tenth of a point for “dropped” equipment. At the conclusion of the judging, because it was such a trauma for the judges, Cliff argued that the equipment was in fact “placed not dropped” thus there should be no loss of tenths or points to the Corps. Thus a new rule was entered into the books entitled “Deliberate Placement”. This was not the last time that “St Kevins” would create a change for the activity.
St Kevins placed fourth in the Nationals in 1958.

During this year the Corps was joined by a new Director, Manager named, Mr. Ed Rooney. Ed immediately made some startling but noticeable changes, the most notable being the removal of the gold from the uniform and the replacement with red. The birth of the name “The Christmas Tree Corps.”
because the uniform was now a combination of red, white, & green.
1959 was a year that “St Kevins” became the sole reigning champion in the New England area. Winning all of the New England area competitions and then heading south to Roosevelt Stadium, NJ for their first time in the “Dream” competition. They won the contest and the hearts of everyone in New Jersey. That was the start of the reigning “Big Three” Jersey Corps through the years 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964- Blessed Sacrament, Garfield Cadets, and St Kevins. No, that’s not a mistake. The whole New Jersey Drum Corps society opened their doors to St Kevins and welcomed the Corps as an official “Jersey” Corps. an honor, which was a first and has not been afforded since.
(2)

OK, OK, I’ve been saying, “New England, East Coast, Jersey,” let’s move to 1960 when the whole of the United States had an opportunity to see this corps they had been reading about. “St Kevins” was having another banner growing year. With the advent of new instrumentation, Mr. Bergdoll was able to put together a musical repertoire then that is still touted as one of the greatest routines ever. The Corps was trading off wins and seconds throughout the whole year and then came the “Nationals” in Detroit. Ah, Detroit, Michigan, a city and state to be forever imbedded in this writer’s memory and that of all of the old diehards from “Kevins.”
Talk about your omens, how about this one- St Kevins stayed at the Cavalier Motel, attended Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Church and lined up for the parade on Garfield Avenue—eerie or what?

Front page of the Detroit newspaper has color photo of St Kevin’s big guard –curb to curb- in color.
First in the prelims and rolling to a National Championship easily, HEY, what’s going on here? Who are those people on the other side of the sideline? Wham Bam- tick- tick- tick- tick- there goes the National title. Should have been more careful in lining up on the starting line.
However, “St Kevins” went on to capture it’s second straight “Dream Championship”
1961 “St Kevins” was in the mix with the likes of Blessed Sacrament, Chicago Cavaliers, Cambridge Caballeros, Garfield Cadets, Black Knights, The Royalaires, Madison, St Vincent’s, and the Kilties.

The Cavaliers were the dominant National drum corps in 1961—no question.
Once again though, St Kevins captured and retired the National Dream trophy in winning the championship, three years running.
St Kevins placed sixth in the “Nationals” in Miami, Florida
They won the “Drumfest.”

On a different note, in the Boston area there was a trend in vocals happening and had been for three years, first started in 1959. The CYO had established a Barbershop, Choral group Annual Festival. It was at this venue where championships were awarded. Once again, St Kevin’s choral group and barbershop quartet won both of the championships for the third year running. The activity was dropped due to the fact that no one had been able to unseat St Kevins in the three year of the association’s existence.
1962 was another year that St Kevins was in the mix. They won some they lost some.
St Kevins placed fifth in the Nationals in Milwaukee, WI.
They won the “Drumfest”

I’d say more but I was in Germany doing my Army bit.
1963 saw St Kevins once again starting to move towards the top of the mix. Mr. Bergdoll’s hornline at it’s best. Traded positions with the best of the rest throughout the year. Building for “64”
“Nationals” too far away in Seattle, WA.
They won the Drumfest.

Hornline is in place with few graduates so it will be intact in “64”. Drums intact. We’re ready to move into another year not unlike 1960.
New big sound, tough, tough charts but a line that’s capable.
OH, OH- trouble in the ranks, physical fighting, dissention, dissatisfaction, degeneration of a foundation, loss of Ed Rooney, Mr Bergdoll, and Cliff Fisher.
1963/1964 we start to lose personnel. What will we do in 1964 now? Time to check our character as an organization. Call the alumni!
(3)

1964 we need a new manager. In steps Mr. Ray Latnick to do the job. What do we do about instruction? In steps the alumni- George Oliviero (later to become a famous DCI guru), John Flynn, Jack O’Brien, and Paul “Flabo” Flaherty. Have to appoint a new drum major-welcome Walter Vosburgh. We still have Sheila Kennedy Flaherty who has been our color guard instructor. Sheila is the person who introduced the big working guards to the drum corps scene. Another first for “St Kevins.”
Okay we’ve got the music, we’ve got the drill but do we have the character? We’ll find out.
Corps holds together after drafting some younger kids from the “Gems” early to fill the ranks. They don’t have the luxury of a break in period. They have to learn immediately.

The beginning of the year is a disaster. Corps is losing by points not tenths. Everyone keeps working. Practicing seven days a week. It’s coming together but ever so slowly. Moving up in the ranking.
“Nationals” time and the character of the corps has come through. Mr Bergdoll and Cliff back in the fold and we’re on our way to Cleveland, OH.
Corps pulls up with a tie for third in the prelims and a fifth in the finals-we’re very happy. Character and history will out.
Move on to New Jersey from Cleveland and once again capture the “Dream” championship.- Sweet desserts for a season started in a very deep hole.
At the end of the season, Ed Rooney rejoined the Corps.
I think it’s time to say something in regards to “The St. Kevin Emerald Knights” organization. Not only was there a corps, there was a “Parents and Friends” Association. These were folks who ran bake sales, lotteries, raffles, dances, anything to raise money for the Corps. They then handed over the money to the Corps management with not a word except, “We hope this helps.” Yeah, they didn’t want to interfere with the running of the Corps and all they knew was that it took money to run the Corps. Here’s the money—no questions asked. I don’t know of any other organization that had such a support group. The streets are littered with drum corps ruined by councils, parents groups, boards, etc.
During all of these years, St Kevins had been very fortunate in it’s backbone. What was the backbone you ask? The backbone was the “feeder” system, which was established to continuously take young kids early and train them to eventually become “Knights.” This was the ultimate goal of these kids.
There was “The St Kevin Emerald Gems,” (Champions in their own right) which was the Corps that graduated its members into the “Knights.” Generally these kids ranged in ages 11 to 14 years.
Then there was “The St Kevin Emerald Chips”, which was the “baby” Corps. We are not kidding when we say, “Baby.” 6 years old was a good starting age.

The people who should be commended are the managers, instructors, & quartermasters for these corps because they never saw their corps hit the big time. Their joy was in maintaining the “Emerald Knights” in the top echelon of the drum corps scenes.
Interestingly enough, the “Gems” became a Class “B” Corps because of their “winning ways.” Although they were a “feeder” unit, and usually a “feeder’ unit was in Class “C,” they were blowing away their competition to the tune of 57 straight wins, so the circuits moved them up to Class “B.”
Yep, you guessed it, within two years they were winning again and did not stop until the “Knights”
drained them of their personnel. Proudest moments of my life came when Mr. Bergdoll would come down to review the kids to see if any were ready for the “Knights.” One year, he took 21 hornmen into the “Knights” One kid played the full contra part of “South Rampart St. Parade” as his audition piece. The reason I mention this is that I was the horn instructor for the “Gems” for many years. Some of those Gems and Chips are playing today in the Senior Alumni Corps. and “OH Yeah,” the “Gems” were to start their “winning ways” again a short two years later.
(4)

1965 was the beginning of the end for “The St. Kevin Emerald Knights.” It was not a quick downhill run but rather a slow change eating away at the core of the activity in Dorchester, MA., make no mistake, the Corps was still a National competitor in 1965 but you could see and feel the changes taking place.
The one thing that remained a constant was the music. Once again Mr. Bergdoll had put together a repertoire then, which would be challenging to any corps today. I say that with the deepest respect for the talent of the kids today. “Trust me.” Dig through your old 33’s and if you’re lucky you’ll have a recording. The (65) Nationals is one of the tracks on the “St Kevins” millennium 2000 CD and if you listen to it, you’ll understand why I make such a brash challenging statement.

When the Corps comes off the line to Stars & Stripes, goes through tunes such as: “Seahawk/Columbia, So. Rampart St. Parade, Charmaine, This nearly Was Mine,” you’ll hear it. Although the Corps struggled through the year, they once again traveled to Chicago, IL. to attend the oft referred to,
“Mid West Nationals”, which took place in McCormick Place in Chicago. The corps once again was in the “Finals” and finished in the eleventh position.
1966, the pressure of Vietnam decimated the ranks of the Corps. The Corps having a hard time of it but manages to regroup at the end of the season and capture yet another CYO title. I have not mentioned it but if you check the records you’ll probably find that “St Kevins” had dominated the CYO circuit from 1957 through 1966. There were losses of the title but not too many. Along with those titles were a plethora of VFW, A.L. State titles and “New England” titles.
The Corps did travel to Jersey City for the “Nationals” at which they tied with the Madison Scouts for tenth position. This was the last time St Kevins ventured out of Boston to attend a “Nationals.” The die was cast and the future was inevitable.
Being from the “inner city,” the Corps suffered problems in other ways. Families were moving to the suburbs in large numbers, there was no money available, it seemed as though the kids from the inner city were going to Vietnam in droves, and both the church and the Corps. were losing potential members.

1967 and the Corps was still pumping and not quitting. The character and enthusiasm of the kids had never left. Everyone was working very hard to succeed but to no avail. It was just not coming together.
The “Nationals” were scheduled to be in Boston and how could we not be there? What could we do to try to insure that we were going to maintain the unbroken streak of having been in the “Finals’ of every “Nationals” we had been to. It’s time to put our experienced heads together to come up with a solution to this new dilemma. We selected the best of what we had and drove every rehearsal in that direction until it was top caliber competitive quality.
History shows that the Corps was successful by pulling down a fifth place finish in the prelims, which placed the Corps into the “Finals.” No one was more surprised than the sixth and seventh place Corps in the prelims. In Fact, there were a lot of surprised people that day. St Kevins went on to finish seventh in a field of seven in the final competition. That was the last “Nationals” St Kevins ever competed in.
1968 was another tough year for older personnel and still more difficult for the “new” kids. The older guys and gals still had their memories but the younger newer guys and gals wanted to make memories, but it was not to be. At the end of 1968 season, Ed Rooney, Cliff Fisher, and Frank Bergdoll resigned from the organization. Paul Flaherty was appointed as the new director and his job was definitely not going to be an easy one
(5)

1969 was the final year of existence for “The St. Kevin Emerald Knights.” This writer was there but memory of those times fails me. It was finished, the fat lady was standing in the end zone, and through it all the kids never gave in. The 1969 Corps hit that starting line with as much zeal and enthusiasm as any of their predecessors had. Their thoughts were, “We are the Emerald Knights, we earned this position through hard work, and we love this Corps.” Unfortunately the hornline was down to 24 players and the drumline was lucky to muster 8 or 9 players at any given time.
At the Corps reunion sometime in 1996 or about, one of the members of the 1969 Corps., Jim Powers, took the podium to say what it meant to be a member of the 1969 St Kevin Emerald Knights. It made for a fitting climax and the entire attendance at the reunion was truly moved by Jim’s comments.
Special photo ops were in the making for the “69” Corps and to this writer’s delight the kids insisted that I be in every one of the photos taken with them because I had been with these kids from the Gems through the Knights. Even now as I write these lines my breathing has become stinted just thinking of what we had and what we did with it. And so I will fade away this writing just as the passing of one of the countries most legendary Corps and generals did by fading away silently. There was a merger in 1969 but that’s another story for another day…………………..
About the author:

Paul “Flabo” Flaherty joined the “St Kevins” organization in 1955 and “graduated” as we used to say, rather than “aged out”, in 1959. He remained with the Corps working as an assistant music instructor/ drill instructor under Mr. Bergdoll and Cliff Fisher. At the same time he was the music instructor for the “Gems” feeder unit for many years. Today some of his wards are standing along side “Flabo” playing in “The St. Kevin Emerald Knights” Senior Alumni Drum & bugle Corps, which is doing very well at this time.

It has been said that Flabo’s blood runs “GREEN” and has ever since he joined in 1955. He was with the Corps through the crescendo of growth and the decrescendo of decline. Currently he is in the position of:
Director to “The St Kevin Emerald Knights Senior Drum & Bugle Corps.” This Corps was formed in the year 2000 in order to play some tunes for a planned millennium reunion. There have been reunions taking place for the Corps., periodically in five year breaks, since the year 1979.
We hope you have found this history enjoyable and informative. After it is all said and done, we are glad we took the time to put it down on paper--enjoy


Good night all you “guys and gals” as Ed would say. I hope I did you proud,
To you, Reverend J. Joseph Kierce, “God bless you & keep you.” Our prayers are with you and continue to be well. It was you who made the United States aware that there was a church somewhere in Dorchester, MA, which had a very famous Drum Corps. For as the Drum Corps is gone, so is the church, which was located in, Uphams Corner, Dorchester, MA.


“Flabo”