Patches, Badges and the Old Camp Logo
By Pati Egan
Patches and Badges and the old Camp logo. Staff and C.I.T.s (Counselors-in-Training) don’t wear these patches on their uniform shirts anymore. A staff picture from 1988 shows the girls’ and most of the boys’ staff with the dark blue or light blue patches. Beyond the early 1990s the patches were not used. The red and green patches were for C.I.T.s (red) and if they passed the test at the end of the first week, they were C.C.I.T.s (Certified Counselors-in-Training) the second week and received a green patch.
The badge in the middle is a much sought-after Ranger Badge! Most likely the Ranger Badge was not awarded in the late 1980’s. They are not seen on the 1990 staff picture. The usual staff progression was Senior C.I.T. Senior C.I.T.s wore light blue polo shirts with the light blue patch. Deputy Rangers wore the regular royal blue patch. Males wore light blue shirts and females wore white shirts. Rangers got a Ranger Badge. Males wore tan pants and shirts. Females wore, after 1979, tan pants and white polos. All patches had to be sewn on. The next rank was Lieutenant, until the mid-1980s, except for one or two exceptions the highest rank was Captain. Gene Canavan and Pat Marlin were the only two Majors.
All Camp vehicles were red or red and white and had the red logo on the door.
In the Beginning, Girl’s staff wore the blue cloth emblem on the body of the uniform shirt. The C.C.I.T.s are in jeans and would have had green patches.
The Boys’ staff always wore the Camp patch on their left sleeve – including these C.C.I.T.s.
By 1974 the girls’ staff moved their patches to the left sleeve.
So, let’s see if we have this straight:
The C.I.T. red patch was probably used until around 1971 with various colors of shirts.
C.C.I.T. green patch was probably only used until around 1970 on a white shirt.
During the 80s, we would allow exceptional C.C.I.T.s to stay the rest of the summer.
They wore light blue polos with a C.I.T. patch. The girls went to polo shirts around 1979.
The Senior C.I.T. program was started in 1971, and both boys and girls wore light blue shirts and the light blue Sr. C.I.T. patch.
Deputy Ranger and above wore the blue patch – boys wore a light blue shirt until they got promoted to the Ranger tan. Girls wore the same white shirt as Rangers and above.
The iconic and collectible Camp Ondessonk Ranger patch.
The patches themselves had no authority, but they did look awesome on your shirt. Most staff bought them at the end of the summer from Camp. They were not cheap but they are priceless to those that kept their badge.
Boys wore tan or khaki uniforms with the badge. In 1979 the Girls staff finally got out of the dark blue shorts and wore khaki shorts or long pants with white shirts. I was Program Director and am still proud of this accomplishment.
These Ranger badges seemed to stop being used in the 1990s.
Just a little history of the patches that are now hanging in the dining hall. Take a minute to stop and look at all the history that surrounds you as you enjoy your meal.
Through all the color changes with the badges, the vehicles remained red or red and white.
Click Here to learn more about Camp Ondessonk’s History.
