TOP 5 COLOR WARS IN 25 YEARS
I have been at camp from 1987-1999 and from 2008-2019, for 25 Color Wars. So, no offense to the 2000-2007 era or the 1951-1986, but I can’t comment if I wasn’t there. Here are the best 5 Color Wars I’ve seen.
Criteria
40 Points: Competitiveness – Did the war come down to the very end? Was it legitimately in doubt going into the final announcement? How was the competitive spirit of both sides?
15 Points: Theme/Name – Did both teams have a cool theme and name? Was it original?
10 Points: The Start – Was the CW start original, surprising, creative and memorable?
10 Points: Coaches – Were both sides well coached with coaches with great veteran leadership?
10 Points: High Senior Captains – Were the captains deserving? Were they veterans? Did they go on to become fixtures as staff and as future coaches?
10 Points: Song Night – Did both sides have creative song nights, with terrific skits and memorable songs?
5 Points: Shirts – Did both sides have cool shirts, with original designs?
Toughest omissions
2019: White Showtime vs. Blue Heist
1991: White Wranglers vs. Blue Jungle
NUMBER 5: 1995: Blue Riot 553 vs. White SWAT Team 547
38/40 Points: Competitiveness – CW was tied going into the alma mater, when the SWAT Team coaches (I was one of them) did not turn off the fans. This war was close the entire way with a memorable high senior matchup that seemed unfair in favor of white, but blue won 4-2 with Gui Stampur securing his greatness. The coaches did not get along during the war, including a volatile argument after the daily scores were announced. It doesn’t get the full 40 because many of the games were blowouts.
13/15 Points: Theme/Name – Riot was prison inmates, which was unique and played well with their coaches. The SWAT Team was the perfect opposite as the “good guys.” Amazing all black SWAT Team outfits with vests and blank black hats. Very cool.
7/10 Points: The Start – The camp got ready to go to the Sea Dogs game in the afternoon. The van was driven towards the Council Ring and 2 coaches came out the back with the magic words. It was not real surprising and not memorable. However, it wasn’t a disaster either.
8/10 Points: Coaches – Riot was led by Mike Santosuosso and David Gorin with a staff of “tough guys” that played well with their theme including the menacing Jesse Katz. The SWAT Team were a veteran staff led by Brian Bloch and Billy Faria. All 4 head coaches had 4 years’ experience going in. Younger coaches like Steve Wynn, Jason Gorin and myself were hungry and had something to prove.
6/10 Points: High Senior Captains – While Gui Stampur is an all-time athlete, it was his first CW. Of the 4 captains, only Tim DeGrande had been in more than 1 CW going in. None of the 4 were ever senior counselors and only Gui coached a CW (Paradise).
9/10 Points: Song Night – SWAT Team was down 12 going into song night and the coaches were confident they could win by 13. After our “Hollywood Squares” skit I thought we had them. The most memorable moment was how the SWAT Team used a set of identical twins, the Manley brothers. There was a “SWAT Team maker machine,” one brother came into the Rec Hall office and another out the back of the Rec Hall 3 seconds later. Hysterical.
5/5 Points: Shirts – Blue Riot shirts looked exactly like inmate shirts on the front with a prison number and on the back was a prisoner behind bars. SWAT Team shirts were all time great with a cool helicopter on the back. Only White Disturbed was ever better.
TOTAL SCORE: 86
NUMBER 4: 2015: Blue Hustle 566 vs. White Freedom 537
35/40 Points: Competitiveness – After day 1, Freedom was up 12. After day 2, up 3. After day 3, up 5. After day 4, up 5. Then on day 5, blue won 5-1 in the morning and took a 45-point lead into song night. So, the final score is deceiving. Blue won an epic, come from behind low junior softball game to basically clinch the war on that last day. It was a horrible way for Freedom to lose. In fact, in high senior football, white dominated blue most of the game, but couldn’t punch it and lost 7-0. If white had won each of those games, they’d have won CW. Ouch. The high senior division ended up in a rare 3-3 split. Each coach won at least 2 games. CW was not in doubt during song night and there were no major rivalries though.
14/15 Points: Theme/Name –The Blue Hustle was 90s rap stars that remind me of the days of Run DMC, NWA and Public Enemy. Loved their music they played during the entrances including songs like “Jump Around.” The White Freedom, USA loving, 4th of July celebration theme had awesome signs and their coaches reminded me of Apollo Creed entering vs. Ivan Drago. Great theme idea, I wish they sang “God Bless America” and the “Star Spangled Banner” during the war.
7/10 Points: The Start – The original plan was to start in the Council Ring before lunch using a drone. But, after looking at gloomy weather reports, we realized that breakfast would be the only chance we had. This local techy drone guy waited in John’s truck at the Mess Hall porch as all the campers waited in the Council Ring after 2nd bell. He got out of the car and released his drone. The kids never saw it coming, but the timing and energy was off at 8AM.
10/10 Points: Coaches – The blue head coach was Jonah Rappaport who also coached on the 400 club, Blue Frontier the year before with Zach Chason, Joey Cohen and Ian Finn. They wanted to redeem themselves. The other 2 coaches were Aaron Karasik and Jack Meaney. That’s a terrific squad and seemed better than white on paper. However, the White Freedom were led by head coach, Todd Zucker, and were very underrated. White’s other coaches included the only returning coach from the 600 club, White Rumble, in Mitchell Lesser. The other 4 coaches were Mark Karmiy, Craig “Bebes” Beberman, James Dunlea and Luke Stillman. I think White Freedom had the best staff in modern times, except for the Blue Order, as Mitchell Lesser won best coach of the 2010s and Dunlea could have easily won as well.
9/10 Points: High Senior Captains – Blue captains were Jimmy Fitzhenry, the best athlete in camp, and Brady Buckman, who was also a terrific veteran camper. The omission of Houston Barenholtz remains an all-time mistake. White Freedom had Austin Dodes and Juan Carlos Gonzalez, both terrific athletes and outstanding leaders. That’s an incredible combo as Dodes went on to play college football for Union College and JCG remains the all-time Ironman leader for Desert War. With Houston, this would’ve been a clear 10/10.
9/10 Points: Song Night – Song Night was solid for both teams. I loved the Blue entrance, which started with a rap battle. White Freedom did 3 formations, a U, then an S, then an A for USA, which was cool. The skits were terrific. White’s skit was about how in 2029, Wesley Wilensky and Harper Daigle would be dating while Harper was at the Girl’s camp. White’s alma mater, by Rascal Flatts was unreal.
5/5 Points: Shirts – Blue Hustle shirt remains an iconic shirt with the logo in the front and a parent advisory on the back. The White Freedom shirt was also outstanding with an American flag on the front and Uncle Sam on the back. Both terrific.
TOTAL SCORE: 89
NUMBER 3: 2017: Blue Order 556 vs. White Corps 544
37/40 Points: Competitiveness – With a 19-point lead going into song night, Order seemed to be ok, but it was not insurmountable. What is more interesting was White was up 52 points going into day 4 and it seemed over. However, Blue went 4-2 to cut it to 32, then miraculously swept the Omelets despite their intermediates losing by a combined 36-5 in the 2 softball games earlier in the war. Blue went 4-2 again and went from down 52 to up 19. So, in the last 15 games, Blue won 11-4. Great war throughout, but not a nail baiting Mess Hall announcement.
13/15 Points: Theme/Name – I would put Blue Order up there against any name ever. They were like the Illuminati and did their entrances in the Rec Hall under a candlelight ceremony. Creative and original. White Corps wasn’t bad but lacked creativity as there is a military name seemingly every 5 years or so. “Corps” loses 2 points. Also it lent itself to being jokingly called the “Corpse.”
7/10 Points: The Start – It started at 2nd bell for lunch in the Council Ring. Would’ve been great with a pre-recorded Jeremy Zucker song ending in him saying “Color War is Now” at the end. Unfortunately, some comically bad luck happened including a camper falling in the council ring at the exact moment, taking the attention away from the song. Great idea, poor execution. We should’ve had a louder speaker.
10/10 Points: Coaches – An unbelievably well coached war with 10 veteran coaches. An impossible year for a younger counselor to “make it” into the coaching ranks. Matt Connelly vs. Jack Meaney as cousins facing off seemed to bring the wars intensity to a new level. Blue also had Dunlea as a co-head coach with Sam Eggert, Jack Lesser, Luke Stillman and Houston Barenholtz. White also had Karmiy as co-head coach with Aaron Karasik, Victor Svedloff, Jack Donaldson, and Jordan Chabot.
10/10 Points: High Senior Captains – All-time great High Senior group led by future CW coaches Griffin Yas, Brandon Karp, and Cole Lepler. The other 3 captains were outstanding athletes with Dutch Senft, Joey Cohen and Noah Oppenheim. What is craziest about this group is the best 2 athletes didn’t even make it to captain, Devin Usal and George Zabalou. Blue seemed stacked, but only won 4-2 and I still don’t know how white lost basketball with Devin, Burton, and Lentine. This HS soccer game had the most talented group of all time and its not close.
8/10 Points: Song Night – Both teams did terrific alma maters, nothing else was amazing, but both sides were solid. White won by 8, I thought they should have won by 12 or so.
5/5 Points: Shirts – Both outstanding, but Order may be the best ever with their name upside down spelling the word blue. White Corps wasn’t a great name, they had cool tank top shirts
TOTAL SCORE: 90
NUMBER 2: 2010: White Krewe 552.2 vs. Blue Doomsday 551.9
40/40 Points: Competitiveness – Blue was up 44 in the middle of day 2, that was the biggest lead of the war. After 3 days, it was dead even. Day 4 saw white go 4-2 in the morning, then lose both Omelets to go down 10 going into day 5. White went 4-2 in the morning, including a 24-0 victory in HS football over Tony Adams, and took a 10-point lead into song night. Blue won song night by around 9.7. There will never be a war this even and not just because of the final score. Of the 6 divisions, 3 went 3-3 in games and the other 3 went 4-2 in games. Of the 6 coaching matchups, 3 went 3-3 in games and the other 3 went 4-2 in games.
12/15 Points: Theme/Name – The word “Krewe” is mostly known for those who organize the Mardi Gras parade each year in New Orleans. Blue Doomsday were evil people that wanted the world to end. Doomsday, cool name, horrible theme. Not sure why we want the world to end. My random favorite part of Doomsday was they had a sign that said, “West End House Camp 1908-2010.” So, they wanted camp to end forever? Krewe, great theme, poor name. Should’ve gone with Jazz. The kids didn’t know what Krewe meant.
10/10 Points: The Start – During Jai Alai, Jason Cohen waited for each bunk to wager and then he and high senior captain, Tony Adams (who had no idea what was going on), brought the Jai Alai board out from the Rec Hall office onto the basketball court. Within seconds, I pulled the electricity switch, so the Rec Hall went completely dark. Jason and Rachel turned on battery operated black lights and magically, “Color War is Now” appeared on the same Jai Alai board. The paint that was used on the board was invisible paint, so that nobody could see the lettering on the board while the lights were on. A Hall of Fame start.
9/10 Points: Coaches – The White Krewe were led by Head Coach Dan Bernard and fellow coaches Josh Singer, Justin Avergon, Andrew DeMarco, Doug Spink and Matt Shivers. A nice mix of planners and energy guys. Bernard was probably the best coach of the era and ended with an undefeated CW record of 8-0. The Blue Doomsday was led by Head Coach David Voshchin and fellow coaches Thibaut Rochette, David Lach, Neil Sharma, Mike Kirsten and Brion Rock. Amazing chemistry on the Doomsday coaching staff. Although it was a staff that liked to argue with the refs. Voshchin was the original Jordan Chabot with horrible CW luck and I believed finished 0-8 and 0-5 as a coach. This one had to hurt the most.
9/10 Points: High Senior Captains – White had an awesome set of 2 captains with Alex Hebert and Louis Shaevel. Louis never lost a CW and was the consummate professional. Hebert was a great quiet leader and had the most impressive HS distance run I’ve seen. White Krewe HS is one of my favs because they lost Momo to an injury on day 1 and came back from 1-3 to even their split at 3-3. Blue had future NFL prospect Tony Adams, veteran Jake Ryter and 2nd year star Josue Seaone. A good group of captains in the war, but Louis, Hebert and Ryter coached only once each. Jeremy Zucker kindly reminded me that I nixed the idea of him being captain because he was 14. But Tony was too, so he was probably right.
10/10 Points: Song Night – A truly great one with high stakes and great performances. It looked like white had CW in the bag up 12 unofficially with 2 songs left. Blue won the song from floor by 4 points and needed to win the alma mater by over 8 points. Jeremy Zucker had a solo in the “The Scientist,” in my opinion that and “Mad World” by White Disturbed were the best ever. “Doomsday” became a perfect name as they won the alma mater by slightly less than the 8 points. An all-time ouch. Jason Cohen and I calculated the score 3 times to make sure the 0.3 was accurate. Bill offered his “if CW is a tie” envelope, but Jason and I agreed that 0.3 victory is still a victory and rounding seemed cowardly when we knew who won. When Jason delivered the final score, I stayed on the Mess Hall porch. Thinking about Dave Voshchin losing by 0.3 was too much, he deserved to win. After CW there was a controversy over what the plaque should say. We originally were going to leave the score rounded at 552-552. The white coaches felt that would take away from their victory, we agreed.
4/5 Points: Shirts – Krewe was creative having half their shirts made in green, the other half in purple. As an old schooler, who likes to promote our camp colors, I did not like this as the white team should wear white and the blue team should wear blue. Doomsday shirt would’ve been great with a cool logo on the front in yellow. But I can’t get behind the giant explosion on the back. As a human, I’ve become fond of planet earth.
TOTAL SCORE: 94
NUMBER 1: 1988: Blue Machine 552 vs. White Empire 548
40/40 Points: Competitiveness – Incredible ending to 5 days of back and forth competition. White was up 6 after day 1. Blue went up 29 after day 2. White came back on swim and track day to take a 1-point lead into day 4. Blue went 3-2, 3-2 in the last 2 splits, then split the Omelets. So, Machine was up 20 going into song night and the Empire song night loomed large with an all-time song night coaching staff of Kevin Lustig, Dave and Mike Andelman. As a 10-year-old on Machine, I was mesmerized by Empire’s song night and thought Empire should’ve won. Final Score of song night was 108-92 and Empire came up short. Anyone in this war will tell you it was the best they were in. I believe White Empire is the best team to lose CW.
14/15 Points: Theme/Name – Blue Machine, steel workers, was a solid theme, but loses a point because it was only 5 years after the Union. Empire, Star Wars, was unique and fun. Not sure why we haven’t seen another Star Wars theme. How good was the name Empire? In one of the all time CW controversies, the blue team found out their name and passed in “Empire” as well. Runner John Zinman thought it was a joke. Karma won out and white won the coin flip for the name that was their idea. Kevin Lustig is still mad about this failed act of chicanery. But, it made for a more intense war.
10/10 Points: The Start – Jai Alai was new that summer. During the night activity the counselors came out and said “West End House Jai Alai we salute…. COLOR WAR IS NOW!” Nobody expected it. Blue and red poker chips were flying, and Kevin Lustig moved the betting tables to allow for some fireworks on the stage. Creative and shocking at the time. The only great start in my first stint at camp.
10/10 Points: Coaches – After the worst CW maybe ever, in 1987, when each team only had 5 coaches and there were a few 15-year-old CITs coaching, 1988 was stacked. For Machine, their head coach was the great Johnny Stoller, with Lee Rappaport, Dan Levine, Matt Bloch, Greg Kaplan and Lane Davis. For Empire, 3-time Head Coach, Kevin Lustig with Dave Andelman (future Bad Boys HC), Mike Andelman, Eric Liebman, Morry Levine, Greg Friedman. Both sides genuinely did not like each other, which made the war seem extra important.
8/10 Points: High Senior Captains – Blue had 3 solid captains with Ferrin, Labell and Yaffe. White had legend Mike Santosuosso and Pete Lesburg. Only “Santa” went on to be a SC and a head coach. Ferrin coached in 89.
10/10 Points: Song Night – There has never been a song night quite like Empire. “Minnie and the Moocher” and “Part Time Lover” by Stevie Wonder were iconic. The entire performance was the movie Star Wars with an unbelievably great skit led by Mr. Song Night, Dan Andelman and veteran Josh Deth. The hockey stick bin in the Rec Hall was the costume for R2D2, played by Miguel Serrano. Check it out, it still looks the same. Machine was solid as well including “Never Gonna Give You Up” which became a popular song in the last 10 years. Song night was tied until a 26-14 skit beatdown and a 6-point alma mater win for Empire got them to the final 4-point deficit.
4/5 Points: Shirts – Machine was basic but very solid with their names on the back in a steel like font. Empire had Darth Vader and the words “White Empire” in the same font as the “Star Wars” font. Awesome shirt. But it was a dark gray, and I think white team needs to wear a white shirt.
TOTAL SCORE: 96
Written by: Ryan Wilensky