overall Legion convention, and most of the top corps, including the Caballeros, often found it difficult to make the considerable expenditure in money and time to attend an event in cities such as Los Angeles, Portland, or New Orleans. The logistics and costs involved in transporting and housing a large corps over such distances was simply far greater than it was worth, often taking a year or longer to recover from financially. In addition to the financial burden on corps in general, the Legion rules were based largely on military concepts and styles. As the war years faded further and further into history and senior corps became increasingly staffed with non-veterans, there was a general feeling that the Legion's rigid competition rules had become outdated and overly restrictive. Frustrations which existed mainly from these two situations gave birth in 1965 to Drum Corps Associates (DCA), a sanctioning body founded by drum corps people to be focused on, and devoted exclusively to senior drum & bugle corps competition. The Caballeros would continue to attend the Legion National Championships until the final championship in 1980, which the Caballeros won. DCA years (1966-present) A member of DCA since 1966, the Caballeros have fielded a finalist corps every year since. The corps would be the first to distinguish themselves with a winning streak, winning DCA championships thrice from 1973 to 1975. In 1984 and 1985, the Caballeros completed two undefeated seasons. In 1989, during the DCA's twenty-fifth anniversary celebration, fans voted the Caballeros as their all-time favorite drum and bugle corps. In 2002, the corps would place outside of the top five for the first time in 34 years. The corps would place its lowest in recent years with the 2005 season. However, the corps would climb back into the top five in subsequent years, but fall back out top five for the 2018 season. In 2020, with the growing threat of COVID-19, the Caballeros would not perform a season for the first time since its founding. In 2021, the Caballeros completed an undefeated championship season. The Caballeros have won ten championships, the most recent being in 2021. Show summary 1951-2021 Source: DCA championship seasons 1970 Score: 82.775 Repertoire: Captain From Castile / Ted Meets Johnny / Sabre Dance (from Gayne Ballet) / 1812 Overture / Samba de Orpheo 1972 Score: 90.600 Repertoire: El Gato Montes / Captain From Castile / Theme from Patton