Carman Cluna created and taught field show drills that emphasized showmanship and audience appeal. He had a long association with New York Skyliners, but also taught many other junior and senior corps in the New York area. These other groups included St. Joseph Patron Cadets, St. Rita’s Brassmen, St. Ignatius All Girls, Our Lady Of Loretto, Floyd Bennett Golden Eagles, Carter Cadets, Emerald Cadets, Connecticut Firettes, Islanders, Babylon NY, Our Lady Of The Snows, Connecticut Hurricanes. After St. Joseph’s Patron Cadets won the Greater New York Championship, he designed and rewarded the entire corps with championship rings. When St. Joseph’s ran into financial difficulty, the corps picked up a new sponsor and became St. Rita’s Brassmen, of Brooklyn. He organized weekly bingo games, with every corps member required to volunteer, to maintain secure financing. Bingo funds paid for new uniforms, which he designed, and new drums. The Brassmen flourished in the late 1960s, but could not survive the transition to the Drum Corps International (DCI) era. He started his long involvement with the drum and bugle corps community in the early 1940s, playing bugle with Our Lady of Mt. Carmel drum and bugle corps in Brooklyn, NY. He played horn with St. Joseph’s of Newark, NJ in 1954, along with other Hall of Fame members Tommy Martin and Joe Genero. He joined Skyliners in 1955 and continued to play baritone horn for the next 10 years. Carman Cluna passed away July 15, 2001.
*Deceased
