The governing bodies of the "big-league" corps in the early days, were the American Legion, and to a somewhat lesser extent, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which trained and maintained staffs of judges to preside over both senior and junior competition. The American Legion Championship, which capped off the week-long Legion national convention, was acknowledged and recognized as the highest honor in drum corps competition at that time; and the championship corps was presented with a trophy, and an orange flag, among other prizes.