Still a fairly new corps, just in its sixth year of competition, the Blue Devils took home their first DCI World Championship title ever in 1976. The corps made it into the top-12 for the first time just two years earlier, placing 9th after a 24th place finish at the corps’ first Championship appearance in 1973. Prior to the 1975 season, one could have made a killing betting the corps would jump into 3rd place in 1975, and 1976 proved that rapid ascent was not a fluke.

Read more: www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=51903f5d-a6f4-477f-ace9-f0204b08fe91#ixzz2ZnrNc1Op
The 1976 Blue Devils performance is also available on Drum Corps International’s brand new Essentials Collection–Champions series on Blu-ray disc.