Tony DiCarlo - DCI Hall of Fame

Tony DiCarlo

Inducted in 2020

With his unmistakable Boston accent and charm, for decades Tony DiCarlo has made sure that Drum Corps International’s biggest competitions including regional events and the DCI World Championships go off without a hitch.

Serving as DCI contest director since the late 1990s, DiCarlo has played a key role, managing all of the on-the-field coordination of an event between organizers, adjudicators, the participating drum corps, and more.

“Tony might be considered the face of DCI,” said DCI judge administrator John Phillips who was inducted into the DCI Hall of Fame in 2015. “He is the first point of contact for every corps during the events he manages. He greets the drum majors and all corps members with enthusiasm and respect. There are few people involved with drum corps today who do not equate “Tony” with Tony DiCarlo.”

In his important role, DiCarlo has his hand in a number of facets of the show-day experience, from keeping corps entrances, performances and exits running on time and on schedule, to making sure that the judges have what they need and are ready to go for each corps’ performance, and that sideline and field conditions are consistent and safe throughout the course of the contest.

“Without Tony and his contest crew, none of this would be as satisfying to our members and our fan base,” said longtime DCI judge and 1992 Hall of Fame inductee George Oliviero. “They are constantly behind the scenes doing the work that makes an evening with our corps so entertaining. Tony’s work has had a direct and indirect impact on the total experience of thousands of performers at contest sites in dozens of states.”

DiCarlo got his start in marching music as a teenager in the late 1960s with the Annunciators Drum and Bugle Corps before joining the Boston Crusaders as a percussionist in the early 1970s. Enjoying a long and successful career in the finance field, DiCarlo would later return to the Crusaders as DCI Hall of Fame member Dave Richards noted to “use his business skills to help the then struggling organization turn things around on their long journey to financial solvency and competitive respectability.”

DiCarlo additionally served for a number of years as the executive director of Drum Corps East which ran summertime events across the Atlantic Seaboard. In this position he provided a key voice and support in the decision to bring the DCI World Championships to Foxboro, Massachusetts for the first time in 1994 and again in 2005.

Outside of Drum Corps International, DiCarlo has worked extensively as part of the Boston-area marching band scene, serving as contest director and on the board of directors of the New England Scholastic Band Association (NESBA). For his longtime work with the organization he was inducted into the Massachusetts Drum Corps and Music Educators Hall of Fame in 2001. He additionally is a member of the Boston Crusaders Hall of Fame, inducted in 2005.