From the Archives We’ve seen the team photos. Taken on an Adirondack peak, in the thick of the woods or out on the lake with paddle in hand. A special patch, but no uniforms here. Just fresh outdoor faces and the gear of the day. Nature is Northwood Outing Club’’s arena, those millions of inspiring ADK Park acres surrounding our campus. NOC goals are not of the scoring kind — there is no end zone to aim for. Instead, the outing club offers horizons of exploration, self-discovery, and group accomplishment outdoors. This is where life is learned, shoulder to shoulder with your peers, and confidence is built along the way. Camping, skiing, climbing, paddling. Lessons, the quiet and solid kind, arrive through doing. NOC wisdom and NOC friends are things that both stick around for a lifetime. We’ve seen the patch. Legendary, earned, coveted. A symbol of true achievement, of taking a different path. Fiercely independent, yet belonging to a special band, NOC patch-wearers stand tall. At one
time there was a special NOC/Ski team patch. For former Trustee Reed Miller ’72 this prized NOC patch “meant everything.” He says, “It was considered by all to be a really big accomplishment to have that patch! It was recognized everywhere you went.” Reed recalls a time in 1971 while skiing in Aspen. He was in a restaurant on the mountain ordering lunch and the manager “saw my patch and asked if I went to Northwood. He immediately bought me lunch!” Trustee Mark “Dill” Driscoll ’70 also emphasizes how renowned the NOC patch was. Dill gets clearly emotional when speaking about his patch, “As a fifteen-year-old kid who had nothing when Mr. Friedlander took him in, my NOC patch meant the world to me. It was a rite of passage. Since 1966 when I received that NOC jacket, I have been the proudest guy.” What is your NOC patch story? Tell us. We want to learn from you as we build the next generation of Northwood Outing Club memories.
NOC. THE LEGEND LIVES ON.
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Northwood Magazine
| SPRING 2022
