True Blue Season Teams

FIRST General Forum
1

Ever since Woodie Flowers Award winners started receiving a blue banner, there has been the chance for a team to have a “True Blue” season. In other words, there have been teams that have won a regional, Woodie Flowers, and the Chairman’s Award in the same season. It’s certainly not easy, and the feat should be celebrated. I was curious as how many teams have done it, and I decided to investigate. Here’s what I found.

Team:	Year:	Chairman's Event(s):	     WFFA  Event:	   Win(s):
2512	2015	Northern Lights	             Northern Lights	   Hopper
3562	2015	Inland Empire	             Western Canada	   Inland Empire
3476	2015	San Diego	             Inland Empire	   Tesla
2283	2015	Mexico City	             Mexico City	   Mexico City
2614	2015	Greater Pittsburgh	     Smoky Mountains	   Smoky Mountains
1671	2015	Sacramento	             Central Valley	   Newton, Einstein
3132	2015	Australia	             Australia	           Tesla
1923	2015	MAR North Brunswick	     New York Tech Valley  Curie
2826	2015	Minnesota North Star	     Wisconsin	           Wisconsin, Minnesota North Star, Hopper
1511	2016	Greater Toronto Central	     Finger Lakes 	   Curie
3506	2016	NC Guilford County, NC DCMP  NC DCMP	           NC Guilford County, NC DCMP
1619	2016	Arizona North	             Colorado	           Colorado
4613	2016	Australia	             Western Canada	   Australia
2220	2016	Central Illinois	     Central Illinois	   Central Illinois
2642	2017	NC Pitt County, NC DCMP	     NC DCMP	           NC Pitt County, NC Raleigh
3211	2017	ISR 2	                     ISR DCMP	           ISR 2
4613	2017	New York City	             Southern Cross	   Shenzhen, Southern Cross, South Pacific, New York City
3284	2017	Oklahoma	             St. Louis	           Lone Star North
2974	2017	PCH Dalton	             PCH DCMP	           NC UNC Asheville, PCH Albany
1511	2017	Finger Lakes	             Finger Lakes	   Midwest, Curie
971	2017	Silicon Valley	             Silicon Valley	   San Francisco
5883	2018	Shenzhen	             Shanghai	           Shenzhen, Shanghai
1619	2018	Hub City	             Idaho	           Hub City, Idaho

Since 2015, only 23 teams have accomplished a True Blue season. Nine did it in 2015, five in 2016, seven in 2017, and only two have done it in 2018 as of yet. Here’s a link to the spreadsheet that details when and where each team won their awards.

1511, 1619, and 4613 are the only three teams to accomplish the feat in multiple seasons, and 1511 and 4613 are the only teams to accomplish it in back to back seasons.

Also, 3506, 2220, and 2283 hold the distinction of being the only two teams to have won all three awards at one competition. 2283 did this in Mexico City in 2015, 2220 accomplished the feat in Central Illinois in 2016, while 3506 did it at the North Carolina District Championship the same year.

I figured I would make this thread so it could be like the Engineering Quinfecta page. If your team successfully accomplishes this incredible task, post here so we can celebrate with you!

2

1619 has done it again this year at idaho and hub city

3

We did it in 2012, at the same event. We came close to repeating in 2017, winning the regional, WFFA, and EI at the same event.

One would presume the feat is just as interesting prior to blue banner bestowment, unless receiving the blue banner grants one additional magical powers I do not know about. :slight_smile:

4

2826 did it in 2015

5

3476 in 2015.

6

2468 done it in 2013 and 2014

7

This is a great point. I didn’t go back and look for any True Blues prior to 2016, but if your team did it before then mention it. It’s a really cool accomplishment with or without the banner!

8

668 did this in 2009 (WFFA and Chairmans at SVR, Regional Win at Sac)

9

399 got the triple crown at Inland Empire 2014.

10

1108 did it at Crossroads Regional in 2014.

11

The banners started in 2015…

12

Here’s a complete list of single-event “True Blue/Triple Crown” teams, including virtual Woodie Flowers banners:


frc48 2012pit
frc111 2006il
frc111 2005il
frc118 2005tx
frc365 2005pa
frc375 2006ny
frc399 2014casb
frc604 2010sac
frc987 2008nv
frc1108 2014inth
frc1114 2008wat
frc1657 2007is
frc1985 2012mo
frc2046 2012wa2
frc2220 2016ilpe
frc2283 2015mxmc
frc3506 2016nccmp
13

Note that you can’t win WFFA at district events (only at DCMP), so for every district there is only one event where it’s possible to go true blue instead of however many district events there are. Teams that won both a district event and chairmans there, and then went on to win WFFA at DCMP would not count on this list (3211 in 2017, for example)

14

I don’t think it would be possible to win all 3 at Champs but man that would be a feat.
67 got close winning both the Championship and the Chairman’s award in 2005 (the perfect season that may never be seen again) with Dave Verbrugge winning Woodie Flowers just 3 years prior.

There are 5 current teams that have won all 3 at the Championship level at some point
16
51
67
111
365

15

You’re totally right, I completely blanked on that one. I’ve updated the spreadsheet and the main post to reflect the 2015 teams.

16

And Kathryn Sample won Dean’s List Finalist!! (Also known as Kate from 1108). It was the competition that re-sparked my involvement. Rose-Hulman was a fun venue and we miss competing in Indiana after districts.

17

2974 has done it again! With Debbie Kauffman’s Woodie Flowers Award win at the Peachtree Championship, Walton Robotics has completed their second True Blue season in a row.

18

In addition to 2015, 2614 won all three awards in 2012 (W - Pittsburgh, CA - North Carolina, WF - Championship).

19

One quick correction to our 2015 season - we won our RCA in Hawaii (not Australia), WFFA in Australia then won Tesla (our first ever robot win). Great season for us.

A fun fact for everyone. When I saw the thread title I did not first think of Blue Banners. In Australia, ‘true blue’ is a colloquialism to describe someone/something that is ‘truly Australian,’ or more generally someone/something that upholds Aussie values/worth. It’s one of our highest compliments.

Eg: “Oi Bazza mate, check out this True Blue Eddie Woo bloke! What a rippah!”

Translation: “Hey Barry, my friend, look at this really Aussie Eddie Woo guy! What a great person!”

20

3309 is one WFFA short for the 2018 season, picking up an event win in Aerospace Valley to go with their RCA from Orange County.

For partial credit, former WFFA winner Evan Smith picked up the OCR Volunteer of the Year award–and if he was renominated, has a chance at WFA.

EDIT:

Forgot that 399 pulled the same thing, regional Winner at Utah, RCA at Aerospace Valley, and VoY Dave Voracek.