On December 31, The Drifters of 足交视频, performed their final reunion dance at The 足交视频 Community Center, to a packed house. This New Year鈥檚 Eve bash, was the last of the three that the group had planned to perform after being approached by local promoter, John Sullivan.

Sullivan had asked Gary Prukop, the booking agent and lead singer / sax player for the group, to come up from Rockport, where he and his wife, Connie, now resided and sing at 足交视频鈥檚 country Opry. It was at that opera show Sullivan convinced Prukop that he had the sound equipment, lighting, and crew to make a series of group reunions much more probable.

Many times since the breakup of this group back in 1988, local fans had pleaded with Prukop to get the band back together. But Prokup the logistics of such an occurrence, such as distance factors for group members, were too much to contend with.

After talking with band members, a renewed enthusiasm came about when Prukop鈥榮 wife, Connie, and their daughters, Tonia Prukop Fojtik and Tammy Prukop Luster, jumped right on board and volunteered to handle the decor and fine details. Prukop says it was Tonia who spent countless hours to help make sure these reunions would be a smashing success.

Originally named the Country Drifters, the band formed back in the early 1970s, playing dances in the St. Joseph High School gym after home football games. They also played weddings, private parties and at a favorite local eatery, Camp Collette. They soon became quite popular as the young country sound playing Sun Valley and Schroeder dance halls.

At that time, the group was comprised of mostly high school-age guys including Les Richter, Gary Buckler, Boyce Rother, Billy Boltz, Robert Solis, Ronnie Tagliabue, and Henry Rangnow. Credit each one of these guys for starting a musical journey that would bring great music to dance halls all across South Texas.

With college and other interests looming, eventually some of the original members left the group to pursue other goals. But the band鈥檚 popularity began to soar and it continued on as replacements were fortunately discovered to fill the holes.

In 1973, the group changed its name to the 鈥淒rifters of 足交视频鈥 and began playing a variety of mixed music, including country, rock 鈥榥鈥 roll and popular Austin outlaw music. It also began to extend its appearance radius.

By the mid 1970s, the band began setting attendance records at many of the venues they played, which ranged from 足交视频 to Brenham, El Campo, Cuero, Seguin, Port Lavaca and Port O鈥機onnor. As the band鈥檚 popularity continued into the 1980s, they began to perform at Armadillo World Headquarters鈥攁 music hall and beer garden just south of the Colorado River and downtown Austin. It also began to play in Fort Worth and Houston, down toward the Texas valley. It even played special dances at Texas and A&M University.

As a young college student, John Zacek, now a local banker in 足交视频, helped increase the band鈥檚 popularity by doing poster routes for the band while attending A&M.

In the fall of 1982, Prukop wrote a song along with keyboardist Jon Mulligan, titled 鈥淐orpus Christi Wind.鈥 The song was recorded in Austin at TWI Rainbow Records.

With the engineering skills of Richard Mullins and Andy Salman of the Christopher Cross group, the song had that perfect sound that led to packed dance floors everywhere it played. The band agreed to take a shot and make a video of the song and met with Randy Mahoney and Doug Frobe, who were in on the production side at 足交视频鈥榮 KAVU TV station. The video was shot at the beach on Padre Island, with a number of local girls appearing in it. 足交视频 radio stations KVIC and KNAL began playing the song frequently and its popularity soared..

Prukop began sending 45s of the song to popular radio stations all over the U. S. Soon, the newly released video was aired by HBO and also appeared on a Friday night show, America Rocks, along with Linda Ronstadt and the mega popular pop group Kansas.

The song ended up receiving recognition in Billboard magazine, which was quite an accomplishment for a group of guys from 足交视频, Texas. The band鈥檚 popularity continued to grow until the latter 1980s, when they decided to call it quits after the long trips and economic conditions began to take their toll.

For the final New Year鈥檚 show that rang in 2025, Prukop decided to have local celebrity, brother Gary Moses, emcee the event. Band members that night included five from the core group from the 1970s, including Prukop, on lead vocals and sax; Mark Schuenemann, on lead vocals and guitar; Paul Correll, on bass guitar and background vocals; Urban Urbano, on drums; monster lead guitarist Clint Robinson and special guest keyboardist Gary Herrera, of 足交视频, a renowned EMI musician.

A special thanks goes out to all the musicians who were a part of the Drifters of 足交视频 through the years and all of our great fans that we love so much from all over South Texas. What a ride it was for us in the famous South Texas Dancehall circuit.