Alert “06880” reader Carol Gluckman sent along this 1980s-era t-shirt.
The owner may have loved all those stores, restaurants and more.
But unless you’re a beach, high school, institution or neighborhood — or were very lucky — today you’re just a memory.
Click “Comments” below to share your memories of any of these golden oldies.
Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback, Local business, People, Restaurants
Tagged Carol Gluckman
The World Cup began yesterday in Russia. Americans are watching wistfully. For the first time since 1986, we failed to qualify for the biggest sports event on the planet. (Let’s go, Iceland!).
But we’ll be there in 2026.
On Wednesday, FIFA announced that — after 2022 in Qatar — the World Cup will be hosted jointly by the US, Canada and Mexico.
We beat back a bid by Morocco — and ran up the score, 134 votes to 65 — thanks in part to a Westport native.
Brian Reich
Brian Reich grew up here, playing goalkeeper on local travel teams and for Greens Farms Academy.
A huge fan, he sat several rows away from Pele at the opening match of the 1999 Women’s World Cup. He and his wife Karen Dahl — a former standout player at Danbury High School — took their 2 soccer-playing kids to the Women’s World Cup final in Vancouver in 2015.
Brian blogged every day about the 2014 World Cup. He loves the game’s simplicity, beauty and accessibility — and the excitement that comes every 4 years, when the entire globe stops for a month, to share the sport.
But for years, he made his living in politics. He worked as a speechwriter in the Clinton White House, and served as Vice President Al Gore’s briefing director.
He formed a digital strategy company that consulted on political campaigns around the country, then branched out to areas like global branding, media, startups and non-profits.
Brian wrote for the New York Times, Fast Company, Fortune, Tech Crunch, Vice, Wired and AdAge, and appeared on NPR and Fox News.
Yet the pull of soccer remained strong. Brian analyzed and developed data to push groups like US Soccer and Major League Soccer to think differently about fan engagement.
Last August, he began a new gig: communications director for what was called the “United Bid.”
His primary responsibility was writing the Bid Book. Submitted to FIFA, it laid out the vision and strategy for how the 3 North American countries would host the 2026 World Cup.
He also helped shape the message and media strategy, and worked wth all cities involved in the bid. The small team — 6 full-time staffers — communicated not only with FIFA, but 3 very different national soccer federations.
Since signing on last summer, Brian says, “it’s been a sprint to the finish.” He and his colleagues hosted FIFA officials for visits, and answered countless questions.
A week ago, he flew to Moscow for bid rehearsals and final preparations. On the final day he was the first person in the building, running one last set of technical checks.
When Brian walked into the building at 6:30 a.m. to check on final preparations, he saw this: the actual World Cup. (Photo/Brian Reich)
Six hours later, United Bid officials delivered their final argument. Brian had slept only 3 to 4 hours a night for 10 days. But he was not tired.
Or nervous.
“I was excited,” he recalls. “I knew we had done everything possible to put ourselves in a position to win. The rest was out of our hands.”
He was careful not to be too confident. He’d been in war rooms on election nights — and was on Gore’s campaign during the long 2000 recount.
Some members of his group had been part of the American bid 7 years ago, when Russia and Qatar pulled the rug out from under us.
Still, FIFA’s general secretary showed a giant slide, comparing the United and Morocco bids. It was clear to all that the North American one was vastly superior.
The final presentation in Moscow. (Photo/Brian Reich)
Suddenly, the announcement came. Hugs were shared. Tears flowed. It was, Brian says, “an incredible moment.”
He’s already looking forward to 2026. First though, there’s the little matter of the current World Cup.
The US is not playing. But like most soccer fans, Brian loves the international game.
Spain could contend for the title this year, he says. France is interesting. It’s hard to bet against the Germans. Iceland could shock the world, and go deep.
He has no favorite team this year. Instead, he headed to the opening match — Saudi Arabia versus host Russia — and then flew home.
He’ll watch the rest of the games with his family on TV.
The entire world will do the same 8 years from now. Except for those of us lucky enough to watch in person, when — thanks in part to Brian Reich — the World Cup comes to North America.
Brian Reich near Red Square.
Posted in Organizations, People, Sports
Tagged Brian Reich, US Soccer, World Cup 2018, World Cup 2026
If you missed last Friday’s Staples High School concert, you weren’t alone. Tickets went faster than “Springsteen on Broadway” (and, being free, for a lot less cash).
But you don’t have to wait a year for the next one.
Here, thanks to the indefatigable Jim Honeycutt, is the entire show.
The symphonic band and orchestra, jazz band and choral group Orphenians — they’re all here.
So is a special tribute to retiring orchestra director Adele Valovich. The show is narrated by actor/director James Naughton.
Bravo!
BONUS REEL: As if that’s not enough, here’s the recent spring concert, featuring Nick Mariconda’s Staples jazz band, and their Bedford Middle School counterparts, led by Gregg Winters.
Two games into the 1987 NFL season, the Players Association struck. The issue was free agency.
To break the union, team owners hired replacements. For 3 weeks, they played.
One of those substitute athletes — derisively called “scabs,” though “replacement player” is the preferred term — was Skip Lane.
He was well known in Westport. Lane was a 1979 graduate of Staples High School — where he starred at quarterback for his father, legendary coach Paul Lane — and then at the University of Mississippi.
Yet with only 5 Canadian Football League games behind him – and brief stints with the New York Jets and Kansas City Chiefs, after college — he was unknown to much of the football-loving American public.
In 1987 Lane was out of the game, working in commercial real estate in Fairfield County — a job he still holds.
But he excelled as a safety with the replacement Washington Redskins. They went 3-0 during the strike, culminating with a Monday Night Football win over a Dallas Cowboys team filled with veterans who had crossed the picket line.
Some fans wanted familiar players back.
When the 3-game strike was over, the Redskins released Lane. They went on to win the Super Bowl — but neither Lane nor his fellow replacements received a championship ring.
That story was part of an ESPN “30 For 30” documentary that aired in September. “Year of the Scab” explored the lives of the 1500 replacement players. They were “caught in the crosshairs of media fueled controversy between owners, players and fans alike,” the network said.
Lane was featured frequently in the video. He mentioned his “buddies from Westport” who attended the game against the Giants. There were only 9,000 fans that day.
Over the years, Lane had no contact at all with the Redskins.
But the ESPN documentary created a groundswell of support for righting a wrong: getting rings for the replacement players. Washington probably would not have reached the Super Bowl without them.
Yesterday — in a brief ceremony at the Redskins’ practice facility — Lane and his former teammates got their rings.
It took 31 years.
But it sure looks good.
Skip Lane shows his Super Bowl ring to current Washington Redskins quarterback Alex Smith.
Posted in Categories, Media, People, Sports, Staples HS
Tagged Skip Lane, Super Bow XXI, Washington Redskins
Last night, Staples Tuition Grants handed out $304,000 in scholarships to 113 high school seniors, and graduates already in college.
The event marked 75 years of STG financial help. It’s always uplifting and warm — a celebration of promise, purpose and community.
As usual, the Staples library was packed with recipients, donors, and proud family members and teachers.
But this time, there were younger faces.
The first-ever Saugatuck Elementary School Community Award was given. It’s a project of the school’s Caring Council — 4th and 5th graders who volunteer for philanthropic causes — and they were there to see “their” honoree.
They and their classmates walked a combined 2,501 miles this year, in a fundraising effort. They mapped their miles “across the USA,” with “stops” at universities attended by their teachers.
Caring Council members who attended last night’s ceremony were thrilled to meet awardee Case Videler. An SES graduate himself — now headed to the University of Delaware — he embodies the Caring Council mission.
Case Videler, and members of the Saugatuck Elementary School Caring Council.
Saugatuck El and Staples Tuition Grants share even more ties than Case, though.
This year’s 13th annual walk-a-thon kicked off with a speech by DARE officer Ned Batlin — a former STG recipient.
And a powerful video celebrating the organization’s 75th anniversary was created by Westport’s own Doug Tirola — a former SES parent.
It was a night that the 113 scholarship recipients will always remember.
And one that some future grads — members of Staples High’s classes of 2025 and 2026 — won’t forget either.
(For more on Staples Tuition Grants, click here.)
Posted in Children, Education, Organizations, People, Staples HS
Tagged Case Videler, Saugatuck Elementary School, Staples Tuition Grants
There’s tons of talk about the vast gulf between school districts in Connecticut. Westport and Bridgeport — just a few miles apart — offer particularly stark differences.
Much of the time, it’s only talk.
But a collaboration involving 2 schools, 4 English teachers, and 95 students this year showed what happens when people try to bridge the gap.
The project began with Staples High School librarian Colin Neenan. He thought The Hate U Give — a popular young adult novel about a girl who becomes an activist after witnessing the police shooting of her unarmed friend, and exists in both her urban neighborhood and a wealthy private school — would be a great vehicle to bring suburban and city students together.
Danielle Spies and Barb Robbins — who teach 3A and 2 Honors English respectively at Staples — were selected from among several volunteers. Neenan and co-librarian Tamara Weinberg connected with Fola Sumpter and Ashley LaQuesse, Harding High teachers who were enthusiastic about the collaboration.
First, Westport students went to the Bridgeport school. They met their counterparts, and discussed the first 26 pages of the novel.
One of Robbins’ students was nervous about meeting new, “different” people, the teacher says.
After the first session though, she told Robbins, “They’re just like me. We had so much to talk about.”
Staples literacy coach Rebecca Marsick — who was also involved in the project — adds, “They’re all teenagers!”
Staples and Harding High School students work easily together.
A dramatic reaction came from a Westport girl. She was stunned to hear Bridgeporters say that nearly every day they heard of a friend treated unfairly by police — and at least once a month, someone they knew was shot by an officer.
“I couldn’t think of even one person who had a really negative interaction with the police,” she said.
“I never doubted that people of color constantly face racism. I just never heard about it face to face. It’s crazy to me that I can live a town away from them, and have such a different life experience.”
The next step involved Flipgrid, a video education platform. For 6 weeks the teenagers exchanged videos, posted questions about the novel, and shared responses.
They also read articles about race relations throughout history, explored current events, and studied pop culture and poetry. The common thread was themes that both unite and divide communities.
After 6 weeks, the Harding students came to Staples. They gathered in the library for lunch, free-wheeling discussions, and a special activity.
They created “body biographies”: mapping out what various characters from the novel held in their heart and backbone, for example, and what their eyes focused on.
Collaborating on a “body biography.”
They dug deep — and shared their own lives and experiences too.
“The book is not easy. There are some hefty topics,” Robbins says. “But the interactions were sensitive, and very respectful.”
Then they all posed for a group photo.
The final project was to write stories about current events, and share them with everyone.
Some students said the project was the most important experience they’d ever had in high school. One called it “the most important event of my life.”
“It opened our kids’ eyes to their opportunities here,” Robbins says. “But they also saw how much they have in common with the Bridgeport kids.”
Last fall, two Staples girls wrote research papers on inequality in educational opportunities. To actually see that gap with their own eyes, they told Robbins, was “really compelling.”
The Staples instructor echoes her students’ reactions.
“It took a lot of work. There were logistical issues, and tons of preparation. But this is one of the best things I’ve ever done as a teacher. I learned so much!”
Fola Sumpter — one of the Harding teachers — adds, “This project gave my students confidence as readers, writers and collaborators. They have a new perspective on people, and I am seeing them operate as thinkers on a whole new level.”
A group shot, in the Staples library.
The collaboration may not end. Among other ideas, students from both schools talked about forming a book club.
That’s a great idea. But it’s not as easy as it sounds.
“In Westport, if we want to add a book to our curriculum, we pretty much can,” Robbins says.
“In Bridgeport, they have a tough time even funding the books they already study.”
Posted in Economy, Education, Media, People, Staples HS, Teenagers
Tagged "The Hate U Give", Ashley LaQuesse, Barbara Robbins, Danielle Spies, Fola Sumpter, Warren Harding High School
During its first 19 years, the Westport Library’s “Booked for the Evening” fundraising event has included many A-list names.
Tom Brokaw, Doris Kearns Goodwin and Alan Alda imparted wisdom to sold-out crowds.
Patti Smith and Nile Rodgers entertained them.
But “Booked” has never seen — or heard — anyone quite like the 20th honoree.
Justin Paul — the Oscar, Grammy and Tony Award-winning, white-hot songwriting star and proud Westport native — kicked the Library’s signature evening into the stratosphere last night.
The 2003 Staples High School graduate thrilled, inspired and paid homage to a crowd of 500 at Rolling Hills Country Club. (The library was unavailable, due to its ongoing Transformation project.)
Weaving together 2 themes — the importance of libraries (especially Westport’s), and his hometown’s longtime embrace of arts education — Paul was visibly moved by his “Booked” honor.
The Westport Library, he said, “nurtured my love of learning, and enhanced my understanding of the world. It’s a hopeful and beautiful place.”
Justin Paul entertained and inspired last night’s “Booked for the Evening” crowd.
Teachers like Ben Frimmer showed the “left out” middle schooler who he could really be. At Staples, Alice Lipson, David Roth and others helped him find his voice, and his life’s work.
He also cited influences from Long Lots Elementary School, Music Theatre of Connecticut, and Chris Coogan.
Of course, he’s still quite young. After videos of his life, and tributes from the likes of Hugh Jackman filled the screen, Paul joked about watching “the retrospective of a 33-year-old. Not a lot of people have their grandmother at their lifetime achievement award.”
Paul acknowledged that not everyone grows up in a town like Westport. He urged the audience to pay attention — and provide resources — to youngsters in the many places that do not provide the opportunities, and access to the arts, that his hometown does.
He then launched into 3 of his best-loved, and most meaningful, compositions: “For Forever” from “Dear Evan Hansen,” “City of Stars” (“La La Land”), and “This Is Me” (“The Greatest Showman”).
Paul — who, with his songwriting partner Benj Pasek writes beautiful, hopeful music for stage and screen — is admired by countless fans, young and old, around the globe.
But he’s a special hero to Staples students. Two generations — recent college graduates and current performing stars Mia Gentile, Tyler Jent and Michelle Pauker, along with today’s Orphenians — joined Paul on stage.
The mood was joyful. But the “Booked for the Evening” star wore the biggest smile of all.
Justin Paul at the piano, with fellow Staples graduates and current student stars.
BONUS REEL: Mark Platt, the producer of “La La Land,” was one of the many big names appearing on video. He made a special announcement: He’s funding a new recording studio, now under construction at the Westport Library.
It will be named for Justin Paul.
Posted in Arts, Entertainment, Library, People, Staples HS
Tagged "Booked for the Evening", Justin Paul, Mark Platt, Westport Library
The Levitt Pavilion was packed yesterday — with push-up people.
The view from the Levitt Pavilion stage.
Hundreds of men, women and kids — from super-jacked to usually sedentary — did as many push-ups as they could in an hour.
First Selectman Jim Marpe banged out his. So did Chief of Police Foti Koskinas. And Paul Newman’s grandson.
Chief of Police Foti Koskinas and Push Against Cancer founder Andy Berman.
Which was fitting, because all the money raised goes to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, the fantastic getaway for boys and girls with cancer and other serious diseases. It was founded, of course, by Westport’s own Paul Newman.
The 9th annual Push Against Cancer raised well over $120,000 — a record. That makes nearly $500,000 since the event began.
Congrats to founder and mastermind Andy Berman. To the many police and firefighters who helped make it happen.
And, of course, to everyone who participated — and feels very, very sore today.
(Hat tip: photographers Sabine Foreman, Andrew Kindt, Adam Vengrow)
2018 marks the 50th anniversary of many historic moments: the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy. Student revolts at Columbia University, and in France. The tumultuous Democratic convention in Chicago. The election of Richard Nixon.
Less remembered, a bit less significant — but as long-lasting in its repercussions — was a rendition of the national anthem. Jose Feliciano — coming off his 1st American hit, a remake of the Doors’ “Light My Fire” — performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” before Game 5 of the World Series in Detroit.
The Puerto Rico-born guitarist — just 23 years old — infused the anthem with his trademark Latin jazz style.
No one had ever performed America’s anthem like that before. The country was used to straightforward, quick renditions of a very difficult song.
Jimi Hendrix’s Woodstock performance was a year away. Marvin Gaye, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga — their memorable “Star-Spangled” performances, and those of so many others, were decades in the future.
All owe a debt to Jose Feliciano’s ground-breaking interpretation.
It did not go over well.
Last year — looking back at the controversy — the New York Times wrote:
Taking liberties with Jim Morrison is one thing. Taking liberties with Francis Scott Key proved more contentious.
Feliciano went on the field with his guide dog and an acoustic guitar. He was quite free with the song’s melody, giving it a slower folk tempo and adding extra syllables and different stresses. What resulted was an anthem that to today’s ears is mellow and expressive.
Many ears in 1968 heard it differently.
Boos were heard from the stands, but the real blowup came afterward.
“It was a disgrace, an insult,” a baseball fan, Arlene Raicevich of Detroit, told The Associated Press. “I’m going to write my senator about it.”
“It sounded like a hippie was singing it,” said another Detroiter, Bernie Gray.
For several years, Feliciano was blackballed. Last year, he told Deadspin:
Some people wanted me deported—as if you can be deported to Puerto Rico. All I know is, from 1968 until the 1970s, radio stations stopped playing my records. It wasn’t the fans—the fans were with me. But the program directors didn’t play my songs. I don’t think I deserved that.
He got back in America’s good graces with “Feliz Navidad” — one of the most popular Christmas tunes ever — and the theme song to “Chico and the Man.”
Now — finally — the longtime Weston resident gets his historical due.
This Thursday (June 14), Feliciano will be featured at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History’s annual naturalization and donation ceremony.
Roger Kaufman — a 1966 Staples High School graduate, Westonite and fellow musician, who helped arrange the event — says that the Smithsonian celebrates creative, open-minded, groundbreaking musicians who have become part of American history.
Friday is, of course, Flag Day. The ceremony takes place in Flag Hall — where the original banner that inspired Francis Scott Key’s 1814 song proudly hangs.
Just as proudly, Feliciano will deliver a keynote address. He’ll donate artifacts — including his custom 1967 guitar — to the national collection.
And then he will sing — as only he can — our national anthem.
BONUS FEATURE 1: Click here for a New York Times retrospective of Jose Feliciano’s World Series controversy. Click here for Marvin Gaye’s national anthem at the 1983 NBA All-Star game. Click here for Whitney Houston’s rendition at Super Bowl XXV in 1991. Click here to hear Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock in 1969.
BONUS FEATURE 2: In 2010 — 42 years after Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell invited Jose Feliciano to perform the national anthem — the now-legendary musician returned to Detroit, in a tribute to Harwell who had died a few days earlier. One of the sportscaster’s last wishes was to have Feliciano sing again.
Tyler Hicks — the globe-trotting, Pulitzer Prize-and-many-other-honors-winning New York Times photographer — was in his hometown of Westport today.
If there’s a newsworthy event, he finds it.
Several dozen people — including Congressman Jim Himes and State Senate candidate Will Haskell — stood on the Ruth Steinkraus Cohen Bridge downtown.
They held signs deploring the separation of children from families at the US border; the detention centers those young kids are placed in, and the government’s refusal to let even a US senator investigate conditions.
(Photo/Tyler Hicks)
From his current home in Nairobi, Tylel Hicks roams far and wide. He covers deadly conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iraq, Russia, Bosnia, the Mideast, Chechnya and across Africa.
In 2011, he and fellow Westport Pulitzer Prize winner Lynsey Addario were kidnapped in Libya.
This protest was quieter than those he usually sees.
But the cause — the treatment of human beings — is as important as anything else Tyler shoots. As Rep. Himes said: “This is not a political issue. It’s a moral issue.”
So — as he always is — Tyler Hicks was there.
Tyler Hicks’ sister Darcy turned the tables, and photographed the photographer as he photographed the protest. (Photo/Darcy Hicks)
Posted in Arts, History, Media, People, Staples HS
Tagged Darcy Hicks, Tyler Hicks, US immigration policy
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