John Nealon arrived at Staples High School in 1999 straight from Texas. It was a culture shock. But he played football, and his teammates soon became friends.
He also loved cooking. He took every culinary class offered. Teacher/chef Cecily Gans became a mentor.
John Nealon, in the ’02 Staples yearbook.
Staples football defensive coordinator Lou Socci asked Nealon to cook at his family’s restaurant in New Canaan. That led to steady work — and the perk of creating his own lunches.
“I’d make wraps with mozzarella, bacon, everything,” he recalls. “I said, I want to do this for a living.”
At Providence College, he continued cooking. He learned about the front of the house too, when he moved from an $8-an-hour line cook to waiting tables at Sicilia’s. With tips, he made $300 a night.
After graduating as a history major, Nealon headed straight to restaurant work After director of operations with a Dallas delivery startup (“a really bad concept,” he laughs), he served as the 23-year-old general manager of Westport’s River Horse Tavern (now Rive Bistro).
To learn about fine dining, Nealon moved to L’Escale in Greenwich. He enrolled in Barcelona/Bartaco’s management program, and ran several of their restaurants for 5 years. Then came Fontina.
He and his wife Morgan — also a restaurant professional — decided to go out on their own. They opened Taco Daddy in Stamford, a “fun, no rules” place with “a rippin’ bar.” Their second venture, Lila Rose, was named after their first child.
Morgan and John Nealon.
Mid-COVID, Nealon and his wife came up with their next concept: elevated Italian cuisine.
“Italian dining has gotten very casual,” he says. “That’s fine. But I think there’s a need for contemporary fine food.” And martinis.
Cugine’s offers great food …
Cugine’s — Italian for “cousin,” but also a term of endearment — opened last month at 121 Towne Street, in Stamford’s Harbor Point neighborhood. It quickly drew raves.
… and an extensive coocktail list …
Nealon hopes to take guests back to “the era of Frank Sinatra and speakeasys.” There is no signage; a man wearing suspenders walks diners in. Nealon seats them. Each table has its own lamp; vintage chandeliers hang overhead.
Despite the labor shortage in restaurants, Nealon had no trouble assembling a staff. Most waiters and bartenders had worked for him before.
… in a “speakeasy” atmosphere.
And the chef? Rick O’Connor (“he’s half Italian!” Nealon notes) is young and talented. “He doesn’t have an ego yet,” the owner says. “Just wait till people tell him how good his food is.”
(Cugine’s Instagram is @CuginesItalian. Click here for more information.)
(“06880” is completely reader-supported. Please click here to contribute.)
Walton Amey — a multi-talented musician and athlete, and a 1971 Staples High School graduate — died suddenly on Sunday. He was 69.
His longtime friend, Grammy-winning musician and producer Brian Keane, writes:
Some friends in life are so close, for so long, that they become part of your own history. Walton Amey is such a friend for me.
Walton Amey, in the 1971 Staples High yearbook.
He was a top athlete, captain of the Coleytown Junior High football team where we played together, a talented singer in the elite Staples Orphenians (we sang together in a church choir too).
We made mischief together, partied together, played in the same rock ‘n’ roll band, and served on community projects together. Walton was also a theatrical star in Staples Players.
After high school, Walt attended college in Ithaca, New York with me, David Barton and Linda Satin (all from our Staples class). Walt and I were roommates as freshmen.
In Ithaca he and I played music professionally in coffeehouses and bars with our good friend Stephen Schneider. We were joined by our high school band drummer David Barton. We wrote and recorded some memorable original songs together. Walton was an engaging entertainer, and the life of any party.
After Stephen, David and I left in 1975 Walt brought in the guitarist from our high school band, Jeff Dowd, and had a very popular band called Desperado. They made several records together, before Jeff left to begin an opera career in Germany.
One of the band’s records. Walton hangs 2nd from right.
Walt continued playing music around upstate New York. He taught ballroom dancing at Cornell, developed a fondness for tennis, and lived a reclusive life in rural upstate New York for a time.
In 1993 one of our musicians threw a surprise 40th birthday party for former dormmates and band members in New York City. That morphed into an annual event, then into a yearly weekend gathering on Fire Island.
It was a Big Chill weekend: no spouses. We became like another family to each other over the years. Walton and Elizabeth Schenck started a wonderful relationship 14 years ago. They lived together in Syracuse, where Elizabeth practices as a public defender attorney.
I saw Walt and Elizabeth every year at the Fire Island reunions. Starting in 2020, my partner Bonnie (who was in theatrical productions with Walton at Staples) and I started meeting Walt, Elizabeth and a few others on 4th of July weekends.
The 2018 reunion. Walton Amey is standing, 2nd from right; Brian Keane is sitting, far left.
We gathered once again this year. We played games on the beach, watched fireworks, had great dinners, drank, played guitars and sang songs we had written, songs of our youth, and all kinds of fun songs in between.
We told jokes, shared stories, and had a wonderful time. Walton, Stephen and I watched Wimbledon past midnight, after everyone else went to bed. Walton made us sing 3-part harmonies to some Crosby, Stills & Nash tunes, which we obliged him to get him to go to bed. Walton was in his bliss.
Some time after we went to bed at 1 a.m., Walton got back up. We don’t know what happened, but he was discovered at the bottom of the stairs at 2:15.
EMS arrived 10 strong right away, and worked on him from 2:30, even getting a pulse back. But he lost that pulse on the way to the hospital.
The night before, we watched a spectacular sunset from the deck of the beach house. I had remarked how lucky we were to be alive to witness this. Walt agreed, and expressed his gratitude too.
Walton Amey and Elizabeth Scheck at Fire Island, the night before he died.
When we got confirmation that Walton had died, we knew we had lost an important part of our own lives. Our life histories had been so intertwined. We spent the rest of the day in a combination of shock, grief, and “producer mode” dealing with things.
On the morning of July 4th, we gave Walton the tribute he had told Elizabeth he wanted: a New Orleans-style funeral procession. Stephen and I led the way to the ferry. We played “When the Saints Go Marching In” on ukuleles. The rest of our group sang along, walking in the sand with umbrellas.
At first it was hard to keep from choking up. Then it transformed into something more joyful. A couple of people looked at us oddly, but we kept going. We all felt better by the time we got to the ferry. The crowd there appreciated it, too.
Walton couldn’t have asked for a better death than having spent the weekend doing exactly what he loved, with people he loved, and who loved him, in one of his favorite places on earth — then having it all end unexpectedly, and rather instantly as far as I can tell.
Though many of us will feel pain, and the loss of Walton in our lives, we grieve for that which has been our heart’s delight. Walt made us all rich in life experience, for simply sharing part of this glorious ride called life with him. He was part of what made our lives fun. Personal grief is mixed with a deep sense of gratitude for that.
Walt is survived by his sister Meg Amey Smith of Des Moines, Iowa; his significant other, Elizabeth Schenck of Syracuse, New York, and the many of us who loved him and became like family with him.
Posted onJuly 4, 2022|Comments Off on Roundup: Happy 4th!
For 15 years, families on Sherwood Farms Lane off Greens Farms Road have celebrated the 4th of July with a kids’ parade.
Many residents have international backgrounds. But they love the tradition. It’s kept alive by Mark Rubino, who passed the flag this year to one of the few American-born neighbors.
Jeanine Esposito has lived in Westport for over 30 years. She and her husband Frederic Chiu also own an apartment in SoNo.
But Saturday marked the first time they ever took the Norwalk Seaport Association’s boat tour to Sheffield Island, and the 2 spark plug lighthouses (only 33 survive in the entire US).
Peck Ledge sits on the line of Westport/Norwalk maritime border, and has been purchased privately to become an Airbnb.
Peck Ledge Lighthouse (Photo/Jeanine Esposito_
Greens Ledge has been bought by an arts non-profit. They’ll repair damage from Superstorm Sandy, and keep it running.
Greens Ledge Lighthouse (Photo/Jeanine Esposito)
“It was an amazing trip, right next door and with so much history,” Jeanine reports.
“Frederic and I were fascinated the whole tour — and embarrassed we never knew about it. Please share this with all the new people in town, so they don’t take 30 years to find these treasures!”
“Max Orland never focuses on his limitations, only his many strengths.”
That’s the first sentence in a story about a very accomplished, very forward-looking Westporter.
The 2006 Staples High School graduate followed his passion for sports to the University of Delaware, where he managed the basketball and baseball teams. He worked for the Boston Red Sox (and won their Green Monster Award), Philadelphia Phillies and Legends and Yankee Stadium.
Now he’s in his 2nd year running the practice range at prestigious Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. He’s profiled in a recent edition of Met Golfer magazine.
Winged Foot’s general manager calls Max “one of the most sensational young men I’ve ever met. He has a bag full of inspiration. He’s changed a lot of people’s lives, in a lot of ways.”
Click here to read more about our remarkable neighbor.
Max Orland (Photo courtesy of Met Golfer Magazine)
The Ted Thomas Dance Foundation and East Coast Contemporary Ballet present a series of free outdoor dance performances throughout Fairfield County this summer.
The tour includes MoCA Westport, on July 28 (6 p.m.). The event features Thomas Ortiz Dance and Alison Cook Beatty Dance. Click here for details.
Most of the day, I slide my bad/entitled parking photos near the end of “06880.”
More important info comes at the top. By the time you get to a photo of some self-centered numbskull taking up 3 spaces, hogging half a sidewalk or whatever, you’re ready for a diversion. Sure, they’re selfish, self-satisfied SOBs, but they’re not really hurting anyone.
Well, this cretin could have:
(Photo/Andrew Colabella)
Think about it.
This “person” — who somehow is licensed to drive a motor vehicle — ignored a very large “Do Not Enter” sign 100 yards or so back.
Then he (it was a young guy) drove past vehicles facing the other direction on both sides, plus at least one very large arrow. also pointing the other direction.
And then he walked away.
Words fail, at a time like this.
Except for one final thought: It’s a pretty shitty parallel parking job, too.
The Westport Library’s soaring, flexible and well-used indoor space is called the Trefz Forum.
Most people who enjoy the pyramid seating, giant screen and state-of-the-art sound system have no idea who Christian J. Trefz — the man for whom it’s named — is.
That will change on Saturday, July 9. His new memoir — “The Right Side of the Hamburger” — will be celebrated with a book launch at a private party. It’s available for sale at the Library the next day, and on Amazon.
In association with The Legacy Project USA — a Westport company specializing in documenting and writing life stories for people who want to preserve and tell their history — Trefz spent over a year working on his book.
It tells the tale of how he and his brother became successful. The son of German immigrants, Chris and Ernie grew up in New Haven. They learned important lessons about family closeness, hard work, and determination.
The brothers purchased their first McDonald’s franchise in 1964. Their empire now encompasses over 50 McDonald’s restaurants throughout Connecticut and New York.
In each issue, the bi-monthly print/digital Civilian Magazine profiles 10 or so influencers, in areas like sports, business, politics, fashion and pop culture.
Last year, local photographer Jenae Weinbrenner was assigned to a shoot at Nile Rodgers’ Westport home.
With COVID raging, there were no agents, assistants or creative directors around. For an hour, Nile and Jenae talked about life, music, and their love for this town.
“As a photographer, you never get that kind of one-on-one time with a celebrity,” Jenae says. “This was special. I’m so grateful I got to experience it. He was the kindest person — and generous too.”
The other day, the publication retweeted the story. Jenae realized she had never shared it with her “06880” friends and neighbors.
Click here for the magazine (it’s behind a paywall).
Nile Rodgers (Photo/Jenae Weinbrenner for Civilian Magazine)
As of July 5, the Westport Transit District’s on-demand, group ride, door-to-train shuttle service will soon include from Hiawatha Lane to Saugatuck Shores in the westernmost area of Westport, and Westway Road and Parsell Lane in the east.
Now, virtually all of the town is covered.
Reverse commuters can also use the service to travel between the trains and their place of employment in Westport.
Wheels2U can also be used to enjoy dinner at Saugatuck restaurants.
Riders using the Wheels2U Westport app request a pickup between 5:45 and 10 a.m., and 4 and 9:30 p.m., for rides between the Westport or Greens Farms train platform and their front door. Pickups for trips to the stations should be requested 20 minutes before you would leave to drive there. The $2 fare is paid via the Wheels2U app.
For more information about Wheels2U, click here. To learn about the Westport Transit District’s services for the elderly and people with disabilities, click here.
Wheels2U’s Saugatuck Shores expansion. Click on or hover over to enlarge.
Friends since middle school, Dixie Webb O’Brien, Jeff Ruden, Kim Hamer and John McCarthy are planning their Staples High School Class of 1982 reunion — with a twist.
In addition to getting together after 40 years (!), they wanted to give back to the town they still live in, and love.
Classmates are encouraged to donate to Staples Tuition Grants. Already, they’ve raised $2,000.
‘82 grads can reserve a spot for the August 6 event at Saugatuck Rowing Club, plus Friday and Sunday gatherings — and/or make a donation to the class tuition grant — via email :dixiewebbobrien@gmail.com
Staples Class of ’82 co-chairs (clockwise from upper left): Jeff Ruden, Dixie Webb O’Brien, Kim Hamer, John McCarthy.
Longtime Westport resident Janet Bangser died earlier this month, at the age of (her family says) “don’t even.”
An only child born in 1928 in New York City to Jules Rutstein, a dentist, and Esther Klar Rutstein, assistant to the producer at Radio City Music Hall, she attended Horace Mann School for Girls, then earned a BA in English and American literature from Brown University in 1949.
A voracious reader, one of her first jobs was to write script synopses for MGM.
International travel was a dominant theme throughout Janet’s life; she made overseas trips from an early age. She and her husband Bill Bangser visited many countries on 6 continents, including several extended stays in Europe with their 4 children. Janet and Bill made lifelong friends around the world.
The family moved to Westport in 1961. When her children were grown Janet entered the travel industry, as an agent for Minute Man Travel. In 1978 she formed Pathfinder’s Travel, a full-service agency in Westport. For the next 40 years, Janet and her staff used first-hand knowledge of travel destinations to serve corporate and vacation travelers. Janet remained active in the business well into her ninth decade. She and Bill continued their frequent travels, often with Westport friends.
In addition to her business and motherhood, Janet served as president of the local chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women.
Janet was predeceased by Bill, her husband of 67 years. She is survived by her children: Andrew (Barbara) of Westport; Paul (Liz) of Bethesda, Maryland.; Jill (Jeff) Boynton of Newington, New Hampshire. and Dan (Jennifer) Bangser of Norwalk; 8 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren, and her sister-in-law Rita Bangser of Somers, New York.
Janet’s family says, “we will forever miss the devoted matriarch of our family, her intellect, her love of travel (and good wine!), her cooking, her eternally positive outlook, and her entrepreneurial spirit.”
Burial was private. All are welcome at a memorial service on July 23 (10 a.m., Westport Library). In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Westport Library.
In these polarized days, there is little that Westporters agree on.
From national issues like reproductive rights and our leaders, to local ones like the Cribari Bridge and affordable housing, battle lines have hardened.
But there is one thing all “06880” readers know: We love Tim Harman.
You’ve seen him — always smiling — bagging groceries at Stop & Shop.
Tim recently celebrated 30 years an an employee there. He started as part of Staples High School’s work/study program. For 3 decades, he’s been one of the supermarket’s most loyal employees.
Tim’s sister-in-law Karen writes proudly about other parts of Tim’s life:
In addition to Stop & Shop, Tim — who is now 51 — works at the wonderful Prospector Theater In Ridgefield. Its mission is to offer work opportunities to residents with special needs.
Tim Harman, working at the Prospector Theater …
Tim is also a longtime member of Our Vision. The organization’s mission is to enrich the lives for persons with disabilities by providing social, cultural and recreational activities which foster enduring friendships, and expand their potential through teamwork and training in Special Olympics.
But Tim’s greatest gifts are his infectious smile, and that he knows almost everyone in town — from everyday shoppers to teachers and coaches, and the town firefighters who come in almost daily.
In fact, he is an honorary firefighter, riding in the fire truck every Memorial Day parade.
… riding in the Memorial Day parade …
Every new customer is a new friend. The next time you meet him, he will remember your name. You can’t go anywhere without him knowing somebody. Some refer to him as the unofficial Ambassador of Westport.
Tim is a life-long Westporter. He attended Westport schools as a special education student, all the way, from Coleytown Elementary and Middle Schools, through Staples High. Tim was a member of the Wreckers swim team, and a manager for the baseball team.
His sports talent is evident at annual Connecticut Special Olympics competitions. He has run, swum, and even tried shot putting this year.
He’s pretty good. He has won close to 100 medals over the past 45 years ,including 3 last month. Tim doesn’t even count his ribbons.
… starring at Special Olympics …
Ask him about his favorite teams. He is a long-suffering fan of the Mets, Knicks and Giants. He can tell you the scores of each team’s games the next day.
Tim’s parents, Gail and Jim Harman, moved to Westport in 1963. Gail spent many years as a paraprofessional at Staples. Jim is well known as the proprietor of the garage next to The Porch @ Christe’s. Tim’s brother Jim lives locally, while his sister Liz calls New York City home. Both went through Westport schools, as did Tim’s niece Chase Harman Burke and nephew Andrew Harman.
Tim is a proud and loving uncle to 6 adults, and grand-uncle to 7 little ones.
… and with a great-nephew.
Congratulations, Tim, on your 30 years at Stop & Shop. And thank you for making Westport a better place, every day!
(“06880” relies completely on reader support. Please click here to contribute.)
When COVID hit and most kids went stir crazy, a few Bedford Middle School students went (socially distanced) fishing.
With YouTube videos, Google Earth and language arts teacher/avid fisherman Steve Rexford as guides, the 8th graders learned all they could about many kinds of fishing. Fly, saltwater, freshwater, night, ice fishing — they did it all.
At a private pond in Norwalk, they met Stamford firefighter Dave Bocchetta. Rather than kicking them out, he became their mentor.
To enter, they formed Staples’ first bass fishing team.
(From left): Dave Bocchetta, Josh Ginsburg, Preston Siroka and friends.
Throughout the spring, Josh Ginsburg and Preston Siroka have gotten up on Saturday mornings at — are you sitting down? — 4 a.m. They meet Dave, and competed in tournaments.
After the first 3 meets, Staples is in 7th place, out of 19 teams. Not bad for a bunch of rookies.
Also not bad: their name.
Josh and Preston call themselves the Wranglers — a combination of “Wreckers” and “anglers.”
With that persistence and creativity, this group will go places.
Like, wherever the bass are biting.
(“06880” is supported completely by readers. Please click here to help!)
In 2001, Mariangela was a Staples High School rock star.
The senior won the national Siemens Westinghouse Science & Technology Competition. And the Intel Science Talent Search (where she met President Bush). Each came with a $100,000 scholarship (!).
But she did not stop there. Mariangela was captain of the Staples math team, founder and captain of the engineering team, concertmaster of the Chamber and Symphonic Orchestras, and the recipient of honors in Italian and Spanish (both of which she is fluent in.) Of course, she was valedictorian.
Then, at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair in San Jose, California, the Harvard-bound graduate was awarded the Glenn Seaborg Nobel Prize Visit Award — earning a trip to the Nobel ceremony in Stockholm.
So what is Mariangela up to these days?
She earned a Ph.D. from Stanford in 2010, then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science. She’s been on the physics faculty at Princeton University since then.
A theoretical particle physicist by training, her research focuses on the nature of dark matter. Mariangela’s interdisciplinary work incorporates ideas from astrophysics and data science. Currently, she’s focusing on how variations of the Cold Dark Matter paradigm affect galactic and sub-galactic scale observables.
The Simons Investigators program supports outstanding theoretical scientists in their most productive years, when they are establishing creative new research directions, providing leadership and mentoring junior scientists.
Simons Investigators are appointed for 5 years, renewable for another 5. Each Investigator receives research support of $100,000 per year. An additional $10,000 per year is provided to the Investigator’s department
Congratulations, Mariangela. You continue to make Staples, and Westport, proud.
Speaking of Staples: Sunday’s “06880” Roundup gave a shout-out to the Class of 1962. They celebrated their 60th year reunion at the Ned Dimes Marina.
But they’re mere children, compared to the Class of ’52. Let’s hear it for them!
Nine alums just enjoyed their 70th (!) reunion at Rive Bistro — not far from their old high school, on Riverside Avenue. (Today it’s Saugatuck Elementary).
Ed Backus — a 1948 graduate — joined them, making them feel very young.
The class has met every 5 years since graduation day: Friday the 13th, 1952. “Our Staples ties are strong!” says Jess Thompson Huberty.
They are indeed. Hail, Staples! Hail, Class of ’52!
Staples High School Class of 1952 at Rive Bistro: Seated (from left):Lu List Morris, Susan Stokes. Middle row: Roxanne Gette Martin, Barbara Hendricks Chamberlain, Jess Thompson Huberty, Sonja Messelt Ziluca, Don Switter, Ed Backus. Rear: Bill Gault. Sending regrets: Bev Breault, Lynn Lucke Lutkin, Steven Miller, Concetta Palazzo Fedak, Mary Ellen Kottgen McKenna.
The Maserati owner figured he’d be okay on Sunday. His car stuck just a yard or two past the “No Parking” sign on Hillspoint Road, coming from Compo Beach toward Old Mill.
The sign is there for a reason. It’s a dangerous spot. This happened next:
(Photos/Jerry Kuyper)
But that’s not the end of the story.
As of yesterday afternoon — 72 hours later — the very expensive convertible was still there.
The Westport Journal has a new executive editor. Thane Grauel succeeds Jarret Liotta in the top post at the year-old online news site July 1. Liotta will focus on photography and video projects.
Grauel has been a reporter at the Westport News, managing editor at the Westport Minuteman and editor of The Hour, among other publications.
“The news business is so different now,” he told “06880.” “At the Westport News we had 5 guys covering Town Hall, plus sports, business, entertainment and real estate. The chains have gobbled everything up. People are not being served like before.”
However, Grauel says, “Westport is one of the best-covered towns in Connecticut, online. People here are really engaged. They want to know what’s going on.”
Grauel is a 4th-generation Westporter, though after Kings Highway Elementary School his family moved to Milford. He graduated from the University of Connecticut, and is a Navy veteran.
Bilingual journalist and writer Camila Vallejo earns the first-ever Writer-in-Residence prize from Fairfield County Story Lab, the shared workspace in Saugatuck for creative types.
Vallejo covers housing and social justice issues for Connecticut Public Radio and WNPR, and is a member of Report for America. She has been a part-time producer for All Things Considered (read and hear some of her stories here).
The FC Story Lab’s Writer-in-Residence prize is for early-career writers. Vallejo’s residency will enable her to work for free at the Story Lab in Saugatuck. The Lab will install a new media suite, so she can record radio pieces there. While she reports statewide — including pieces on housing disparities in Fairfield County — she often files stories from a closet at home.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t unusual today,” says FC Story Lab co-founder Carol Dannhauser.
“Many media companies have trimmed their newsrooms and all but eliminated their bureaus. This means that young reporters, especially, can’t experience the alchemy that happens in a newsroom, where people bounce ideas off of each other and offer suggestions when stories hit a dead-end.”
During her 6-month residency, Vallejo will host 2 events for students and recent graduates interested in a career in journalism or media.
So how many jellybeans were in the Staples Tuition Grants contest?
41,330. The winning guess of 41,472 — off by just 142 — was by Emerson Watkins. In second place (41,501) was Sean Wagner. Both will receive gift certificates to their favorite Westport restaurant.
Hundreds of people entered the contest. Guesses ranged from 540 to 751,000.
STG plans to continue the contest next year. It’s another great (and fun) way to help raise some of the $400,000 that was given in scholarships to Staples seniors and alumni this year.
As you can see, there were 41,472 jellybeans here.
Last summer, dozens of Fleishers Craft Butchery employees at 4 locations walked off the job after CEO John Adams removed Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ Pride signs that workers had put in windows at the Westport store.
Though they had been there for months, a customer had only recently complained.
After the walkout, most employees quit. The shops remained closed until March, when one in Brooklyn reopened. Now it — the final store in what was once hailed as “the mecca of the good-meat movement,” with “rock star butchers” — has closed too.
New York magazine says that after the Westport incident — and the effects of COVID on, particularly, the Upper East Side location — “Fleishers never again found its footing.” Though owner Rob Rosania apologized and offered employees raises to return, the company was cooked.
With the final closing, you can put a fork in Fleishers. (Click here for the full New York magazine story. Hat tip: Tom Prince)
The Fleishers signs. (Photo courtesy of Chloe Sorvino, for Forbes)
In 1964, coach Jinny Parker’s 440 relay team– Joy Wassell, Mary Gail Horelick, Susan Tefft and Donna Jackson — set a national record: 53.7 seconds.
They were all Staples High School students. But they were a club team, not a varsity sport. Back then, the only official track team was for boys.
Girls had just 3 interscholastic options: field hockey in fall, basketball in winter (6-vs.-6; 3 players on each side of the court, to minimize running and sweating), softball in the spring.
Staples’ 1954-55 girls basketball team.
That’s ancient history, it seems. Today, Staples fields more girls teams than boys. Many — including soccer and field hockey — are perennial state title contenders. They draw large crowds, including proud fathers and young girls who aspire to one day be Wreckers themselves.
Staples’ girls soccer team is the defending state champion. (Photo/JC Martin)
But the growth of girls sports is relatively new. It was kick-started exactly 50 years ago — on June 23, 1972 — when President Nixon signed into law Title IX.*
The federal civil rights statute — really, just 37 words tucked inside much broader education legislation — prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or other education program that receives funding from the federal government.
(Interestingly, the words “sports,” “athletics” and “physical education” appear nowhere in the text.)
In 1970-71, coach Marianne Harrison’s girls basketball team played its first official FCIAC season. The rules had changed the previous year to be similar to the boys game — but they still wore bloomers.
Girls sports have evolved enormously over 5 decades. Staples now offers 19 interscholastic sports for girls, 18 for boys. Sailing is co-ed.
(Wrestling is listed as a boys sport, and competitive and sideline cheerleading for girls. Both genders are eligible to try out for those teams, though the number is small.)
There are nearly 2,000 students at Staples, in grades 9 through 12. More than half — 1,018 — played at least one interscholastic sport this year, at the varsity, junior varsity or reserve level.
There are more male athletes (573) than female (445). But that’s a lot more than the few dozen girls who competed when Title IX was enacted.
Staples’ Marisa Shorrock and a Greenwich High player fight for a loose ball in 2020. Coach Paco Fabian’s team had just won their state quarterfinal game, and were favorites to win the state title, when COVID ended the season.
So, “06880” wants to know: How has Title IX impacted your sports life?
Women: What opportunities has it offered you — or what did you miss?
Girls: Are there any differences between your sports experiences today, and those of your brothers and male friends?
Men: Are your daughters’ athletic careers any different from your sisters’, female friends — or mothers’?
Tell us your stories! Click “Comments” below.
And then raise a stein to Title IX.
You’ve come a long way, baby.
*The Watergate break-in took place on June 17, 1972 — just 6 days earlier. Less than a week separated one of the highs of President Nixon’s administration, and one of its lows.
Staples had very few girls sports before Title IX. But in the 1930s, they did have a girls rifle team. (The boys had one too.) This 1936 yearbook photo, with coach Walter Stevenson, called them “Annie Oakleys.”
(“06880” relies entirely on reader support. Please click here to donate.)
The Staples High School Class of 2022 is now part of history.
But tonight they live on — on the big screen.
The Remarkable Theatre screens a 60-minute film — created by the theater’s Staples interns — highlighting the graduating class.
There are interviews with nearly 2 dozen seniors, plus footage contributed by other students. It was produced over the past 2 weeks, so it is definitely timely.
Gates open at 8 p.m. tonight, for tailgating. The film begins at 8:45. Tickets are $20 per person or $50 per car, whichever is cheaper — with no limit on the number of passengers. Click here to purchase, and for more details.
Eamon Brannigan is one of the stars of the Class of 2022 Senior Night film.
If you’re a good gardener, you grow your own food.
If you’re a very good (and lucky!) gardener, you’ve got way more than you need.
But there’s only so much lettuce, peas and zucchini you can give to your friends.
So chew on this: Wakeman Town Farm has partnered with Westport Grow-a-Row and Food Rescue US-Fairfield County on a new produce donation drop off site.
Bring your abundance to WTF’s farm stand any Saturday, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.; coolers are set up there. Your fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs will help people struggling with food insecurity, throughout Fairfield County.
Questions? Email Haley@foodrescue.us. Follow @grow.a.row_westport on Instagram for updates.
There are 3 age categories: 5-9 years old, 10-14 and 15-18. Any photo taken at one of the Thursday Farmers’ Markets is eligible. Judging is by a panel of local artists, and the public.
The contest runs from a week from this tomorrow (June 23) through July 31. Winners — who earn a $100 cash, WFM swag and a gift card for a MoCA Westport class — will be celebrated at Gilbertie’s Herbs & Garden Center, with catering by Sugar & Olives.
Ann Burmeister — Farmers’ Market board member and Who Grows Your Food photographer — will help youngsters as they take shots at the Market tomorrow. A WFM team member will be on hand throughout the contest to answer questions.
Click here to submit photos, and for more information.
“Starstem” by Calista Finkelstein was a previous “Young Shoots” winner in the 8-10 category.
Yesterday’s obituary of longtime Westport volunteer Tom Hofstetter included incorrect information about a memorial service at Saugatuck Harbor Yacht Club. The family will hold a private burial only; there is no service.
On June 30, nearly everyone in Westport will watch the July 4th fireworks. (I know, I know …)
But if pyrotechnics aren’t your thing, you’ve got an artistic option.
The opening reception for MoCA’s new exhibition — “Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse” — is set for that night (6 to 8 p.m.; free).
The show explores how “female artists, utilizing textiles as their medium, subvert the social expectation of crafting by lambasting this soft medium with political and social awareness.”
It focuses on flags, as a symbol of solidarity for women of the suffrage movement, and an emblem of protest. Flags in “Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse” were assembled using mixed media and the fiber arts to ignite positive social change.
So — with those flags — there is a connection to Independence Day after all.
The exhibition runs through September 4. Click here for more information.
The MoCA exhibition logo is based on the original colors of the suffragist movement.
Amy Simon Fine Art (123 Main Street), hosts an opening reception this Saturday (June 25, 3 to 5 p.m.) for the new “Visual Alchemy” show. Artists include Barry Katz, David Skillicorn and Louise P. Sloane.
Untitled #11– encaustic over plaster. (Barry Katz)
It’s not true that Benjamin Franklin wanted a wild turkey — not an eagle — to be America’s national symbol.
The actual story: In a letter to his daughter, he criticized the original eagle design for the Great Seal, saying it looked like a turkey.
Well, after a long period away, wild turkeys have returned to Westport. The other day, Carol Cederbaum saw 3 of them roosting on her back deck. She got this shot a female, before they spotted her behind the window.
Is it a handsome “Westport … Naturally” subject, or not? You be the judge.
And finally … in the past week we’ve given shout-outs to Staples grads, and Brian Wilson. Here’s one more — together — as the Class of 2022 gets ready for their “Senior Night” at the Remarkable Theater (story above):
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As the school year ends, Westport’s 8th graders begin the transition to Staples High.
Administrators, teachers and parents have started to prepare them. But the info the adults provide — on courses, curriculums and clubs — is not necessarily what rising freshmen want to hear.
They have more mundane, but crucially important, concerns: Where will I sit in the cafeteria? What happens if my locker is too far from my classes? Will I ever see my friends?
Link Crew knows all the answers. Not long ago, the 80 juniors and seniors were freshmen themselves.
A small number of the 80 Link Crew members.
Link Crew is a student mentorship program. The goal is to make the move from middle to high school — one of the most momentous of a teenager’s life — as easy as possible.
“We want the school to feel smaller,” says Jamie Pacuk, one of 3 passionate advisors. “Not everyone has an older sibling.”
English teacher Pacuk, physical education instructor Jeff Doornweerd and special education teacher Lauren Manosh are 3 very different people, inhabiting 3 very different Staples worlds.
That mirrors the Link Crew model. The advisors seek a diverse group of mentors. Together, they encompass nearly all of the many opportunities Staples offers.
The selection process is rigorous — including a video. “Someone might write well, but can they communicate clearly and easily, and speak from the heart?” Doornweerd asks. “If they’re not comfortable making their own video, how comfortable would they be relating in small groups to other people?”
Once selected, the 40 new juniors join 40 returning seniors in special training. (Every junior wants to return the next year, Manosh says proudly.)
This spring, mentors went to the middle schools to introduce the program. They also led tours, on a recent 8th grader visit.
Leading a recent tour for 8th graders. The Link Crew shirts say “We’ll be there for you.”
In August they contact their small group of rising freshmen — and the students’ parents. They explain who they are, what they’ll be doing, and give them their phone numbers. “Text us any time!” they say.
Before opening day, Link Crews meet for orientation tours. Relationships take root, as freshmen realize they can ask the questions adults cannot — or would not think to — answer.
On the first day of school, Link Crew members wear special t-shirts. They check in with “their” 9th graders frequently, during those sometimes-overwhelming initial days.
The program continues throughout the year. Once a month, mentors do activities during the “Connections” period.
The background to Link Crew is as interesting as the program itself. Funded initially by a 2019-20 Staples and middle school PTA grants, the advisors began visiting schools that already used Link Crew (it’s part of a national program). Advisors’ training was set for April.
COVID closed school. But Pacuk, Doornweerd and Manosh persevered, setting up a virtual model for the 2020-21 school year. “We built the airplane as we flew it,” Doornweerd notes.
In 2020, Emily Epstein and Owen Dolan introduced Link Crew to freshmen via video.
For freshmen beginning their Staples careers at a time of such uncertainty and flux, the program proved crucial. Even online, they felt they had gotten to know upperclassmen. Barriers between classes had been eased.
Pacuk, Doornweerd and Manosh love their 80 Link Crew mentors. “They’re very engaged,” Pacuk says. “They have a real enthusiasm for wanting to make Staples a better place, any way they can.”
The advisors hope to expand the program, adding activities like socials and exam study groups.
Meanwhile, despite starting a major new program in the midst of a pandemic, they tout its success.
“We’re a social species. This gives people their own ‘tribe,'” Manosh says.
“This is a big school,” Pacuk adds. “It’s important to feel part of something — to know you have a network of support.”
A little gesture — a text from a mentor, noting about a student’s absence from Connections — can go a long, long way. “It says, ‘Someone cares,'” Manosh says.
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