I’m crashing the reunion party! Allow me to explain:
When I was 3 years old, my parents moved from their Bronx neighborhood to Tappan. I attended Tappan Elementary, South Orangetown Middle School, and did my freshman year of high school at Tappan Zee.
Then, we moved to Florida. Yes, that’s the eventual goal of seemingly everyone in the tri-state area, but this then-15-year-old went kicking and screaming, never wanting to leave New York. I eventually settled into life in the Sunshine State, but family, friends and my broken heart fortified a lasting bond to my Rockland County roots. Not to mention, the Yankees, Knicks and my beloved Giants, who I’ve supported (and cursed) from annual trips to MetLife to New Orleans and across the pond in London.
Speaking of beloved, I’ve also been blessed with more than 50 years of friendship with your fellow classmates Randy Scott (best man at my wedding) and Joe Printz (We met in kindergarten. I believe Joe had a woodsy Cabernet in his The Man from U.N.C.L.E. lunch box.) So I couldn’t resist the chance to attend the reunion and hope that at least some friends from long ago would remember “Nicky.’’ (That’s the kid with the weird caterpillar-looking mustache our freshman year, right?)
After graduating from North Fort Myers High School, my family did return north to New Jersey for a couple of years, where I attended Bergen Community College as a freshman before graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in communications.
I spent 40 years in journalism, starting as a sports reporter at Gator Bait magazine in Gainesville, Fl., and then for Gannett News Service at the Fort Myers (Fl.) News-Press before moving to The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, where I eventually became Sports Editor, Managing Editor and retired as Executive Editor. I’ve covered and/or helped direct coverage of hurricanes, mass shootings, the pandemic, the opioid epidemic, the mortgage crisis, a lively little place called Mar-a-Lago, Super Bowls, World Series, national championships, Olympics and countless other stories ranging from heartbreaking to heart lifting. It was an honor to do so alongside so many extraordinarily talented and dedicated journalists.
I live in Lake Worth in Palm Beach County with my wife, Dani, and four-legged daughter, Luna. My two-legged daughters, Nicole and Jessi, have blessed us with three grandchildren.
I’m desperately trying to improve at golf and regularly hit the gym with a main goal of not adding to my resume of surgical repairs and assorted other injuries. (I do have an entertaining concussion-related story as recounted to me by teammates on our freshman football team at TZ.) Hope you accept my request to be an honorary Class of ’76 graduate, or, at the least, as Randy’s Plus One.
Editor’s note: Accepted glandly!