Screw Rosebud

Ole Bessy is the greatest toy that ever existed. She has been a wonderful friend and steadfast companion through the long winter months in Annapolis. Ole Bessy is our venerable orange two-person plastic sled and right now, I miss her.

It’s snowing like freaking crazy in Annapolis right now, meanwhile here in Pensacola, it was 70 degrees today. Now, most of you are thinking I’m crazy for wanting to be home right now, but that’s because you never visited the Naval Academy Golf Course with Ole Bessy.

Now, when I say old, I mean freaking old. The first references to Ole Bessy in antiquity were actually found in Egyptian hieroglyphics unearthed in one of the pyramids. The pharaoh Khufu actually learned of sledding from foreigners who came to pay tribute to the king. Khufu was so intrigued, he built the Great Pyramid at Giza and had Ole Bessy made in order to sled down the slope. He loved the sled so much, he had himself entombed in the pyramid and wished for Ole Bessy to be included.

The symbol for Ole Bessy can be seen at the right of the above cartouche.

Luckily, his son and successor, Djedefra, kept the sled for himself. Eventually, the pharaohs and their line died out and the Greeks, Romans and eventually Islamic Arabs and Mamelukes came to rule Egypt. Ole Bessy was taken as a war trophy to Arabia and eventually to Palestine, where it remained for hundreds of years.

When the crusaders arrived, many knights sought the fabled treasure of the pharaohs, Ole Bessy. The Knights Templar found the sled and took it back to Europe where it was kept hidden. During the Middle Ages, Ole Bessy was a favorite toy of the children of the Knights Templar, who grew up sledding on her to their delight. Their fathers, meanwhile, protected the sled from many knights-errant who sought the treasure.

Ole Bessy became an object of glory for knights-errant seeking fame and fortune. Here, the Bessy-shaped beacon is lit atop the Castle Anthrax.

The sled eventually came under the control of the French Crown and the Bourbon dynasty. When Frenchmen discovered that the French monarchs had kept the sled as the plaything of their own children and had not shared the joy of the orange plastic toy with the people, they rose up in revolution, making the sled the symbol of Enlightenment and freedom.

Liberty guiding the French people holding the symbols of Revolution: The tricolor flag and Ole Bessy.

In 1889 the French gave two gifts to the United States: the Statue of Liberty, and Ole Bessy. It was here that the sled first earned its name: “Besty” after famed patriot, seamstress and sledding fanatic, Betsy Ross.

The sled was kept in the Smithsonian and brought out in the winter for the children of Washington, DC to use. World War I changed all that, however, and “Betsy” went to war. American troops in the snowy forests of France passed the rare moments of peace sledding for relaxation and many other sleds were commissioned by the War Department to raise troop morale. When World War II came along, Besty had become a celebrity and was featured on numerous recruiting posters to inspire those on the homefront to contribute to the sled making industries that kept the troops in good spirits.

Bessy, symbol of the "Sled Drive" to keep troops supplied with sleds.

After the war, “Bessy,” as she came to be known, remained in Europe and became a symbol of the new democracy in West Germany. Eventually she was sent to the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for use by the Academy’s oceanography department for winter research. However, Bessy had become a symbol of post-war hope and in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down, Germans proudly hoisted replicas of the sled as they proclaimed a unified Germany.

Germans at the Berlin Wall; Bessy is being handed up to the top in the center of the picture.

The real Bessy, meanwhile, was back in the US, arriving in Annapolis in 1953. It stayed there for over 30 years until an enterprising Lieutenant Commander and instructor at the Academy, asked the Navy for permission to use the sled for long-term research. That man was my father.

And so, what had been built by the pharaoh who had never seen a snowfall became one of the most loved and respected toys in the Scarbro home.

That sled endured winter after winter of sledding accidents and mishaps. It launched us off of sand bunkers at the golf course and down the frozen hill next door in the ice storm of ’96. Ole Bessy was there when Yael Waddel got a compound fracture in her arm while going off a sand bunker. Of course, if she had been on Ole Bessy, she would’ve made it without a problem. Ole Bessy’s got a busted back corner, held together by duct tape and cracks throughout her frame, but after 4500 years, that’s not too shabby.

So this is dedicated to Ole Bessy, the greatest sled ever to live. She’s still standing, at home in the garage, sadly unused this winter. But when the next generation of intrepid kids wanna needlessly risk their lives at frightening speeds in the snow, she’ll be there.

And she could kick the crap out of Charles Kane’s sucky “Rosebud” sled. Seriously, no contest.

Ole Bessy, artist's rendition.