COMMENTS ON THE FLAG RUSH
Taken from the Alton Almanac – August 11, 1973
With the Rush approaching rapidly you can feel the tension in the air; you can sense the dreams, the hopes, the aspirations all around camp. Thursday is the single most important day in most campers' lives. To be informative and provocative the Editors have spent this past week interviewing several former Rush greats to get their memories and comments down on paper. Here is what we can print:
I talked to JIMMY HOLICKER in his newly opened underground laundromat in Newtonville. After an hour or so he finally understood what I was talking about and had this to say: "It is true that I was looked upon as a Rush superstar, and thus I could spend the whole Rush walking in and out of the woods and still get the 50. My only regret of the 1962 Rush was that the color coordination of my bathing suit and headband was very gauche.
Next I spoke to JAY THIESE and RABBIT ALLEN in Boston and they said: "Yes, we were probably the only two seniors in history to try and Rush for the 50 by swimming to the Point. We were also the only seniors to spend the rest of the day in jail. Well, it didn’t matter because Jay turned out to be a great counselor anyway."
GEORGE BORKOW, the master of the solo kamikaze rush, spoke to us from Walpole State Prison where he is a guard. "Besides rushing uphill for the Rec Hall 25, going one on 12 for the Track 15 and beating up a woodsman I had a lousy Rush.
I interviewed FLASH GORDON at the Podiatrist where he was getting his daily treatments, and he reminisced, l965 was the year of the two-day Rush because of the rain that fell during the afternoon. It was incredible.
LARRY EPSTEIN is presently in an asylum but did find the mental courage to recall, "We tried the 4 hour Rush that year and it blew. All it meant was that I had to wait an hour more before I voted myself the 50. Steve Rosenberg, wherever you are, please forgive me, for I have sinned."
DENNIS KRUMHOLZ is the 50 and he doesn't hide it. I spoke to him at 350 First Ave. where he fondly remembered: What a rush it was to pick it up. What a bummer to be tackled on the bunk line. What a rush to have Jerry Tilden let me bring it over, What a bummer to have Billy Joe put his hand around me."
RON SUSSMAN, one of the all-time evil and malicious people, gloatingly recalls: "I did my job at least and got that rat out of the Rush. So what if he is unfulfilled as a human being."
I talked to PETER GREENE on visiting day at Leavenworth Federal Prison and through the screen he had this to say: "If that #@#*&# J.C. hadn't put up that wire I might have become a respectable member of my community. But after I failed with the 50 I could never live it down. So I decided to live it up and I've been up ever since.
DONNY LATO, as you recall, introduced a new element into the Rush not cheating, that's old, just ask Mark Snyder. No, Donny tried cleverness when his legs wouldn't work any longer. However, due to a small technicality his efforts were for nothing. "I saw that 15 with only one nebbish guard and after discussing it with my advisers, decided to limp towards it and see how far I'd get. Well they say I indicated that I was going to the nurse. Maybe I did, but anyway I picked it up and ran back as best I could. Of course this made the injury worse and I was in a cast for three months. But it was worth it."
It's comments like Donny's that give you some idea of what the Rush is all about. It is the ultimate body sacrifice, because the intangible rewards are so fulfilling. Sure getting a flag award is nice, but respect and admiration is nice, too. A standing ovation isn't bad either.