I lived in New York City for 15 years, at 17East 80th Street, on West 43rd around the corner from the United Nations headquarters and on West 44th Street a block from Broadway. I also lived in New Jersey in Princeton and Trenton and Westchester County in Larchmont for another 14 years. I think of the city often, particularly on the Memorial Holiday weekend.
Seventeen days before the September ll massacre I saw the Twin Towers for the last time. I was aboard a cruise ship, the Princess, the evening before the Kickoff Classic. It was a beautiful cool late summer evening. Special guests included the good people from Syracuse University and Georgia Tech, the Kickoff Classic opponents.
The New Jersey Sports Authority hosted this memorable evening. The lovely Rosemary Johnson was in charge. I was a member of the original National Football foundation group which teamed with the National Collegiate athletic Directors Association, the American Football Coaches Association and the New Jersey Sports Authority launching the Kickoff Classic. I lobbied coaches and athletic directors coast-to-coast and the game was approved.
I attended every one of the Kickoff Classics for over 20 years.
The Cruise on the historic Hudson River viewing the Statue of Liberty on a moonlit night was something to behold. Down below during dinner the music played, a talented group sang and people danced. The ship arrived near The Lady , the Statue of Liberty which I had seen for the first time in the autumn of 1944 as a Navy gunner aboard a Liberty Ship, a member of the Armed Guard, the equivalent of hired guns a century before in the Golden West. I went top side to pay my respects to the Lady and to view the magnificent New York skyline on a moonlit night, the world primarily at peace except for the constant skirmishes in the Mid-East.
In 1944 we were part of the one of the largest convoys in World War 11, bound for the European Theater of Operations where submarines and V-2 bombs were waiting our arrival.
On Memorial Day 2008 I thought of those days once again.
*****
The University of Notre Dame wanted to return to the East to satisfy its thousands of alumni and fans and discussed a four year contract with Rutgers, playing in Giants Stadium and its 75,000 capacity. Rutgers Athletic Director Bob Mulcahy, a former small town New Jersey May0r who worked for Governor Brendan Byrne, who later got him the job with the New Jersey Sports Authority, wanted to play its home games with Notre Dame in its expanded 55,000 seat stadium. Notre Dame Athletic Director Kevin White said No Thanks and scheduled the University of Connecticut instead.
U-Conn Athletic Director Jeff Hathaway realized how much it would have meant to his school if he could schedule Notre Dame, particularly with its marvelous national TV contract. Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano can not be very happy that Rutgers missed this opportunity for national exposure by playing Notre Dame for four years.
Mulcahy, who had named the New Jersey Arena in honor of his former boss Brendan Byrne later sold the naming rights and Brendan's name was erased from the structure. Mulcahy has some Eastern writers praising him for not agreeing to play Notre Dame in Giants Stadium.
The bottom line is that the seat difference is 20,000 seats and New Jersey has lost the series to Connecticut. Over 75,000 fans would have spent a lot of money in New Jersey if the game had been played in New Jersey. Mulcahy is so smart he out-smarted himself.
Notre Dame is reported to have wanted to play Ole Miss at a neutral city, New Orleans, in the Sugar Bowl Stadium. I was told that the SEC would not approve of such a move because of Television. I will check this out. The SEC Commissioner Michael Slive is a Lawyer. I believe that several of his predecessors, Mike Connor, Bernie Moore, and Tonto Coleman would have jumped at the chance of having one of its teams play Notre Dame in the huge Sugar Bowl Stadium.
---30-----
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sunday, May 11, 2008
A Wedding to Remember
Two of Mississippi's best running backs would have been very proud of their granddaughter Mary Melinda Tews marriage to Jeffrey Rushing Litttle the evening before Mother's Day in Jackson.
Long ago Harol Lofton and Lowell Tew passed away. Tew was one of the best running backs in the University of Alabama's rich football history. Lofton had the longest touchdown run from the line of scrimmage for Ole Miss --a thrilling 87-yard payoff sprint. Raymond Brown set a new mark with a 92-yard touchdown sprint on a broken play that started as a punt from his own end zone. Fearing a blocked punt for a safety or enemy touchdown Brown tucked the ball under his arm and set sail for the other end zone.
Lofton was an All American high school hero from Brookhaven. Tew was the pride of Waynesboro. Both were pals of mine. What a backfield they would have had they played together.
At the Paul Bryant Alabama Sports Hall of Fame one day I visited with legendary Crimon Tide center Vaughn Mancha. An old timer spotted us and said to Mancha how good it was to see him again. Then he looked at me and said "Lowell, it is good to see you too." I could understand his thinking I was Lowell Tew. Both of us strapping six-footers, handsome, bright eyed. Lowell had sandy hair. I was Mississippi Red.
After their children became engaged the Tews came to Brookhaven to meet the Loftons. The families hit it off in fine fashion. The next day after returning to Laurel, Lowell, an attorney,went over to the school track to jog as he had done many times after Lunch. He suffered a fatal heart attack. The engagement party was cancelled. The Loftons attended the funeral instead.
Harol died a few months later. These were two fine men who had died in the prime of life were gone, never getting a chance to see what a fine family their children had raised. They missed a lot--four girls and a son--Mary Melinda, Clara, Salena and Sarah and the son, Lofton, who spent the last few months painted the white picket fence on the 28 acre estate so that the Reception would be spectacular.
Jeff Little's grandfather my friend of many years Will Hickman was there with his wife. So were Jeff's parents, the Lawrence Little. Melinda's grandmothers, Mary Tew and Salena Lofton Edwards. Melinda and Jeff met at Ole Miss.
The Loftons were lifetime friends of mine in Brookhaven, next door neighbors in Wildwood, my grandparents one-time estate which had extended from Chippewa Street to the Natchez Road.
Granny Byrd, the former Elvira Byrd, wife of Colonel Cornelius Byrd, was one of America's first women editors and publishers. She sold the Brookhaven News after her three sons chose to eventually leave the Homeseeker"s Paradise.
Granny Byrd also sold most of Wildwood in the biggest land auction ever between New Orleans and Memphis in the late 1920's.
The Tews-Little Marriage and Reception brought back many memories and seeing old friends at this wonderful evening in mid-May.
I can still see Harol Lofton and Lowell Tew carrying a football during their days of college football gridiron glory. How proud would they have been of their granddaughter and her husband.
--30----
Long ago Harol Lofton and Lowell Tew passed away. Tew was one of the best running backs in the University of Alabama's rich football history. Lofton had the longest touchdown run from the line of scrimmage for Ole Miss --a thrilling 87-yard payoff sprint. Raymond Brown set a new mark with a 92-yard touchdown sprint on a broken play that started as a punt from his own end zone. Fearing a blocked punt for a safety or enemy touchdown Brown tucked the ball under his arm and set sail for the other end zone.
Lofton was an All American high school hero from Brookhaven. Tew was the pride of Waynesboro. Both were pals of mine. What a backfield they would have had they played together.
At the Paul Bryant Alabama Sports Hall of Fame one day I visited with legendary Crimon Tide center Vaughn Mancha. An old timer spotted us and said to Mancha how good it was to see him again. Then he looked at me and said "Lowell, it is good to see you too." I could understand his thinking I was Lowell Tew. Both of us strapping six-footers, handsome, bright eyed. Lowell had sandy hair. I was Mississippi Red.
After their children became engaged the Tews came to Brookhaven to meet the Loftons. The families hit it off in fine fashion. The next day after returning to Laurel, Lowell, an attorney,went over to the school track to jog as he had done many times after Lunch. He suffered a fatal heart attack. The engagement party was cancelled. The Loftons attended the funeral instead.
Harol died a few months later. These were two fine men who had died in the prime of life were gone, never getting a chance to see what a fine family their children had raised. They missed a lot--four girls and a son--Mary Melinda, Clara, Salena and Sarah and the son, Lofton, who spent the last few months painted the white picket fence on the 28 acre estate so that the Reception would be spectacular.
Jeff Little's grandfather my friend of many years Will Hickman was there with his wife. So were Jeff's parents, the Lawrence Little. Melinda's grandmothers, Mary Tew and Salena Lofton Edwards. Melinda and Jeff met at Ole Miss.
The Loftons were lifetime friends of mine in Brookhaven, next door neighbors in Wildwood, my grandparents one-time estate which had extended from Chippewa Street to the Natchez Road.
Granny Byrd, the former Elvira Byrd, wife of Colonel Cornelius Byrd, was one of America's first women editors and publishers. She sold the Brookhaven News after her three sons chose to eventually leave the Homeseeker"s Paradise.
Granny Byrd also sold most of Wildwood in the biggest land auction ever between New Orleans and Memphis in the late 1920's.
The Tews-Little Marriage and Reception brought back many memories and seeing old friends at this wonderful evening in mid-May.
I can still see Harol Lofton and Lowell Tew carrying a football during their days of college football gridiron glory. How proud would they have been of their granddaughter and her husband.
--30----
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