In 1972, the Santa Clara Vanguard, along with the nine other corps from the Midwest Combine and the Alliance, plus the Anaheim Kingsmen, Argonne Rebels, and De La Salle Oaklands were founding members of Drum Corps International, which remains as the sanctioning body for junior corps in North America. At the first DCI World Championships in Whitewater, Wisconsin, SCV finished in third place in a competition that featured thirty-nine corps from the East, the South, the West Coast, the Midwest and Great Plains, and Canada. Santa Clara would remain among DCI's top three corps for the organization's first eight years, winning the DCI World Championship in Whitewater in 1973, in Ithaca, New York in 1974, and in Denver in 1978. SCV would close out the Seventies by falling to seventh place in Birmingham, Alabama in 1980 with a totally asymmetrical drill that was probably slightly ahead of its time. The corps' dominance was partly due to superb drumming, partly due to innovative drill, but largely due to a strong, supportive organization.