Winona is a place where traditions, history, and storytelling abound. One of Winona’s most unique legends began in 1919, when Hubert V. Davis dressed in a mask and black cape and ran hollering through the camp, much to the amazement of all the campers. To this day, we still have these events at Winona, called “BAT showings.”
Known only to be a member of the current staff, the BAT will suddenly appear at various camp functions and then will escape into the woods or out onto the water. Who knows when he will appear? All that ever remains, after a frenzied chase by campers, are tales of close calls and plans to catch him next time. The identity of the BAT remains a mystery until Award’s Night, the final night of camp.
Here are the BATs
1919 Hubert V. Davis 1920 Hubert V. Davis 1921 Hubert V. Davis 1922 Hubert V. Davis 1923 Hubert V. Davis 1924 S. Copeland Palmer 1925 William Chappell, Brian K. Connor, S. Copeland Palmer 1926 William Chappell, Brian K. Connor 1927 Donald D. Johnson 1928 Donald D. Johnson 1929 Creighton Gatchell, Milton Herrick, George K. Sargent Jr 1930 Charles L. Snow 1931 A. Macdonald Murray, Charles L. Snow 1932 Arthur S. Williams Jr 1933 Bradley Bachrach 1934 Richard Hearn, Norman King 1935 Alfred Edwards, Norman King 1936 Alfred Edwards, Louis T. Merriam Jr 1937 Louis T. Merriam Jr, Samuel H. Snow 1938 Morgan Batten, Edward W. Cooper 1939 Peter D. Kasper 1940 Theodore Lipin 1941 Robert L. Edwards, Vance W. Torbett Jr 1942 Unknown 1943 Lawrence M. Churchill 1944 Donald B. Snyder, William P. Taylor 1945 Donald B. Snyder, Dean S. Woodman 1946 William Y. Whittemore 1947 Neale Gow, John Ramsay, Mark Tuttle 1948 Duncan Langdon 1949 Harry Wood 1950 James Kiggen 1951 Julian L. Kahle Jr 1952 T. Barton Myers 1953 Louis Vernon 1954 T. Barton Myers 1955 John T. Harlor 1956 William Wesley 1957 Norrie W. Sellar 1958 Jarret C. Palmer 1959 Peter Mceachron 1960 Creighton Gatchell Jr 1961 Wally Bothner, James F. Hunt 1962 Brian Baker 1963 Brian Baker 1964 Pedro Hernandez, Peter Johnson, Jeffrey Laylin 1965 Jeffrey Laylin 1966 Jeffrey Hollis 1967 John Griesemer, Jeffrey Hollis 1968 Rod Crafts, Gregory Zwettler 1969 Douglas Morrill 1970 Luke Murray, Edward Poole 1971 Robert Barrett , Charles M. Sobol 1972 Lawrence M. Roberts, Michael Stevens 1973 John M. Waters, Horace Whitely 1974 David Hill, Alan Hurd 1975 Robert D. Dill, Mark Emmons 1976 Eric A. Dentler, Kris Gike 1977 Michael S. Battey, Henry Z. Urban 1978 John Appleton III, Clayton J. M. Miles 1979 Gregory Pfitzer, Dale Smith 1980 Theodore Kolva Sr, Theodore Kolva Jr 1981 Mark Chafee, Bruce Sanderson 1982 Peter A. E. Blight, Thomas Dunwooddy 1983 George Bower, Scott Kane 1984 Johnathan Alden, David Scott 1985 Edward Buckman, Jeffrey Kolva 1986 David Hild, Bruce Mcdonald 1987 William John Evans, Roger Wentz 1988 Michael King, Spencer Ordway 1989 Christopher Dutton, Daniel Keulmans, Alan B. Ordway 1990 Timothy Dutton, Matthew Sonne 1991 James Jenkins, James Morse 1992 Andrew Kearns, Raymond Murray, Nicholas Sonne 1993 Matthew Curran, D. Matthew King 1994 James Canon, James K. Purtzer 1995 Christopher Gale, Robert Potter 1996 Josiah Babcock, Taylor Fairman 1997 James Goodfellow Jr, Rodney Porter, Wallace Wilson 1998 Eugene Covington, Alexander Fobes 1999 Nathaniel Runge, Jeffrey Young 2000 Gabriel Crawford, Leigh Rovzar 2001 Thomas V. Kirby, Austin Stonebraker 2002 D. Todd Littlefield, Matthew Casey 2003 Michael Frame, Logan Garrels 2004 Jay Garrels, Karl Remsen 2005 Clark Wescott, Benjamin 'Stoney' Stonebraker 2006 Christopher Garrels, Zachary Bruning 2007 Christopher Abbott, Philip Clough, Ryan Frame, S. Bremner Stoner 2008 Gregory 'Nick' Rich, David Pettibone 2009 Spencer Jamison, Michael Harrist 2010 Finnian Donovan, Benjamin Messinger-Barnes 2011 Stephen Cournoyer, David 'Doc' Potter 2012 James K. Catlin, Patrick D. Lucas 2013 John B. Bement II, Connor Frame 2014 Zoot Grantham, Jeffrey Lamson 2015 Jeffrey 'Bubba' Dropkin, Jack Fields, Andrew Frame 2016 Benjamin Farrell, August Polstein, Garry 'Lime' vom Lehn 2017 Aydan Strachan, Cody Wasuta 2018 Luchmuch Bol, John Lucas, Samuel Wyllie-Cain, Henry 'Coach' Zussman 2019 Matthew Clayton, Frederic "Fritz" Gemmer, Xavier Lacarriere 2020 Robbie Flanagan, Charles "Chuvkin" Rivkin 2021 Ruay Bol, Jesse Potter 2022 Zachary Clayton, Edward "Ned" Kolva, Christopher Perkins 2023 Todd Baker, Garrett Kearns, Daniel Krause 2024 Nicolas Belliveau, Millard "Miles" Brown, Benjamin Chadwick