Carolina OA

History of the Catawba Lodge 459 Dance Team Jacket Patches & Neckerchief

In the later part of 1965, the Lodge Dance Team decided to produce a jacket patch that could be earned by the Dance Team Members.  At the time, the Lodge Dance Team was very prominent and chose to use a Fancy Dancer as a basis for the design of this Jacket Patch.

In 1966, the newly elected Lodge Chief, Don Blackmon, employed his mother to draw the Jacket Patch.  Using the Lodge Totem,the Fancy Dancer and adding the words "Dance Team" to "Catawba Lodge", the patch design was approved by the Lodge Executive Board.  A total quantity of 30 of the J-1 Catawba Lodge Dance Team Jacket Patches were ordered.  Once they were produced and the Dance Team Members began earning them, the Lodge adopted the idea of similar looking jacket patch and produced the first official Catawba Lodge Jacket Patch in 1970.  This version did not have "Dance Team" embroidered on it and was known as the J-2. Since the J-1, there have been two other "Dance Team" Jacket Patches.  The J-7 consisted of 25 patches as did the J-10 version. Due to the limited quantities of these patches they have become some of the more difficult patches for collectors to acquire.

The "Dance Team Neckerchief was designed as an award for Dance Team Members.  To earn the neckerchief, a Dance Team Member had to dance at 6 lodge functions and/or Dixie and NOAC. There were 60 of the N-3 Neckerchiefs produced and restricted to 1per dance team member.

Submitted by Lodge Editor Larry Banks
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