Ken Mont Camp for Boys - Golden Days Yearbook (Kent, CT)

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--1.-.-.........3,,,,, . ... 9' 2!31?T '2Z?PFn1'1v'-i - --.--N - - e .,-....---'--1- Q-U M - - 4 . . , szrxr:-11-.:1r.::z:I, 4r' 'LiEE:E1:1x2:13-.rn ' I --:uf --- ' Z.. - - 3- X-5-' 1.:.i1L5Qi22-, 153::g5ggg5.:.5g5gg::g :4 1:-4:::::: 11'-iff--Q-41111-N -11:12:14.511 -- - -------.. ........-... -,. ....- -.. . . .., ... . ,,,, Zfii1'A1 .. -':----4H-:3??1?253::::::.-1::::::r::?EEE:-Ez.-EE B ll AND GRAM 1969 Preamble to The Blue and Gray Code. The annual Blue and Gray Contest at Ken-Mont is one designed to test the courage, spirit and ability of every boy at Camp. It is an event that fires the imagination and grips the soul, one that will bring out either the best or the worst in anyone con- nected with it. It if is to call forth only the best and highest responses, it must be conducted on a clean, sports- manlike basis. Captains, generals and participants must accept the code in spirit, and must at all times be willing to accept the ruling of the Boards Of Judges, and abide by them. Any other attitude leads to disorganization and chaos. While to win must always be the prime objective in Blue and Gray, victory by underhand methods or unsportsmanlike conduct is a disgrace. Generals and Captains must imbue their cohorts with a spirit of fair play, or the contest cannot be justified as right or good or ethical. If it is not these three things, it has no place at Ken-Mont and should be discontinued. Blue and Gray has in it the essence of heroic combat. All it needs is intelligent planning, inspired leadership and loyal, courageous performance. With those attributes, the annual color contest at Ken- Mont will be the traditional splendid climax to the camping season that we all desirev. ll3

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CHARITY CARNIVAL Step right up and take a chance . . . place your bets, ladies and gentlemen . . . betlcha can't duck me! . . . hot dogs . . . pink lemonade . . . apples on a stick . . . pop corn balls . . . music . . . carnival barkers . . . prizes . . . and bright sunshine all combined to make Carnival day just perfect. The EAGLES were the ucontractorsl' of the Carnival but each bunk had the responsibility of planning, designing, scrounging material and staffing their own booth. We finally came up with a genuine Carny Midway. Carnival 1969 was the biggest and best Carnival ever held at KEN-MONT. There were new games and more attractions than ever before and the co- chairmen Frank Greenberg and Marc Stern with the aid of Ron Bouchier and the EAGLES and DODOS, assembled a fantastic Midway that was enjoyed by all on Sunday afternoon. As was the case all summer the weather was a question, but on Carnival Sunday it was a beautiful, hot day. All was in readiness by one o'clock in the afternoon-the booths had all been decorated, prizes distributed and refreshments brought out. At two o'clock the Carnival opened and the boys started to really enjoy themselves and with the arrival of the girls from KEN-WOOD the Carnival was soon going full blast. Everyone enjoyed circus ,music in the background while they made their rounds of the booths that ranged from Shave the Balloonn to Dart the Salamin. ' This year there we-re two main attractions that had long lines around them all afternoon. The DODO's Dunk the Counselor where campers en- joyed seeing their favorite counselors plus Jerry and Lloyd take a plunge into the tank of water, was popular again. . A new attraction at this year's Carnival was the EAGLE Car Smashw, where every camper could take three swings at an old car Cwhich had all of the glass removedj with either a twelve pound sledge hammer or a small hammer depending on the camper's size. This really gave the- campers a chance to use up their destructive feelings and it has the largest line of all of the booths. A highlight enjoyed by all was the pie eating contest, this year featuring blueberry pies. The winner in the lower camp was GARY STARR and the winner in the upper camp was MATT ROSS who deposed defending champion PETER IACO- VELLI. Special recognition went to JIM FEIN, the youngest competitor, for the great job he did con- suming an entire pie! For their winning efforts the Champs received . . . you guessed it-blueberry pies. DAVID YOUNG of Miami Beach won the jelly bean count with a guess of 1750 and received all the jelly beans as his prize. Finishing up the afternoon after some musical entertainment by our counselors, Lloyd drew the winning raffle tickets for three huge cakes baked by George, our excellent baker. At four-thirty the Carnival was struck and he Midway reve-rted to the Soccer pitch. The boys returned at 6 P.M. for a delicious, sizzling charcoal barbecue consisting of steak, french fries, tomatoes, rolls plus cake, apple juice and milk. Everyone ate their fill and then relaxed. Next year's Carnival will have to go far to even match Carnival 1969, but when we return next summer let's see if we can' have a bigger and better Carnival again.

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' The Break I saw the schedule in the office . . . it's starting on Saturday . . . it canit be Sunday because of campfire . . . one, two, three, four, we want color war! . . . a near riot in the dining room . . . im- patient . . . guessing . . . trying to stay awake at night-this might be it . . . Thursday was like too many days this past summer-some drizzle, a threat of clearing, but not the kind of evening likely to bring color war. What our men didn't know was that Two Bulls had been conducting a secret purification ceremony all day in his teepee so that he could implore the Rain Gods that night to quiet the heavens for the next week. Evidently, Dwayne is still in the favor of the ancient tribal gods, for the rain ceased after dinner and we had not a single drop fo-r eight days! Call to Quarters sounded and we trudged back to our bunks. Lights out, taps, and then quiet, but it was a restless quie-t. Upper camp tried to stir things up, but most of us were drifting off to sleep. Suddenly, the bunks shook to the reverberation of a series of aerial bomb blasts Cthat woke the coun- tryside for miles around we learned the next daylj. Grabbing robes and slippers if we could find them quickly, we flew from our bunks onto the campus. The cloudy sky was brightly lit by magnesium flare bombs and then colorful salutes. . Suddenly a huge anti-aircraft searchlight pierced the night and picked up hundreds of blue and gray balloons soaring aloft. As the light swung in an arc, a huge, sparkling WAR sign was observed hanging in the sky CActually it was held there by huge weather balloons filled with heliumb. As fire engine sirens wailed, we were held ' spellbound watching the break. Finally, we all raced back to Jim's shack to find out which team we were on! Preparation. There was feverish activity behind the scenes for many days preceding the break. Group leaders submitted suggested divisional splits, the lists were studied, adjusted and juggled by Jerry, Lloyd, Ron and Jim until at last we felt the final splits were as near even as possible. And then came an im- portant decision-our choice of Generals and their Colonels. Group Le-aders were not eligible since they were to be the Judges. However, the choice was obvious. Two outstanding high school physical education teachers were honored-Bob Curcio and Joe Gugino. Never have we had better leadership and direction! The choice of camper Captains was a little more difficult since we had a number of outstanding senior campers. However, we finally selected the Big O , OSCAR REICHER and MATT ROSS. With a toss of our traditional two-headed coin, selections were underway and the teams took shape-. The Competition If two words must be chosen to describe the 1969 Color War, they would be good sportsmanship . Every division, from Bluejay through Dodo, com- peted within their own group in every facet of camp- ing. Each boy had the opportunity to contribute to his team in the area of his own strength. Whether it was a Bluejay in kick ball, a Sparrow in nature study, a Robin in water-skiing, a Cardinal in the Apache relay, a Hawk in football and so on thru our entire program, every boy was a competitor and a contributor within the spirit of Color War. On Friday morning, the teams immediately locked horns. The Hawks began the excitement when the Blue football team upset the Gray in the final 30 seconds of the game, when BILLY SACK threw a touchdown pass to MIKE ROSEN who made a finger-tip grab in a crowd in the end-zone for a 14-6 win. The never-say-die Gray bounced back in the afternoon as their underdog Dodo-Eagle baseball team upset the Blue 2-1 behind the ,clutch pitching of LEE TUNIS. I At the end of the first day the Gray held a strong 246W-203W lead. The Condors got into the upset act on the second day as the Gray football team up-ended the Blue by the score 12-0' as JOHN ROSS intercepted two passes and ran both for TD's. The Gray Cardinal Basketball teams also showed their power winning their games. The Third Day included many important events. The Dodo-Eagle football game was a hard fought contest which ended in a 6-6 tie. The Gray team Condor basketball teams gave all-out efforts and swamped the Blue in both A and B games. LARRY SPINNER's rebounding and JOHN ROSS, shoot- ing are both worthy of note as the A team won by 23. In the Hawk baseball game BOBBY MANDEL out-pitched BILLY SACK to give the Gray a 1-0 victory. In the afternoon the Hawks Gray basketball