For the first time in the history of Greeneville Moose Lodge No. 642, its conferral ritual staff, known as Volunteer Moose Legion 12/Greeneville 692, earned first place in Moose International's annual competition held Nov. 5-8 in Indianapolis, Ind.

In addition, all members of the team placed in the top 10 of the individual awards with Hugh Shipley (Faith) winning a first-place honor and Paul Honea (Hope) taking a third-place trophy.

Every member of the team will receive an "International Champion" watch and "bragging rights, too," Walter McQueen said. He has been a member of the ritual team since 1988.

He said the team has placed in the top five a number of times, adding that he thought the team likely would place in the top five again this time.

But as the top five placing teams were announced and Greeneville was not called, "I was thinking 'What could we have done to have not placed in the top five?' Then, when they hollered number one, it was really exciting."

Honea, a new member of the team, said "Being able to bring home an individual place was great, but being on the team that won was fantastic."

To Honea, he said, teamwork is what the Moose organization is all about: "the combined efforts of everyone, not one individual's accomplishments."

Shipley echoed that sentiment, "There's nothing more exciting for a team than winning an international competition.

"When the team wins, it's really more exciting than when I win myself."

Honea said that, while most of the Greeneville supporters were thinking "maybe next year" when other teams were being announced as placing in the top five, it was Roger Gregg who strongly suspected the local team had won the championship.

Gregg is a longtime member of the team who didn't compete this year because of a family situation.

Honea said that when third place was called and it wasn't Greeneville, Gregg tapped the shoulder of the man sitting next to him and said, "These boys have won it. I just have a gut feeling they've won."

"And he was right!" Honea added.

The purpose of the competition is to ensure that the teams from the various Moose lodges throughout the fraternity -- which are located in the United States, Canada, Britain and Bermuda -- are accurately portraying the story of the Moose Fraternity to new candidates for enrollment into the Fraternity's Second Degree, the Moose Legion.

There are nine parts of the Conferral Ceremony, consisting of seven pages, conveyed by six different team members.

The teams must memorize their respective parts, conduct accurate floor movements during their individual charge, and be in unison as a team during the entire ceremony.

The ritual had been completely rewritten in May of this year, so this year's competition from Nov. 5-8 was the inaugural performance.

McQueen said that the team has practiced twice a week since the end of June.

"Not to count all the times you're driving down the road, practicing your part and waving your hands so the driver beside you is thinking you're nuts," McQueen said.

Shipley also stressed the amount of work involved. "We spent a lot of hard hours of practicing," he said.

The local lodge has competed in the competitions for more than 35 years, finishing in the top 10 on several occasions and even the top five in some competitions.

But never before had its team won the most coveted position of first place, International Champions.

The Moose Fraternity describes itself as "an organization of men and women providing facilities to care for abused and abandoned children at its Mooseheart Campus in Illinois, and for the organization's senior members at the Moosehaven Campus in Florida."