The Green Nike Hat
The green Nike hat goes back almost to the beginning of MS 361. The details are a little sketchy (as they are when trying to recall history) as to the exact event where it started. It’s believed to be one of the first Devil’s Lake Hikes that MS 361 attended. As you hike the bluffs on Saturday, your group passes and gets passed by other scouts groups along the way. Amanda Glon and Jenny Yankaitis discovered that several hot looking guys each wore a green Nike hat.
It followed that for a number of the next trips MS 361 went on, Jenny or Amanda would see other decent looking scouts wearing a green Nike hat. Naturally, they came to the conclusion that all hot guys wore green Nike hats. For her 16th birthday party, Jenny bought Amanda a green Nike hat, which she wore to scout functions afterwards, including her Wider Op to Pensacola, FL the next summer. |
Amanda had a great time snorkeling and sailing (in alligator infested waters) and feeding fish with peas. Then, one day while they were deep-sea fishing on a boat, who should come by on a jet ski but a guy in a green Nike hat! That wasn’t the only occurrence. She sighted three or four different men on her trip wearing the same type of hat. Now that’s just too good to be a coincidence.
Around her sister's 16th birthday, Amanda passed the green Nike hat to Rebecca. By that time, it was faded and starting to show significant wear. Rebecca (Becca to most everyone) continued to wear it to scout events, and it became the target of several schemes and shenanigans. It got stolen, rubbed in the mud, thrown in lakes, ponds and pools, hidden in trees, buried in the sand, left in the rain, and also covered in body spray. The sightings of hot guys in the green Nike hat seemed to fade from existence, but never in memory.
About this time, the title got shortened to just the Nike. It was well known among the Mariners, both young and old. The summer of 2002 brought on the National Jamboree trip to Idaho with Kysa, Danielle, Shannon, and Kristin, none of whom Becca knew since they were all from different troops. As girls tend to get in an extended period of time stuck in the same car together, things got a little tense. Kysa and Becca helped keep each other sane though. From the Sneak Attack to the Rock River Funny Farm, they were two peas in a pod. |
Kysa belonged to a troop with Dani and Shannon, one that had a meeting shortly after our trip to decided whether or not to disband. They went around the table to voice their opinions, and when it came to Kysa, she said, “I want to quit scouts…unless I can join Mariner Ship 361.” So she and a few others from their troop joined MS 361, and Rebecca adopted Kysa as her little sister, even though she was away at college. Little did she know what joys being a big sister would bring. The pair still reminisced about Star NW with Dani and Kristin, and the Sneak Attack was always a fail safe. She came to our scout events and had a blast in what Becca hopes were some of the same ways she grew up with.
Rebecca had no little sister in her family to pass the Nike on to. She felt almost as close to Kysa as her own sister Amanda--even referring to Kysa's mother as mom--so on her 16th birthday at Eagle Cave of 2003, handing the Nike to her seemed fitting. While it is a bit small for her head even on its biggest setting, she still keeps it with the same tradition it started in. While the Nike may have faded to 361 history, its reminiscent memories still bring smiles. |
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Updated October 27th, 2015
Updated October 27th, 2015