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

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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

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- ----- - .i .. -V V - ..--.A -'- - . . fu-fn:-1 -- -:.1:::'::- :el:i:LF -'f f ' 'jug' -:Q ' '---ra. x zz-'xii-.:i ' ' ' -,. ' ' L 2 -X J -' ,... teams dominated all three games as the Gray swept. In the A game the shooting of MANDEL and CO. plus the over-all height were too much for the Blues' hustling five who managed to close the gap to one point before losing by two. The power of the Gray basketball teams was balanced by that of the Blue CCardinalJ football teams as they earned an A and B sweep of the Gray. The Blues' tough defense supplied a safety and a TD via a pass interception to beat the Gray 8-0 in the A game. BOBBY KRIEGER led the B team to victory' with his passing and timely running. On the third evening the Blues' skit entitled The Arc was judged better than the Grays' Hair . I EFF ROSE starred for the Blue. At the end of the 3rd day the Grays' lead had mounted to 72 points. This margin would have been ever greater had .it not been for the Blue CFalconsD baseball team which defeated the Gray behind the excellent pitching of BRYAN BLOOM. The Blue made a valiant come-back effort on the morning of the 4th day, cutting the margin to just ll points. Their Dodo-Eagle basketball team romped Cby 50 pointsj. Meanwhile the Condors won a tough soccer game in overtime on a goal by MIKE MOORIN. The Cardinals baseball team beat the Gray behind the fine pitching of MIKE ROSEN and the hitting of LOREN KLEINMAN. However the Gray refused to say die as they ran away with the afternoon waterfront activities. The Gray swept all the War Canoe races and all the- surf- board doubles. The Blues' only ray of sunshine was the Falcon football team who earned a big win during the afternoon session. The Blue again fought back to make up some points on the song fest so that going into the last day the score was Gray 816, Blue 804! The Blue Dodo-Eagle soccer team dominated the Gray to win 2-0 and raise the Blues' hopes. However, after their Condor baseball team built a 5-l lead, the Gray made a great come-back to win 6-5. Color War ended with the one-inning softball game in which the Blue scored 7 runs in the top half of the inning only to see their effort go for naught when the Gray pushed across their second run. CThis event splits 50 points proportionately based on runs scored and Blue barely fell short of pulling the biggest upset of the decadeb. The final taly had Joe Gugino's Gray team out- pointing Bob Curcio's Blues 923W to 919W in one of the closest final scores ever! In Retrospect Pep talks . . . cheering . . . banners . . . we're number one! ,... the sweet taste of a hard fought win . . . learning to accept a loss Cbut never liking itll . . . the sleepers who did little until Color War . . . every boy hoarse . . . the hitting in those foot- ball games . . . the great skits . . . a Robin scoring in the one inning game . . . more runs scored in the top half then ever before . . . As in eve-ry contest, there must be a winner and there must be a loser. But the ideals of sportsman- ship dictate it is not important if you win or lose, but how you play the game . 1 . ,..... --.ns-..............., 2: ' ------ff