The past fifty years have not been kind to the drum corps world in general. Of all of the major senior corps that were in existence in 1946, and there were many, today in 1996, only the Hawthorne Caballeros remain intact insofar as that they have never missed a season; still wear the same basic uniform; and still operate under the same administration, under the same name, and out of the same home base: American Legion Post 199 in Hawthorne. Jim Costello is primarily responsible for all of that, and for elevating the organization to what it has long since become: in a class by itself. As the late DCA Chief Judge Walter Kelly once said: "the Hawthorne Caballeros are far more than just a drum & bugle corps; they are truly an institution."