In 2006, I was lucky enough to be in the audience for perhaps the single most famous GTC (camp talent show) act in the nearly 100-year history of Camp Nebagamon. I am speaking, of course, about the incredible diablo yo-yo act of Hayato Okamoto. I wish I could adequately describe the thunderous reaction and ovation that this boy received throughout and at the end of his act. Nearly 20 years later, my ears are still ringing! Also in the audience that night was an 11 year-old boy named Grant. Awestruck at Hayato’s diablo prowess, Grant immediately wrote home to his parents begging them to send him a diablo so he could get to work at becoming the next Hayato Okamoto. According to Grant, he spent the next year doing little else with his free time except practicing that diablo yo-yo.
Eventually, Grant did, in fact, become amazing with the circus style toy, and went on to grace many other talent shows at camp with his dexterous magic throughout his camper and staff career. While he never quite achieved the global iconic status of Mr. Okamoto with nearly 200,000 views on Youtube (Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_JQu0-r_sE please accept our apologies for the, odd title, coarse language at the beginning, and poor video quality…this was a completely unsanctioned and pirated video of that famous talent show!!!), Grant certainly became somewhat of a legend himself here at Camp Nebagamon. Consequently, virtually every talent show from 2007 to 2015 featured at least three or four diablo acts…usually with Grant as the headliner. Eventually Grant grew up and had to stop coming to camp. The era of the diablo gradually faded, and it had been quite a few years since we had been treated to a diablo act at the GTC.
Until this summer…You see, this summer Grant came home to be our Assistant Wilderness Trip Director!! After years of leading wilderness trips for troubled teens in Utah, Grant wanted to come back home and reconnect with the place that had kindled his love for the outdoors…and circus toys. And so it was, that at our first talent show last session, Grant took to the GTC stage for the first time in nearly a decade. The kids had no idea what they were in store for…and he blew them away! Hayato revisited!!!
Over the course of the next few days, our newest celebrity, in the normally overlooked assistant wilderness trip director role, couldn’t walk ten feet without a camper running up to him to ask him to show them how to manipulate the simple toy. Within a week, they started showing up in packages…diablo after diablo. (Yeah, at some point, parents, we are gonna have to have a heart to heart on the whole package thing!!!) You simply cannot walk for more than 50 feet here these days without another kid efforting on his (or a borrowed) diablo. And, just like that, a new (old) camp tradition was born. I have absolutely no doubt that over the course of the next few years the Rec Hall will be filled with diablo GTC acts ranging from the incredibly talented to the absolute neophyte.
That’s kinda how things go here. Camp’s history is replete with stories of little goofy things taking root and becoming a HUGE deal. In the 1950s, the card game Cribbage took hold at Nebagamon and has been a big deal here ever since. At some point, the same thing happened with the schoolyard game 4-square which is kind of a way of life here. In the 1980s we began playing tons of Euchre, and to this day it remains an important Paul Bunyan Day event. In the 1990s it was Magic The Gathering that became the IT game, then Settlers of Catan, and now a game called Secret MOD.
I love this aspect of camp. I love that kids today are playing the exact same games with the same gusto as they were nearly 80 years ago. I love that new things pop up and the camp community embraces them as well, and they become cornerstones of recreation and performance here at camp.
That is one of the true beauties of this place. We are a place that fiendishly clings to its history and feels a true connection to the thousands of boys that preceded us here through songs, games, and traditions. At the same time, new people, new games, new songs and new performances arrive at camp every summer. Our community embraces these new things, blends them into who we are, and continues to grow.
I keep hoping that repetitive Dad jokes will be embraced and be a part of camp’s legacy…it’s all I’ve got to offer!
All is well in the North Woods….
