Toronto Optimists


Other Names:18th Scout Troop; 157th Scout Troop Trumpet Band

Toronto, ONT Canada
Founded: 1952

Inactive Junior
The Toronto Optimists was initially formed in 1952 as the 18th Scout Troop. This group became the 157th Scout Troop Trumpet Band and in 1956, with sponsorship from the Downtown Optimist Club, they became known as the Optimist Trumpet Band, nicknamed Opti.

With the 1956 Canadian Junior Novice competition, Opti began an unmatched string of championship victories. The corps leaped from being a class B standstill corps in 1957 to winning the Canadian National Junior Corps Championships in 1958, defeating Preston Scout House. Opti then went on to win ten more titles, through 1968. The Optimists’ unbroken streak of eleven consecutive championships is far longer than that of any other corps in drum corps history, American or Canadian.

The Optimists had the distinction of being the first Canadian corps to carry the newly-official maple leaf flag, on Feb. 27, 1965.

The uniform consisted of white bucks, black pants with a white stripe, a white sash and cumber bund, a green mother of pearl shako topped with a white plume and a green satin blouse with a white diagonal stripe bordered in black.

Also known as The Green Machine, the Optimists continued to compete into the 1970s, but De La Salle Oaklands had taken over their place as the power in Canadian drum corps by that time. Opti won one more Canadian Junior title, in 1972, but in the Spring of 1976 they merged with the Seneca Princemen to become the Seneca Optimists.

[http://www.in2corps.com/legends/opti/optimist.htm; A History of Drum and Bugle Corps, 2002; DCW, 8/31/02, p.3; DCW, 3/03, p.3; Jeffry J. Mason 11/22/2004]

Members (6)

Member Name Section Years Involved
Bruton, Richard Brass 1974 to 1975
Bruton, Richard Contra Bass 1975
Grimes, Michael Horn Line 1975
Mason, Jeff Bass Drum 1976
Roberts, Doug Hornline 1970 to 1972
Stewart, Jim Baritone Horn 1959 to 1961

CORPS 57 items

Toronto Optimists
PDF Document

From Toronto, The Optimists by Colin Hedworth Contributed by Bob Carell
Toronto Optimists

1960s Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

1962 Optimists Junior International Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Early Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Optimist Button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Toronto Optimists booster button from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Toronto Optimists crest for 10 consecutive Nationals from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

Toronto Optimists jacket crest from the Bob Carell Collection
Toronto Optimists

TorontoOptimistCadets,Toronto,ON,LP1(RE-1.0)J_U_S from the Richard Elmquist Collection Contributed by Richard Elmquist
Toronto Optimists
PDF Document

408-411, Toronto Optimists from the Steve Vickers Collection

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