![]() ![]() This ginormous relay included all the Inter and Senior campers in a choreographed series of individual events that culminated in the final campfire/rope burn at the side of the pool. The centerpiece of the field activities was the Medley Relay for the Boys and Girls Camps. Sometime in the late 90’s, in an act of political correctness, it changed from Color War to Color Days. The scoreboards depicted the themes, counselor and camper captains, and the daily progress of the scores. The points your team got for winning were graduated by your division but they all added up to the team total that was announced every evening and posted to the permanent scoreboards that are still on display in the canteen. When your division event ended you hustled over to cheer your team’s efforts in the other divisions. ![]() (Click to relive the 1955 Color War Varsity Baseball and Basketball Rosters) Weil 1973: Red Sharks-Jeff Davis, Robbie Lipstein, and Ira Deming 1968: Red Rebels Captain David Lipstein talking strategy with his camper captains Paul Sherr and Lenny Feinberg 1971 Red Divers-Marc Rosen, Moe Dweck, and Robbie Gettinger….not the richest pool of art talent for these banners 1971: Blue Buccaneers-Rich Sisisky, Cary Reines, and Phil Malet 1973: Blue Whales-Bart Gaskill, Gary Gerson, and B. ![]() It was up to the team captains and officers to set line-ups in all the events. There were activities in each division-morning, afternoon, and sometimes at night-from skills competitions to swim and track meets to softball, volleyball/newcomb, and basketball games. Older campers would pair up with the younger kids to help them learn the songs and mentor them in proper songfest behavior. There were songfest rehearsals twice a day. Once the schedule kicked in Color War had it’s own rhythm that was different than all other day’s of the camp year. Warning: these shirts had to be washed by hand to avoid ruining the rest of your wardrobe in the wash. ![]() Rit Dye and magic markers seemed to appear out of nowhere as anyone with a hair of artistic talent was called in to help conjure up the team image on a white tee shirt turned crimson or light blue. This was usually followed by a furious attempt by captains and some campers to make custom color war shirts for themselves. schedule, and scoresheet for 1968 Color War) Next step was splitting off into teams for the first pep talk, discussion of the schedule of events, and the distribution of the Color War Songsheets that would become the constant companion of all the campers the next four days, trying to memorize the lyrics and figure out the tunes. 1963: Boys Red Rebels led by Jim Korman, Bruce Dove, and Ken Kramer And finally the reading of the team rosters so you knew which side of the Color War divide you would be playing and cheering for. The realization of which counselors would be running the show and who their divisional camper captains, lieutenants, sergeants, corporals, and P.F.C.s would be. Here is when you got your first glimpse of the team names and banners and the adrenaline started to flow. Once the break occurred there was an announcement like “All Girls Camp go to Saniford Hall and All Boys Camp go to The Dell” and now all the waiting and anticipation was over-time for the Big Color War Reveal. 1962: The boys Blue Buccaneers banner being hoisted by Harold Levinson (art by James Korman) 1967: Blue Bandits banner poolside at the Medley Relay Retro flashback: Peep Hayman Cohen holds a piece of the 1957 Red Calypso banner the year Peep and Birdie Dwartz were captains Mid 1970’s: Girl’s Blue Merlin’s Mystify 1988 Red Preppies versus Blue Greasers Variety of the banners from when it became “Color Days” starting in the 90’s The artistic depiction was always incredible despite copyright infringement Herbie or Connie acting even more peculiar than normal could be a tip to an imminent break. Pairs of counselors disappearing could be a tip off to the counselor captains. We were spying in places like Saniford Hall or Russ Hall looking for team banners being made or eavesdropping wherever a piano could be found for a few bars and lyrics of color war songs in the works. We can remember crop dusters, sky writers, fire engines, fireworks, special skits, and a whole lot more. The fake breaks were as enticing as the real thing and some of the fakes were almost as elaborate as the break itself. We all knew it was likely to be in the first week in August or so but we were on pins and needles about it weeks before that. It all began with the anticipation of the break. Who are going to be the Color War Captains? How are they going to break it this year? When do you think Color War is going to break? No matter if it was Boys or Girls Camps these questions were on everyone’s minds from the first week each summer. The most universal experience we had across the generations at Saginaw was the anticipation of and the playing out of Color War. ![]()
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