Filling the shoes of the legendary Ralph Silverbrand must have seemed a formidable, if not impossible task to an aspiring young drum major back in 1970. Chuck Bishop had ably taken over for Silverbrand during the '68 and '69 seasons before entering the Marine Corps, leaving the Caballeros without a drum major. Jim Costello searched for a replacement, finally deciding on young Jim Russo from St. Lucy's. Today, twenty-six years later, Russo is not only the longest-running Hawthorne drum major, but the only one that many people remember. Strange as it may seem, a large percentage of the current membership of the competition corps hadn't even been born when Russo joined the corps. Just twenty-one years old at the time, Jim immediately took charge of the corps on the field and has played a vital role in their success over the past quarter century.