Cochran's Majorettes - Linda Higgins

Soon after World War II, Port Clinton became home to the first marching baton corps in the United States. After his military service ended in 1947, Paul Cochran was working in a factory when Port Clinton band director David Stanton asked him to train girls as majorettes for the Port Clinton High School band. Cochran had been the drum major in his Napoleon, Ohio, high school band before entering the military.

His skills and discipline were a perfect match for this new endeavor. And his low-key, respectful manner evidently was the final ingredient in making this new project successful from the beginning. He started by teaching twelve girls, but so many other girls wanted to try out for his classes that he decided to start a group.

Parents and the community (especially Cochran’s wife, Joanne) were deeply involved from the start, making uniforms, raising funds, providing transportation, etc. The corps soon had enough support that they had their own bus and truck. Playmakers Theater provided their practice arena. Their focus was on batons at the beginning, but flags and rifles later were added to their routines.

In order to reach performance excellence, incredible discipline was necessary. If a girl wasn’t able to maintain the self-discipline required, she would be let go and another quickly filled her place. Military precision was present in training, uniforms and discipline. The girls were known for their good manners and good behavior. Examples of the many rules they were expected to follow: They were not allowed to wear jewelry, but were required to wear heavy wool socks; not allowed to eat or drink while in uniform; expected to obey chaperones at all times; boots were always to be polished; batons and ball tips were to be cleaned properly. The corps members could not belong to conflicting activities, have summer jobs, or go on family vacations for the duration. When dining in restaurants on tour, regardless of location, they marched in and out in formation, dressed identically, right down to their jacket zippers opening to the same spot on each of their jackets.

And, as if the above weren’t life lessons enough, they were expected to clean the bus inside and out, including the motor. They painted the bus at least once during the group’s existence. The corps spent many hours at practice (three hours a day in summer, for instance). And it was not unusual for them to march in three parades in three different towns on 4th of July weekend.

Cochran’s Majorettes performed in 14 states and in a number of cities in Canada during the group’s existence. The American Legion sponsored them in part and the community continued to support them throughout. The team consisted of 80 girls at its largest, with four boys as members at various times.

The first year they raised $175, but by the mid-50s they were up to more than $12,000 a year. They won dozens of championships and trophies at numerous venues, from the All-Star Football game halftime at Wrigley Field to six days at the Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and Trigger Show. One performance in the 50s was in front of 40,000 people at Waterloo Band Festival in Ontario. They declined to perform on the Ed Sullivan show because the stage was too small to fit all the team and Cochran wouldn’t send just part of the group.

In 1959, Paul and Joanne Cochran sold Cochran’s Majorettes and moved to Indiana, bought the historic Huddleston House in Cambridge City, and developed it into a country-style restaurant. That house is registered in the national archives in DC. They eventually retired to Peoria, Illinois. Paul was successful in creating a reunion for Cochran's Majorettes in Port Clinton in 2004. He died in 2009 at age 87, and Joanne joined him in 2014, leaving behind a bright bit of Port Clinton history.