Jack Tatum Comes Home

By Jack De Vries

There was something about this quiet kid – the sophomore who played for Paterson Eastside’s freshman team last fall.

He was fast and quick to the football – that was easy to see – but it was the way he hit that was different. He was strong… but not like city kids on the field. No, this kid was ‘country strong.’
The summer before that 1964 season, Jack Tatum had returned to North Carolina, the place he never stopped missing, to work on his granddad’s farm. He spent two months bailing hay in the fields – picking up bales and throwing them up on the truck. Man’s work.

By the time he got back to his family’s new home in Passaic, he’d put 25 pounds of new muscle on him.

Years before in Paterson, he sometimes carried a pipe in case he was jumped for his lunch money. Jack didn’t need that pipe anymore.

On the Passaic Stadium field, Tatum’s hits were solid, delivered up around the numbers, chest-to-chest and hard – exactly the way Coach John Federici taught him. He’d tackle players so hard that he nearly knocked them out of their cleats. Then he’d walk away without a word.

The Indians would go 24-2-1 while he was there and win the state championship in 1964. Ohio State was next, and Tatum would be better, as the Buckeyes became national champions in 1968.
The NFL’s Oakland Raiders would be his final stop, and he’d help Raider Nation win the 1977 Super Bowl, along with creating an image of intimidation that defines the franchise to this day.
At this year’s Thanksgiving Day game against Clifton at Boverini Stadium in Passaic, they’ll retire Tatum’s No. 32, the one he wore to honor his idol Jim Brown. It’s a ceremony that’s been a long time coming. Not only was Tatum one of Passaic’s greatest players, he was one of New Jersey’s best – a two-way athlete who might have made it to the NFL as a running back.

But it’s the tackles that people remember… the hits that changed games and lives. It’s the hits that mark Jack Tatum’s story.

Nearly a Mustang

Here’s a little known fact to make every Clifton Mustangs fan skip a beat. Around 1950, when Lewis and Annie Mae Tatum moved their family from rural North Carolina to New Jersey, searching for a better life, jobs, and education for their children, they didn’t settle in Passaic or Paterson.

“When I was in second grade,” remembers Tatum, “We moved into an apartment in Clifton about two blocks from the Passaic line. I had an aunt and uncle who had one floor of a two-family house, and we took the other floor.”

In his new city, Tatum faced immediate culture shock.

“I came from a segregated school in the country to a big city segregated school,” he says. “Me, my sister, my two cousins were the only blacks in the school.”

Unfortunately for future Clifton High football teams, the Tatums moved to another apartment in Passaic the following year.

Jack was an active kid, always outside. He began playing basketball often, getting into games at Weasel Brook Park in Clifton, and School 11 and Third Ward Park in Passaic. He loved sports, as did his brothers, Manuel, who was 10 years older, and Samuel, five years older.

By the sixth grade, Jack began realizing he was a better athlete than the kids he played with.
But that year, Tatum moved again, this time to Paterson, and the quiet boy had to make another adjustment. After three years and one season on the freshman team, the family moved back to Passaic, this time to stay.

Despite Tatum’s athletic promise, neither parent was interested in sports. Jack’s father was a welder, and his mother worked as a domestic.

“My mom didn’t want me to play football,” Tatum says. “In my freshman year, I twisted my ankle pretty bad. By the time they took me to the doctor and got me home, my mom was there – she had a premonition something had happened to me.

“But she didn’t stop me from playing. She said if I wanted to go ahead and kill myself, she couldn’t stop me. Later, she became my biggest fan.”

In his first season at Passaic High School in 1964, Tatum refined his tackling technique under Federici, whom he calls his greatest sports influence growing up.

“Jack was a nice young man, very quiet – you never heard him swear,” remembers Vinny Magliarditi, a volunteer assistant coach at Passaic. “But when that whistle blew, look out. Jack had a style of hitting you just couldn’t teach – a natural. He’d rock you.”

Tatum’s talent as a defensive player soon became legendary.

“We were playing undefeated East Paterson,” remembers Magliarditi. “They had a great running back who (sportswriter) Augie Lio said was the best in New Jersey. And we got on Jack’s case all week. John said to Jack, ‘You don’t have to play in the game – that kid is the best. All week in practice, we had a uniform on the field with this kid’s number on it.

“On the day of the game, I went to get Jack in the freshman locker room at the other end of the stadium. When I saw him, his eyes were red. I said, ‘You’re playing against a great, great football player today.’ Jack said, ‘We’ll see.’”

Magliarditi took his seat in the press box and watched the teams trade punts. When the famed East Paterson running back took the ball on a sideline pitch, Tatum took aim.

“Jack came across the field and hit this kid so hard that he knocked him over the bench where the kids were sitting. I remember it plain as day. I said to Federici, ‘Get the ambulance on the field!’ I don’t know how many of the kid’s ribs that Jack cracked – you could hear the sound of the hit up in the press box.”
Matching the Mustangs

Though Tatum would intimidate opponents with defense, he also became an offensive force.
“In my first season at Passaic,” Tatum says, “I played linebacker. We already had a great running back at Passaic – Roland Moss.”

Later taking the All-State Moss’s place in Passaic’s backfield, Tatum would gain 1,421 yards as a senior, earning All-American honors as a 205-pound fullback. “Tatum was a bruiser, a bull,” Clifton lineman Rich Lio told Clifton Merchant in 2004. “He could go right through you.”

Ken Tecza, Passaic’s quarterback, says, “Every team keyed on Jack, and he took a lot of punishment but never said a word. In fact, Jack played hurt a lot of the time.”

Remembering the Mustangs as “our big rival,” Tatum has some good memories of Clifton School Stadium, including a 27-0 victory in 1964. “My first ‘big game,’” Tatum remembers. “I was a substitute wingback and carried the ball a lot that day. I scored my first touchdown on about a 45-yard run. Clifton had a big stadium, big crowd… but the fans were pretty much stunned that day.”

Tatum’s next game against Clifton was not as easy. Playing at Passaic Stadium, Tatum was injured on a kick-off, pulling a muscle.

“The doctor,” says Tatum, “told me my muscle was so strong that it pulled the tip of the bone, giving me a small fracture.” The Mustangs went on to win, 15-12, easily the highlight of Clifton’s disappointing 2-5-2 season.

In his 1966 senior year, Tatum and Passaic wanted revenge on Clifton, and Mustangs Coach Bill Vander Closter’s job was on the line. Since taking over for the winning coach Joe Grecco in 1964, Vandy had gone 7-9-2, and the Clifton fans were restless.

Luckily for Vandy, Mother Nature took an interest.

“Only two games were played in the state that day,” says Tatum, “And that was one of them.”
With monsoon-type rain drowning New Jersey, Vandy decided to play, knowing that field conditions would slow Tatum. He was right. “The field was all mud,” says Tatum. “You could hardly run and you couldn’t cut.”

“Our trainer Lou Capuano,” remembers Clifton’s Larry Mialik, “Had us step in a pan of motor oil before going on the field, saying the oil would keep the mud from sticking. I don’t know if it worked but we did it.”

Clifton sophomore Richie Tate took the opening kickoff to the Passaic 22-yard line. On the next play, quarterback Larry Ferraro hit Bob Duch for the game’s only touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The rest of the day’s action was confined to the middle of the field, with Tatum gaining only 36 yards.

The win propelled the Mustangs to a 7-1-1 record and Vandy’s first state championship.
But Tatum’s career didn’t slow down for long. Along with leading the team in rushing that season, he led the Indians with 187 tackles, and nearly every major college wanted the Passaic player for its own.
On to Ohio State

Though scores of college recruiters came to Passaic, Tatum was planning to attend Syracuse University, school of his idol Jim Brown. “I wanted my family to be able to see me play,” says Tatum, “And Syracuse was the closest big school.”

Enter Mr. Woody Hayes, coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

“Woody came and recruited my mother,” Tatum laughs. “He had such a way with parents. When he left the house, Mom told me, ‘I kind of like that Mr. Hayes.’ At that point I realized I was going to Ohio State.”

However, Federici and his coaches were taking no chances.

“When Woody Hayes came,” says Magliarditi, “We made Jack look bigger by having him wear an extra shirt and stuffing cardboard into his shoes so he could look down at Woody. Jack didn’t look big in person, but he played big.”

Hayes liked what he saw, and Tatum accepted his scholarship offer. The only question was where to play him.

“Woody Hayes,” says Magliarditi, “Told John, ‘Jack is so good offensively, I can’t play him defensively. He’s so good defensively, I can’t play him offensively. But if I play him on defense, he’ll take us to the Rose Bowl.’”

Still, the temptation to use Tatum as a running back was great. It was only after his freshman season that assistant coach Lou Holtz convinced Hayes to bring Tatum to the defensive side permanently – something that was fine with Jack.

“I always liked defense better,” he says. “It was better to hit than be hit.” During his career at Ohio State, Tatum helped the Buckeyes to a 1968 National Championship his sophomore season with a 27-16 win over USC in the Rose Bowl. As a three-year varsity starter, he led Ohio State to a 27-2 record and at least a share of three Big Ten conference titles.

Hayes later said about Tatum: “Pound for pound, the finest athlete I ever coached.”

In college, Tatum was a unanimous First Team All-America selection in 1970 and consensus pick in 1969. He earned First Team All-Conference honors three times and was named National Defensive Player of the Year in 1970.

In the 1971 NFL Draft, he was selected with the No. 19 pick by the Oakland Raiders.
“The Raiders were the only team that I hadn’t heard from,” Tatum says. “I thought I was going to the Giants. I didn’t even know where Oakland was.”

The Silver & Black Assassin

In 1971, Al Davis’s Oakland Raiders had a history of “mad bombing,” wide-open football. The selection of Jack Tatum would change that reputation.

“They had a great offense,” says Tatum, “But the year I came, they made a conscious decision to build an intimidating defense.”

Tatum was one of Oakland’s cornerstones. After an exhibition game against the Baltimore Colts, sportswriters were already comparing his hits to that of Chicago linebacker Dick Butkus.
But while Butkus’ defensive style was more mad dog and ferocious, Tatum used glowering intimidation followed by explosion. They nicknamed him “The Assassin.”

His 1971 play led to a spot on the All-Rookie Team. During his 10-year NFL career, Tatum made All-Pro five times, totaled 37 career interceptions, set an NFL record for a 104-yard touchdown fumble recovery, and started 12 playoff games.

“I saw Jack play three times in Pittsburgh,” says longtime Passaic friend Ron Smith. “When Franco Harris would see Jack coming, he’d run out of bounds. Lynn Swan would flat run away from him.”

Along with Skip Henderson, Willie Brown, and George Atkinson, Tatum’s Raiders secondary was a receiver’s nightmare. “If you came across the middle,” Tatum says, “you were going to get hit.”

Mialik, a tight end who played against Tatum at Clifton, in college with Wisconsin, and in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons, says, “Though quiet, Jack is really a nice guy. But on the field, you had to know where No. 32 was. Playing against him so much didn’t make it an easier, but I knew what to expect.”

While the Raiders usually made the playoffs, what Tatum describes as “freaky things” kept them from the Super Bowl – including the “Immaculate Reception” that gave the Pittsburgh Steelers a 1972 playoff win.

With 22 seconds left in the game, Tatum unloaded on running back Frenchy Fuqua just as Terry Bradshaw’s pass reached him. After the collision, the ball soared into the air and Harris grabbed it off his shoe tops and raced into the end zone for the win.

“I hit Fuqua, not the ball,” Tatum says. “When I saw Franco running, I thought, ‘Boy, he’s in a hurry to get to the locker room. I thought the game was over and we won. Then I saw our guys chasing him.”

In 1977, the Raiders finally reached the Super Bowl to face the Minnesota Vikings, and the nation witnessed why Tatum was one of the hardest hitters ever to play football. On a pass over the middle, he creamed Sammy White, knocking White’s helmet off and setting the tone for the rest of the game. The Raiders won, 32-14.

“I had a good read on the pattern, jumped it, and got there when the ball arrived,” describes Tatum. “But he hung onto it – so it wasn’t a great play, just a great hit.”

But the play many remember Tatum for – and one that still haunts the NFL – was his hit on the New England Patriot’s Darryl Stingley in a 1978 exhibition game that left the receiver paralyzed from the waist down.

Many criticized Tatum for the hard hit during an exhibition game; others said he was wrong for never apologizing to Stingley. Some in the media called Tatum a thug or cheap shot artist, making him the symbol for over-the-top violence in sports.

After an entire career of being praised for hard hits, Tatum was now being vilified.
Both coaches, New England’s Chuck Fairbanks and Oakland’s John Madden, said it was a clean, legal hit. Tatum also did go to the hospital to visit Stingley, something Madden confirms, but was not allowed to see him.

“As far as it being an exhibition game,” Tatum says, “I knew one way to play and that was all out, all the time. But the play did get me down… my performance went down. But I talked to my mom and brothers, and they said I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Still, the hit remained. Though he later expressed public remorse and did attempt to reach out to Stingley, the two never spoke. Stingley died in April 2007.

Toughest Fight

Tatum retired after the 1980 season, spending his final year in football with the Houston Oilers and totaling a career high seven interceptions.

After retiring, he wrote three books, They Call Me Assassin (1980), They Still Call Me Assassin (1989), and Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum (1996).
But his toughest battle was just ahead.

In 2003, after what he thought was a simple cold, Tatum contracted a staph infection from diabetes, which led to the eventual amputation of his right leg.

“When he got sick, it affected him some, depressed him,” says Smith. “But when he saw the children with the same disease, it changed him. He wanted to help others.”

Today, Tatum works on behalf of many diabetes organizations, including the Central Ohio Diabetes Foundation, which finances treatment. In fact, before the Passaic ceremony to retire his number, he will stop off in Ohio to take part in fundraising efforts.

He’ll also check on his own treatment with world renowned diabetes specialist Dr. Manuel Tzagournis, the foundation’s head.

“When Dr. Tzagournis heard I was ill, he called me to come back to Ohio so he could examine me. He saved my life. While I was playing at Ohio State, Dr. Tzagournis was Woody Hayes’s doctor – Woody was a diabetic, too.

“Getting involved helps me to make something good come out of my situation.”

On Thanksgiving Day in Passaic this year, Tatum is looking forward to visiting his hometown and seeing family, friends and especially hoping to see many of his old teammates.

“I’m hoping a lot of our teammates will show up to honor Jack,” says Tecza. “It will be a great reunion for us.”

“Eleven NFL players come from Passaic,” says Greg Komeshok, Passaic athletic director, “And Jack and Craig Heyward are probably the most legendary. But you can’t match Jack’s sports pedigree – he’s been part of a state champion high school team, a national champion college team, and a Super Bowl winner. This is an honor that’s long overdue and great for our program to recognize.”

Jack Tatum’s former teammates are invited to take part in his number-retiring ceremony. For information about how to be part of this special day, call Passaic Athletic Director Greg Komeshok at 973-470-5228.

Leading in the Poles

Peter Eagler is the Grand Marshal of the Pulaski Day Parade By Jordan Schwartz

Peter Eagler is about to live every Polonia’s dream. On Oct. 5, the Clifton City Councilman will lead nearly 100,000 like-minded individuals from the Tri-State area up Fifth Ave. in Manhattan as the Grand Marshal of the 71st annual Pulaski Day Parade.

“It’s really a wonderful honor to be in this position,” he said. “I started marching in the late ’70s, but I didn’t think that I would ever be Grand Marshall.”

The Pulaski Day Parade is the second longest running procession in New York City behind the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which began in 1762.

It’s been celebrated since 1937 to honor Kazimierz Pulaski, a Polish immigrant who became a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Eagler, 53, has been a dedicated member of the local Polish community since he was a child. Growing up in the Athenia section of town, Peter went to school at St. Stephen’s in Passaic and Paul VI in Clifton, all the while attending church picnics with his parents who were involved in the Central Polish Organization.

But Eagler wasn’t interested in just his own culture. In 1976, he graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a degree in political science and Russian-area studies.

A year later, he took a job as a safety inspector for the New Jersey Highway Authority, but after a decade, Eagler became the director of Heritage Festivals at the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel.

In 1990, the Cliftonite decided he could best help the diverse population of his hometown by becoming a lawmaker, and so he ran for City Council, a body on which he served until 2002.

Eagler was also a Passaic County Freeholder from 1996 to 2005, becoming the first Democrat to lead the board in 12 years when he was elected director in 1998.

From 2002 to 2006, the Greendale Rd. resident served as assemblyman from New Jersey’s 34th district. In 2006, he returned to the Clifton City Council.

Eagler has long been a friend to foreigners looking to make a new home in North Jersey, helping many who would call him with immigration problems.

But since being elected Grand Marshal last November, the councilman’s main focus has been preparing for this year’s parade.

“I try to attend as many of the local events as I can and I’m also helping to raise funds through the ad journal to defray the cost of the parade,” he said.

A Parade Banquet was held on Sept. 27 at the Marriot Marquis in New York.

On Oct. 5, the festivities begin with a 9 am mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and a 10:30 am breakfast at the 3 West Club between 5th and 6th Aves.

The actual procession steps off, led by the CHS Marching Mustangs Band, from 25th St. at 12:30 pm and continues up Fifth Ave. to 53rd St.

The theme of this year’s parade is “Celebrating the 400th Anniversary of Polish Pioneers Arriving at the Jamestown Colony in Virginia.”

According to polamcon.org, “Polish craftsmen, skilled in the production of potash, soap, tar and glass manufacturing, arrived at the first English colony in the New World at the invitation of Captain John Smith, who had become acquainted with them in Europe.

“Eleven years after their arrival, the Poles successfully led the first strike in the New World for equal rights. They had contributed so much to ensure the survival of the colony that when advised by the Governor that they would be excluded from voting in an upcoming election, said ‘no vote, no work.’ Such was their value to the colony that they were granted the right to vote.”

A Little Bit of Give and Take

Luis Perdomo and Iris Pallero are making it in America

by Joe Hawrylko

If there’s one thing that you learn from marriage, it’s that compromises are a way of life. After 16 years together, Irisdania Pallero and Luis Perdomo now know that sacrifices are sometimes necessary.

In 2006, Perdomo, then a supervisor at Mayer Textile, then on Brighton Rd. in Clifton, was presented with a formidable question: relocate with the business or find a new job. “They asked me to move to North Carolina,” he recalled while speaking from the comfort of his living room in his Sears Pl. home. “But it is kind of hard with all of my family that is here.”

His wife’s relatives from her native Dominican Republic were mostly in New Jersey, so uprooting his family would have been difficult. But at the same time, Perdomo knew his job opportunities were limited, since he never got a college degree after immigrating to New Jersey from Colombia in 1986.

Eventually, the couple reached a compromise: Perdomo would work part-time while attending Passaic County Community College to study technology, while Pallero temporarily supported the family as a social worker with the Passaic County Board of Social Services. “That was the idea since the beginning,” explained Perdomo, who said he had intended to go to school earlier. “But I was kidding myself for 20 years. When you start making good money, you forget about school. But at some point in your life, you realize that you need education.”

Now, almost two years later, the 47- year old father of two is on the verge of graduation. Perdomo will receive his associate’s degree in information technology from PCCC this December—something that he most likely could not have done without his wife’s financial and emotional support.

Given her arduous path to America, it’s easy to understand why Pallero was so quick to make sacrifices to help her husband obtain his degree. After all, if Pallero’s mother, Rafaela, had not made her own sacrifices, their family might have remained in the Dominican Republic instead of immigrating to the United States in November 1974.

For the first 10 years of her life, Pallero only knew about her mother from the stories her grandparents would tell her and some old, tattered photographs that were around their small house.

“They just talked about her, because we didn’t have telephone lines,” recalled the 44-year-old “At that time, we used mail a lot.”

Pallero figured that her mother had left Villa Lobos, a little village of just 50 homes in the Dominican Republic, for greener pastures in the United States like so many others had done. It wasn’t until years later when Pallero immigrated to Paterson that she learned of her mother’s true motives.

“She was sending money back to my grandfather to help out,” explained Pallero, who came to the United States when her mother saved up enough money. “We had a very small, wooden house. We eventually built a new house there—that’s where my mom visits.”

Looking back, Pallero added that she really didn’t fully appreciate that sacrifice until she was much older.

“Maybe when I was in my last year of high school, it sunk in,” said the 1983 Paterson Eastside graduate. “Just all the sacrifices she made.”

And even today, Pallero still hasn’t forgotten everything that her mother, Rafaela, did for her. Her mother brought her here, and then pushed her through her teenage years, making sure she had life goals.

“I was the first to graduate from college in my family. It really didn’t sink in for a while,” said Pallero, who attended Rutgers New Brunswick, graduating in 1988 with a bachelor’s in psychology. “My mother always emphasized how important it was.”

However, another motivating factor to go to college was a summer job. “I had a job at a factory with my aunt,” recalled Pallero. “It was tough. Eventually, I said, ‘I can’t take this, it’s not me.’” She also met her future husband in 1988, after they were introduced through a mutual friend. Their paths here were similar. Much like his wife, Perdomo immigrated here with nothing.

“I guess when you’re down there, you really think you can come here and collect dollars off the trees,” said Perdomo, who, in 1986, left his native city of Cali, Colombia to come to Paterson. “But you pay a price—not seeing your family and leaving behind 25 years of your life.”

When he settled in Paterson, Perdomo was an immigrant with skills in hands-on labor and limited English. However, he began studying the language at night classes, eventually beginning to work at Mayer Textile in 1988, a job that Perdomo held until 2006.

“You never know when you’re going to be on the other side of the table,” Iris said of her husband’s unexpected unemployment.

As a social worker for nearly 20 years with the Passaic County Board of Social Services, Pallero regularly deals with individuals who are in similar situations to what her husband faced as an immigrant.

“You also get a lot of people who have been to college and got their Ph.D,” she added. “You never know where you’re going to be.” Born into poverty herself, Pallero is naturally sympathetic to the plight of the less fortunate. “I’m there to help them get rid of the barriers preventing self-sufficiency,” she explained.

Perdomo also believes in helping others and giving back to the community, having coached soccer for nine years with the Clifton Stallions Rec and Traveling leagues.

“At first, it was probably just to make sure my daughters had someone who really knew the game,” explained Perdomo, who played semi-pro soccer in Colombia. “Second, we all have a teacher inside of us. Like I said before, I am happy to be giving back to the society that gave me a lot.”

He believes that what he does keeps kids on the path to success.

“The other day, I saw my daughter (Jazamine) walking down Van Houten Ave. to practice,” said Perdomo, now the Stallions U-10 girls traveling team coach. “She’s doing the right thing and not getting into trouble. I’m proud.”

Karma seems to have rewarded the couple, who now enjoy the benefits of their hard work and sacrifices. They purchased their two-family home on Sears Pl. in Botany Village in 1993, moving from Elmwood Park. “We were looking for a better place to raise a family,” Pallero explained, citing Clifton’s diversity.

And she might not be done yet. With her husband set to graduate, returning to school for an advanced degree is a consideration. “It’s still on my mind,” she said. “I have called Rutgers about it. I want to go for my MSW (Masters in Social Work).” If she does return, Pallero knows her husband will be there to help her pursue her dreams.

However, no matter what she achieves, in Iris’ mind, she wouldn’t have anything if it wasn’t for her mother’s sacrifices back in the 1960s. “If it wasn’t for my mother, God knows where I’d be,” she laughed. “Probably in the Dominican Republic, with three or five or ten kids or something.”

Family, Religion Above All Else

The six-member Aref clan attends daily mosque services

By Jordan Schwartz

When you visit the Aref family of West 1st St., you’re greeted before you enter the door.

“The man is here!” Ahmad, 8, shouted to the rest of his family as I walked up the front steps one recent Thursday evening.

Ahmad, who attends School 4 right across the street, is the eldest of four young children and his father, Said, says he’s beginning to take on some of the responsibilities of caring for his three siblings.

Crossing the threshold of the Aref home, you’re welcomed by the sights and scents of Palestinian culture. Ahmad and his sister, Hadeel, 6, bounce up and down on the couch watching a Middle Eastern children’s television program, while their mother Fatima, 26, prepares dinner in the kitchen.

The baby of the family, Abdullah, 1, cries due to all the commotion, and the youngest girl, Dana, 3, sleeps upstairs.

“Family is very important,” explained Said, 31. “It’s kind of number one in everyone’s life. Every time you do something, you ask someone in your family first. They’re always there for you.”

Said’s father, Mohy Iddin, first came to the U.S. in 1954, when he lived for a brief time in Columbus, Ohio. In the early ’60s, he moved to Puerto Rico where there was a growing Arabic community, but Mohy Iddin returned to Palestine in 1977 when his wife, Fada, gave birth to Said.

Aref was born in the small town of Turmos Ayya, just outside the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank. He was the youngest of six children and enjoyed playing soccer growing up.
“It’s a different culture and it’s sometimes dangerous,” he said. “I wasn’t part of the fighting but life was not normal.”

Aref said he knew three people who were killed before immigrating to the United States in 1995. But he didn’t leave his homeland to escape the violence, rather to follow his siblings and take advantage of the educational opportunities America had to offer.

Said attended Clifton High School for one year so that he could improve his English. He said he experienced some prejudice during his time there.

“During the morning rush hour traffic in the hallways, I’d hear derogatory comments, but I was peaceful and wouldn’t respond.”

Following graduation, he studied international business at Montclair State University. After earning his degree, he got a job in White Plains.

Said’s Muslim faith is very important to him and so he would take time every day at work to stop and pray — something that his co-workers may have taken a greater interest in following 9/11.

“I never experienced prejudice because of that, but people around me did,” he said. “I always tell my wife, ‘Don’t put yourself down.’ No one is above the law so just call the police if there’s a problem. Don’t do it the street way.”

Six years ago, Aref began working with his brother, Hamed, as an accountant at H.M.A. Accounting and Tax Services on Main Ave. The firm is mainly Muslim and so salah, or ritual prayer, is no problem during the day.

The Arefs attend services at Omar Mosque on nearby Getty Ave. on a daily basis, especially during the recent Ramadan holiday.

The family’s location is convenient for other reasons as well.

“Corrados is right here and the malls are not far away,” said Fatima, as she brought me a glass of orange juice and a neatly folded paper towel on a golden serving tray. Ahmad, meanwhile, stared curiously at my notepad.

“We like Clifton; my wife knows the area,” Said concluded. “We’re part of Clifton.”

The Bard of Duch Hill

Imagery of Clifton wins Jim Gwyn prestigious poetry award By Jordan Schwartz

For most people, a morning train ride into the city is a time to relax. Many commuters will read the paper, sip a cup of coffee, or catch some extra Z’s before a long day at work.

But James D. Gwyn, 59, isn’t most people. For the Bard of Dutch Hill, the daily trip across the Hudson is for poetry.

“I try to write something every day,” he said. “I find a spot on the train facing forward and write until I get to New York, which usually gives me a lot of uninterrupted time.”

However, Gwyn wrote his poem, “The Burning Bed,” at an adult school workshop.

“Usually I’ll go through seven or eight drafts, but every once in a while there are poems that just come right out like this one.”

The piece won the Cliftonite first prize in the 2008 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest sponsored by the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College. He’ll be reading the poem at the Paterson Poetry Center on Nov. 8.

“The poem is really a dream sequence and speaks to the difference between illusion and reality and how it is easy to confuse the two,” said Gwyn.

“The Burning Bed” also references some famous Clifton locations that have caught fire over the years, such as the mattress store, the Pirogi Factory and Lee’s Hawaiian Islander.

“All on Lexington Ave!” writes the poet. “And what was left, defying all odds? The Hot Grill!?”
Gwyn has been crafting poems since he was a teenager growing up on the shores of Lake Ontario in Medina, New York.

“It was just a way to capture ideas, thoughts and feelings,” he said.

Gwyn majored in creative writing and English literature at Binghamton University, studying under Basil Bunting, a British modernist poet.

Following graduation, the aspiring writer traveled the country, taking a number of odd jobs from picking strawberries in Oregon to working as a bank teller in Rochester.

Gwyn returned to Binghamton in 1975 as a part-time grad student, during which time, he survived by tutoring blind students, driving a taxi cab and delivering pizza.

While at grad school, the poet got a call from someone who worked for a magazine publisher in New York City. The friend helped Gwyn get a job in the industry and he’s been in Manhattan ever since.

He’s been a desktop publisher, an editor and even a crossword puzzle writer.

“I’ve done everything except run the press,” joked Gwyn, who today works as a senior project manager in marketing and publication services at The College Board in New York.

But the Dutch Hill resident still finds plenty of time to write. He’s had his work published in several chapbooks and anthologies over the years, but he’s never been honored with anything as prestigious as the Ginsberg Award before.

“I think it’s one of the most fantastic things that ever happened to me,” he said.

2008 CHS Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee: Gymnast Alicia Mazepa

By Jordan Schwartz

Alicia Mazepa won’t be able to attend the Clifton High School Athletic Hall of Fame Luncheon on Oct. 19, but she has a good reason — she’ll be in Dubai. The gymnastics and track inductee works as a freelance choreographer and dancer traveling the world putting together shows for conventions held by large companies such as Reebok, Subway and Panasonic.

Back in the States, the 1997 grad has danced on tour for Jay-Z, on television and on film.

Mazepa, 29, was born in Glen Ridge, but grew up in Clifton, attending St. Clare School on Allwood Rd. until switching to CHS in ninth grade.

There, she became a star performer on both the gymnastics and track squads. As an all-around gymnast, Mazepa was named All-League and All-County, advancing all the way to States in the floor exercise.

She was also named to the winter track All-League and All-County teams on two occasions, breaking a number of indoor track records and becoming ranked among the best pentathlon athletes in the country.

In the spring, she was a three-time All-League and All-County track star, and was named runner-up for the All-County Scholar Athlete of the Year Award.

Outdoors, Mazepa broke nine school records and finished third in the long jump at the state Meet of Champions. She also competed in the triple jump, high jump and hurdles.

After graduation, Mazepa earned a spot on the Towson University dance team, leading the squad to the top of the rankings for the three years she was there.

The Cliftonite broke into the entertainment business when she auditioned to be a dancer at the 2002 NBA All-Star Game. She not only got the gig, but also found an agent who booked her in her first commercial.

Since then, she’s danced and choreographed for Beyonce, the New York Knicks, the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, the MTV Video Music Awards and SNL.

Mazepa recently bought a home on Graham Pl. near WWMS where she lives with her Boston terrier, Roxy. The CHS alum says she’d like to open a dance school in the Basking Ridge area by next year.

“I’d probably teach there at first because I’d want it done my way but eventually I’d like someone to take it over,” she said. “My goal now is to just keep working because it’s not an easy industry to be in.”

Good-Bye Yankee Stadium

By Jack De Vries

On Sept. 21, the fans came for one last time… to sit under its white façade, walk on its warning track, and visit its ghosts. They came to Yankee Stadium on Sept. 21 to see one more win – a 7-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles – and take with them as many memories as they could.

During this final game, they cheered one last time for their heroes, past and present, in “the House That Ruth Built.” They breathed the smells of the great stadium. They ran their hands over the concrete walls, saying farewell to an old friend.

And, one last time, they looked out on the emerald grass and brown dirt field, taking a mental photo to last a lifetime.

The great Yankee Stadium, an arena second only to the Coliseum in Rome, will soon be no more.
And when it’s gone, Clifton loses a bit of its own past.

Yankee Stadium, which opened April 18, 1923, is just 12 miles from the city. For generations, Cliftonites have made the trip over the George Washington Bridge and up the Major Deegan Expressway to the stadium.

Sal Sperlazzi, 94, then of Passaic, took another route to Yankee Stadium to see Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and others.

“As a kid, I’d hitchhike down Paterson Plank Road to the ferry,” he says, “cross the river and take the subway up. I’d sit in the bleachers ’cause we didn’t have money in those days. We’d get home the same way.”

While fans have memories of the stadium, the Yankees have their own remembrances of Clifton.
The builder of Yankee Stadium, team owner Col. Jacob Ruppert, loved hosting beefsteaks in his brewery, catered by Clifton’s legendary beefsteak inventor, Hap Nightingale. Later, many Yankee stars, including Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, and Yogi Berra, would also enjoy a Nightingale beefsteak.

But Clifton’s history with the Yankees goes beyond food – back to the time of the stadium’s birth.

David vs. Goliath

In 1923 – just 11 days after Yankee Stadium opened – Babe Ruth and the Yankees journeyed to Clifton to play an exhibition game against the Doherty Silk Sox, arguably the greatest white semi pro baseball team in the country.

When Yankees manager Miller Huggins told his players about the Clifton game, the Babe was quoted as saying, “Fine. That is one ball park I like to play on.”

He wasn’t kidding. Twice as a member of the Boston Red Sox, Ruth played at the Doherty Oval behind the large mill on Main Ave., earning $5 from owner Harry Doherty for a home run. Wanting more prize money, Babe looked forward to his game in Clifton.

On April 29, 1923, he earned another $5… and caused a riot.

With the Yankees leading 9-6 in the ninth, Babe whacked a majestic home run that traveled nearly 500 feet over the Oval’s fence and beyond, bouncing onto the Erie Railroad tracks. The homer so thrilled the 15,000 fans that they rushed the field to personally congratulate Ruth… who had to be rescued by police.

The next year, the Silk Sox got their revenge as pitcher Harry Harper clouted a ninth inning homer to beat Ruth and the Yankees, 6-5.

It was the last time the teams would play against each other but not their final meeting.
Throughout the following decades, the Yankees continued their relationship with Clifton – the most famous being with the opening of a 40-lane bowling alley in the Styertowne Shipping Mall on April 28, 1958, owned by future Hall of Fame players Phil Rizzuto and Yogi Berra. Many of their Yankees teammates were frequent guests.

But there is one date that unites Clifton to Yankee Stadium forever – the celebration of “Clifton Day” at the stadium 41 years ago. The event, attended by more than 4,000 Clifton fans, was part of the city’s “Golden Jubilee,” recognizing Clifton’s first 50 years of existence.

Traffic Jams and Mantle Blasts

The Clifton Day celebration took place April 30, 1967, during the Yankees’ doubleheader against the California Angels. Heading into the date, New York was 8-5 and just a half game out of first place. Unfortunately, the Yanks would finish that year in ninth place at 72-90 – its once great dynasty old and crumbling.

But on that beautiful April day, the future of the team, city, and stadium looked promising.
Clifton’s famous crooner Frankie Randall (who cancelled appearances on English TV to be part of the festivities) would sing the National Anthem, Clifton Mayor Joseph Vanecek was to throw out the first ball, and the famous Clifton Mustangs Marching Band was scheduled to perform the Star Spangled Banner, as well as entertain between games.

Also planned by Clifton Day organizer Terry LaCorte was a reunion of the Doherty Silk Sox – most who had not seen each other since they battled Babe’s Yankees in the 1920s.
However, some of the festivities never took place.

Vanecek arrived at the stadium on-time, but many of the Clifton fans – journeying to the stadium on 30 chartered buses – got stuck in a massive traffic jam on the Major Deegan. So did the Marching Mustangs, traveling in four buses of their own.

The entire contingent arrived 15 minutes after the game started, with Randall missing his chance to sing.

“Clifton Day is a happy memory today,” says LaCorte, “but I wasn’t too happy back then with the traffic.”

But the day quickly improved, especially on the field. In the first game, Clifton fans watched as Mickey Mantle smacked a home run, the 498th of his career, off Angels’ pitcher Minnie Rojas, to power New York to a 4-1 win. Fans also saw Whitey Ford pitch one-run ball over seven innings, with reliever Dooley Womack getting the victory.

Between games, Vanecek and Randall were interviewed on TV by Yankees broadcaster Rizzuto.
“That was such a thrill for me,” says Randall, “because guys like DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Berra, and (Tommy) Henrich were my idols growing up.

“When I was asked to perform at Yankee Stadium, I couldn’t say no. Though I did miss singing there, it was still a great day – they took me in the dugout and in the press box, a real nice tour. Clifton Day became one of the most exciting times in my life.”

On the field, the Silk Sox held their reunion with players like Clifton’s “Bibbs” Raymond and Benny Borgmann in attendance.

Ironically, Raymond was once signed by the Yankees and went to spring training with the club in 1925. Later that season, he “jumped’ the team to go back and play with the Silk Sox. A combination of homesickness and not being able to break into the starting line-up caused Raymond to return to Clifton – something that angered the Yankees, who believed Bibbs had a future with the club.

Borgmann had his own history at Yankee Stadium. In the 1920s while a member of the Silk Sox, he tried out on the field and was offered a contract with the Boston Red Sox, in town to play the Yankees.

However, Borgmann, who would eventually be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, refused to report to spring training so that he could complete his lucrative basketball season. For his actions, Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned him from organized baseball, and it took Borgmann years to earn his reinstatement.

But on that special day at Yankee Stadium, all was forgotten by Borgmann and Raymond, who watched the game from the mayor’s box. Between games, memories were made for the 145 Marching Mustangs, led by drum majorette Barbara Williams and Jubilee pageant beauty queen Susan Sisco.

Behind a banner that read, “Clifton Golden Jubilee – Fifty Years of Progress,” the Mustangs marched in formation to the center of the field where they performed five songs, including Peter Gunn. Each selection was announced by Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard.

The Herald-News reported, “All tunes were well-received by the audience.”

Besides the traffic, the only black mark on the day was the Yankees’ loss in the nightcap to the Angels, 4-2, with Mantle accounting for both New York runs with a two-run double.

Clifton Fans Say Good-Bye

In 1993, Brian Reilly saw his first Yankees game at age 10 with his Clifton Western Division Little League team. Since then, he’s been hooked.

“I became a big Don Mattingly fan,” Reilly, 25, says. “First, I got the pennant and then a Mattingly shirt. When I’d watch the Yankees on TV, I’d watch him.”

As he got older, Reilly began to watch Mattingly more at the stadium. “As soon as I got my license,” he says, “I started going to about 10 games a year.” At 19, Reilly took a big step as a Yankees fan – becoming one of the stadium’s legendary “Bleacher Creatures.”

“I have what I describe as ‘an emotional attachment’ to the Yankees,” Reilly says, “and a seat in Section 39 of the bleachers for the past six years.” Along with Clifton friends Joe and John Pecora, he attends about 20 games a year. Known for their game-starting “Roll Call” (the Bleacher Creatures chant each starting Yankees player’s name until he waves), Reilly and his fellow Creatures are famous for their serenades of opposing right fielders.

“If I was Trot Nixon,” Reilly laughs, “and I heard some of the songs we sing, I’d go home and cry.” A recent Montclair State University graduate who works at DeLuxe Formalwear on Main Ave., Reilly says his best moment came in the 2004 American League Championship Series Game 1 against the Boston Red Sox. “(Boston’s) Curt Schilling was pitching but we were doing the “Who’s your daddy?” chants to Pedro Martinez,” he says. “There was a point in the game when the Yankees had bases loaded and Hideki Matsui hit a single. Gary Sheffield slid, scored and pumped his fist in the air.

“We went crazy. I was there with my father and we started hugging strangers we were so happy. People were throwing $9 beers in the air – nobody cared if they got wet. It was incredible.”

When the Series turned sour and Boston came back from a 3-0 deficit, Reilly learned something about his girlfriend Krystina. “That’s when I saw she was a keeper,” he says. “I was so upset during the four games the Yankees lost, I’d leave the house without talking, just to take a walk. I couldn’t sleep for a week because I was so upset. But she stayed with me, even though we’d only been together for a little bit.”

On Sunday, Sept. 21, Reilly attended the last game at Yankee Stadium. “I told my friends that I needed to take my own car because I didn’t want anybody rushing me out that night,” he says.

“You could tell the game was going to be special – Spike Lee was in the bleachers filming us. I remember looking around and thinking that this was where Ruth, Gehrig and DiMaggio played.”

After the Yankees’ win, Reilly’s friends left, leaving him alone in the stadium with other diehard fans. “I walked around with my video camera,” he says, “taking pictures and trying to make the night last. I finally left at about 1:30 a.m.” Though he plans to attend games at the new Yankee Stadium next year, Reilly will never forget the old building. “You know,” he says, “they call Yankee Stadium a cathedral. And they’re right, it really is.”