The Council Room

[Mike Freeland]

For some reason, the whole premise of Spy Night has escaped me. I do recall that it was kinda like Capture the Flag, but more complex and skirmish-like. Anything you can remember of how the game was played will be interesting to me, as well as any anecdotes you can recall. This forum has been too quiet.

Were any of you ever selected as spys? What was THAT like?
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Guest]

GREAT response by David (he-must-have-been-a-perennial-forever-all-the-time-spy)Ayars regarding Spy Night. I had sort of forgotten about the time-sensitive intrigue build up to the actual 'night' itself, but I also can hardly remember what I had for breakfast, TODAY.

[David Bentley]

Sorry, I failed to Log In before I posted the above post.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[Mike Freeland]

You're right Dave, both of you, that was a great recount of Spy Night. I was never a spy. I think I was too goofy or something, didn't play baseball. Maybe that was it.

Dave A, your descriptions were amazingly spot-on. Reading that was like going back in time. The DVD has a couple of shots of Rick Porter (head non-spy) wearing two gray hats, one backwards, the other forwards, a la Sherlock Holmes, officiously unrolling a crude map of the Junior Camp and slapping it with a pointer.

I'd forgotten that the only goal in the game was to get someone to the OD table. Seems simple. Garth suggested one time while we were in the mountains and had nothing else to do, a game for the whole camp to play on the ball field, Blues vs Grays: Each team lines up with all its members at either end of the field. Midgets, Juniors, Seniors and JAs all play at the same time. At the gun, each team tries to get one of its members to the other end of the field. The only rule is that no one is allowed to go out of bounds. As I recall, BMB rejected it after careful and lengthy deliberation with his advisors. Some crap about liability or something.

Interesting idea about why the NO WATER rule was in place. Obviously the safety aspect, but I wonder if there was a water assault. The OD tables were pretty far away from the waterfront.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[DavidAyars]

The hype and build-up to Spy Night was pretty intense. I think the most exciting part about it were the days leading up to it when everyone had some suspicions about the identities of the Spies, but couldn't be sure. And there was the hope of being selected to be a Spy, which was highly anticipated by most-- but since most kids didn't get to be Spies, that was often disappointing for most. (One year probably in the 1970s, somebody, maybe RoV, got the idea of making all the kids in I think the Junior camp Spies vs. most of the staff as defenders. The brainstorm was, everybody wants to be Spy, so let's give 'em all their chance. But it backfired badly when kids who thought they had been picked as The Spy in their tent were crushed to find the draft pick wasn't special. Some of them were really angry about it. A life lesson for all: socialism doesn't work.) But even in the regular years, another letdown factor for most players, the defenders, was that the game itself could be boring. It was designated to last an hour, but for all but a few minutes of that time, defenders had to stand around waiting for an incursion.

Spy Night was probably too one-sided in favor of the defense. Defenders typically outnumbered the Spies about 7:1. The first thing that happened once the Spies had rendezvoused just before the first cannon shot was the defenders would take a roll call and finally identify the Spies. As in the card game “I Doubt It” when a possible bluff is called and the cards are flipped over, this led to some very funny tent-group talk as everyone who had been accused of Spy status for the past few days was ultimately unmasked as honest, or liars. But the excitement went downhill from there. Since most everybody knew most everybody by face and name in the last week of camp, the Spies really had no element of surprise other than where and how they would attack, and the defense knew they were most likely coming from the general direction of Red Roof. Once a Spy appeared, you knew he was a Spy and all you had to do was get a hand on him in bounds to take him out of the game; Spies, on the other hand, had no way to reduce the ranks of defenders. Another element in favor of the defense was that the Spies had no time to practice together. They just had to wing it. Picture military recruits in week one of basic training, and you get the idea-- it's not pretty.

Almost always, the Head Spies picked the most athletic, fastest, most competitive kids in each tent, which made some sense, but on behalf of nerds everywhere, I'd have gone at it differently. I'd have picked smart kids with wristwatches (which most campers did not have) and timed out a synchronized attack. Speed was nice but was of limited value when Spies were so outnumbered and the defense knew who they were looking for. I think the Spies' best chance was to outwit the defense, creating and using defender confusion and excitement in their favor. I'd have brought two separate Spies in from different corners and brought every other Spy at once from yet a third direction and hope the defenders got pulled away from posts in the confusion and left an opening. But to succeed, the approach and attack would have had to be carefully coordinated with wristwatches. I'd also have tried to bring Spies down from the airport end of camp rather than Red Roof, which was too obvious.

I'm thinking there might have been a rule that anyone could tag a staff Spy, but only campers could tag camper Spies. It should have been a rule, anyway, for obvious reasons. Tom Dooling had a very strong competitive spirit, in everything he did. I could be mistaken about this, but the one time I remember seeing Tom really upset was over a Spy Night game, possibly when he was captured as a Spy and didn't feel it was fair, maybe because a staff member constrained his path or held him until a camper tagged him. If it wasn't Tom, it was somebody else.

...more to follow...
_________________
Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[DavidAyars]

Perhaps because the Spies rarely won and because the game could be dull for defenders, the rules of Spy Night were changed in 1971, with a new wrinkle. Two Spies-At-Large in each section were chosen not by the Head Spy, but by BMB. Under the new rules which were shared with everyone, the Spies-At-Large were assigned to remain undercover as defenders. When a Spy-At-Large thought the time was right, he had to be at a designated distance (at least 50, 60 yards?) away from the OD table behind one of several designated points around the section, hold up his hand, yell “I am a Spy-At-Large”, and run for the OD table. As with a regular Spy, if a Spy-At-Large got to the OD Table without being tagged, the Spy team in that section won. But clearly, this was an easier task than regular Spies faced, because defenders didn't know the Spy-At-Large's identity and so he really did have the element of surprise on his side. It was extremely difficult for a regular Spy to get within 60 yards of an OD table without being identified as a Spy and without defenders closing rapidly in on him. A Spy-At-Large could pick the ideal time to stage a surprise attack, and he only had to sprint untouched after that for less than 10 seconds.

A few days before Spy Night 1971, BMB called me over to the Little Guest House one afternoon as I was walking by and handed me a note typed in that familiar blue elite type, that said, “You are a Spy-At-Large.” I was excited to be picked-- actually, David B, this was the only time in my years at camp I was a Spy, being more of a nerdy, wristwatch-wearing (sometimes-bugle-blowing) type kid than a camp track star. I forget how Head Spy Gene Comella knew, because I kept it secret-- I was Gene's JC, though-- but for some reason he approached me a day or two before the game and initiated contact in which we revealed to one another that we were Spies. Neither Gene nor I knew who the other Junior camp Spy-At-Large was before the game, but we worked out a general strategy. Gene would come up the road from Red Roof with some camper Spies and try to draw the defense up towards the Midget ballfield. I was to be at the far side of Gene's approach, still near Forest Road, between J-10 and the Junior tennis courts, which Gene figured correctly was likely to be the least defended of the four corners of Junior Camp, and make my move in the confusion at the Midget ballfield corner. I remember that Junior Head Councilor Tom Falcon was the referee for the Junior game that year, and as the defense deployed and Tom came around just after 7pm, I asked him where the line for Spies-At-Large was behind J-10 “so I could defend it well”, and he showed me. I parked myself just inside the spot he designated, planning to step just outside it later when the time was right for a Spy attack. Later, Tom said he figured that question meant I was a Spy-At-Large, but he didn't ask me if I was at the time, and he didn't say anything about his suspicions to other defenders-- after all, Tom was the referee and therefore neutral.

...more to follow...
_________________
Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[David Bentley]

Do you think, as I read David A's reports of Spy Night activities, that Camp was a breeding ground for future leaders to learn about that all-purpose leadership question, "How much did you know, and when did you know it?"..Inadvertently, and quite by chance, the lives of many young men may have been predispositioned by being involved in Spy Night. Oh, no, Dr. Spock where are you when we really need you? How many of us see conspiracy at the water cooler, see planning and scheming in the parking lot, see personality and life changing events unfolding at company parties ? All this, AND, many years ago, and for a long time, everybody used to skinny dip !!!! Oh, Gloria Steinem where are you ? Too much to think about, I prefer "Mrs. Murphy's Chowder", or somethink like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" which probably has some subliminal psychological meaning. Mrs. Morin's chocolate cake with white icing - THAT was reality. Good Night, boys.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[DavidAyars]

Things didn't go well early for Junior Spies in 1971. Three or four of them were caught trying to come up on the waterfront side by 7:10pm. It was only about 7:20pm when Junior Head Spy Gene Comella and his group got spotted earlier than he'd hoped creeping up Forest Rd. while trying to hide behind trees, but just as he planned, the defense bit on the baited hook and did indeed draw towards the Midget ballfield. Somebody yelled, “Here comes Gene and a whole bunch of Spies!”, and people ran. Gene had been a starting varsity football player for Boston College, so he definitely drew attention in a situation like this. With the distraction, I could see the Junior OD table with virtually no one between it and me behind J-10. So I went for it, holding up my hand and yelling as loud as I could, “I am a Spy-At-Large!” The few defenders who were close enough to catch me just stood still trying to figure out what was happening. Some heard yelling and saw me running but thought I was a defender and didn't try to tag me. But the Spies who had been captured and were “in prison” at the table knew what I was doing, because Gene had told them I was a Spy-At-Large. They cheered me in. The Spies won. Later the other more-deeply-undercover Junior Camp Spy-At-Large was revealed to be... the (not-so-neutral) referee, Tom Falcon!

I took a lot of heated static from the Junior camp defense on two grounds. First of all, I ended the Junior camp game only twenty minutes in. You know the old rule, Camp Is For The Campers. I was a JC, and I broke that rule. But the Spies were glad I took what may have been the only good clear and open shot and were happy for the team win. Second, there was a staff member on crutches as a sentry on the Junior tennis courts. I don't want to name him and embarrass him 35 years later, but I will say that his initials were David Gravallese. David G claimed I wasn't “behind the line” when I started my run. The next day after lunch, an appeal hearing and re-creation was held at the spot behind J-10-- I'm not kidding!-- by all interested parties, including David G and whoever was Junior Head of Defense that year, Head Spy Gene, Referee Tom, and BMB. People did take this game seriously! I said I was positive I stepped back behind the line when I raised my hand and started the run as required, and cited the fact that I asked Tom to show me the exact (unmarked) line we were playing by at the start of the game. But I readily admitted that I started running over the line as I was yelling, “I am a Spy-At-Large”, rather than waiting behind the line, yelling, and then running afterwards. (Think about it-- that's what anyone in that situation would do.) And I said David G had his back to me, watching the road, and by the time he had turned around to see who was running for the goal, I was 5 or 10 yards over the line, so that's why he thought I was offsides. The defense lost the appeal and the Spy victory was upheld. In one of the other camp sections in 1971, the Spy-At-Large also won. Beginning the next year, there was no more Spy-At-Large. The game reverted to the way it had been played in the 1960s.

As I think about it now, there were some things that could have been done to make the game more balanced and more fun for defenders. The Spy team could have used more people, or a tougher tag could have been required (such as pulling a flag out of a Spy's waistband, or each Spy could have had to be tagged by two different people to be eliminated). Or maybe each Spy could have taken a defender or three out of the game by throwing and hitting him with a washable-ink-marked beanbag before being tagged. The Spy-At-Large idea was good because it restored the element of surprise to the game. Maybe it would have been better if all Spies were “At-Large”, undercover and mixed in with defenders, with few or no defenders allowed within a marked zone near the OD table unless under attack. Maybe staff SALs could have been required to run from at least 100 yards out instead of just 50 or so yards. Maybe all SALs should have had to hold a small cloth flag they pulled out of their pocket at the start of their run to more clearly mark themselves en route to defenders who didn't see who yelled “I am a Spy-At-Large”.

Even with arguable room for improvement, Spy Night remained one of the annual events including the Cabintown Fair and King Neptune's Fair that most returning Wyanokers eagerly anticipated.
_________________
Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[Guest]

I haven't thought that publishing my letters from Camp would be a good idea, because most of them show me to have been a snivelling, whiny self-centered little shit. Is that what most young boys are? I choose to encourage the more felicitous, happy-go-lucky memories that others may somehow retain of me and not trouble their golden years with ancient diatribes and jeremiads.
That being said, I find that in my letter home of Sun. Aug. 21, 1955 (I was eight), I wrote "On 'Spy Night' I was a Spy, the Spy's won too." Score one for the rebs. Who wants to take up the chore of researching how many times the Spys won? Who has the logs, Dave............?
I seem to recall that the Spys were usually defeated, for the reasons already enumerated: always outnumbered, always outgunned. It was a much looked-forward-to event, and over, it seemed each year, about as soon as it began.

[David Bentley]

Wow, a couple of really big words buried in your last post, Patrick, but don't worry, I remember you for what you were - a young man consumed with seeing hawks (at Libby Museum). Spy Night seems to be a post graduate course for David A, what a memory ! The Log books are not around (unfortunately). The real fact of the matter is, my Dad decided to close Camp and did not make provisions for the archiving of records. I honestly feel he did not fully understand the extent of the impact Wyanoke had on campers and staff over the years, and, therefore, did not think about the need to preserve into the future records and memorabelia.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[DavidAyars]

That's okay, we can find them. Dan Mannis had a "pick a number" lottery to select the search party. I don't want to suggest that the outcome of any of Dan's lotteries was predetermined so let's just say that it was very "fortunate" that geological engineer Mike Freeland won this one and in his copious free time will be doing an archaeological dig in the old Wolfeboro Town Dump to resurrect the log books. Mike, when you find some Little Guest House detritus, you'll know the old Logs are just a shovel turn (or two hundred) away.
_________________
Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[Mike Freeland]

Wow, sorry to hear that the logs are gone. I guess the one from Charlie Thomas in the galleries section of this site is all that's left.

Hey Dave (B), do you still have the Golden Arms? Thank god the rosters were preserved! Eventually, I'll be generating a book I'll call "Everyone who ever went to Wyanoke". At this point, I have 1951 through 1975 entered into my database, amounting to about 7300 records so far (By now I can type "Winchester" faster than you can say it.), so obviously I have a way to go, not to mention that I don't have any rosters from 1939 on back.

Say, wait a minute. I never gave Dan my number, and since I've never won anything (I couldn't even get a low number in the 1970 Draft Lottery!) I'm a little bit more than suspicious about the outcome of the Mannis' drawing. Nevertheless, I've always enjoyed digging in landfills -- the smell of the dead bodies and rotten bacon have always been among my favorites -- second only to the Junior path to the waterfront -- so I'll take you up on the dig, Dave A, as long as you man the shovel. My back isn't what it used to be, doncha know.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6