Growing Fame and Fortune

Others can suggest many milestones and landmarks in the history of The Other Guys in the years since the founding, including:
-- the first out-of-state gig, a long weekend entertaining the guests at a Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, resort during the summer of 1971.
-- the memorable centennial celebration for the town of Emden, Illinois.
-- the first reunion concert in 1979, marking the Octet’s 10th anniversary.
-- the first album, c. 1977.
-- the first TV special (a Christmas program with The Girls Next Door).
-- the first spring break tour, the first free-standing (that is, without the Glee Club) campus concert by the O.G. (“That’s Entertainment, Part VIII,” 1980).
-- the first music video.
-- the introduction of the distinctive O.G. letter sweater and khaki pants uniform, the “tans-and-blues” (early 1980’s).
-- the first pro sports National Anthem gig.
-- the first trip to New York City, in 1988.
-- the first compact disc recording, in 1992.
-- the first “Best Collegiate Compact Disc” award from the Contemporary Acapella Society of America (“CASA”), for “Unplugged” (1995) (and “Best Song” for the O.G. rendition of “Prayer for the Dying” on that disc).
-- the first trip (1996) to the finals of the National Championship of College Acapella (now the International Championship of College Acapella) in New York City. (The Other Guys returned twice more to the finals and placed in the top three groups all three times they appeared in the championships, most recently in 2006).
-- the first National Anthem gig at Yankee Stadium (1996), during which game the Yankees’ Doc Gooden pitched the first no-hitter by any Yankee pitcher since the 1956 World Series.
-- the first appearance on Broadway, immediately preceding the first act of the revival of “Grease” in which O.G. alum Paul Castree was appearing as a cast member (1996).
-- the outstanding 35th Anniversary Reunion concert weekend, which included the release of “35,” the three-disc anthology of O.G. recordings through the years (thank you, Ben Jones!).
-- the equally outstanding 40th Anniversary Reunion weekend and concert (thank you, Paul France!) and 45th + 1 Anniversary Reunion in 2015 (thank you, John Junk!).
-- and many more.