It was the summer of '70. I had just completed my freshman year at Fort Lee High School. Going from a parochial grammar school to a public high school didn't prove to be a major hurdle for me. I came from a tight-knit neighborhood, so I had a good nucleus of friends to be with. Besides, I'm not exactly shy and tend to make friends easily. I was also a good athlete and managed to be captain of both my freshman football and baseball team. So, I was coming off a good year.
My family was not one of means
so my brother, sister, and I all grew up with a powerful work ethic. If we
wanted something, our parents instilled in us the drive and independence to
work hard and GET it. It's a lesson I have never forgotten and carry it with me
to this very day. No matter how successful I may have been in my career, I have
never lost that ethos.
With that in mind, I took a
summer job at one of the largest employers in the area - Palisades Amusement
Park. Perhaps you remember it; the bright lights of carnival-like entertainment
perched high above the Palisades just south of the George Washington Bridge and
on the border of the boroughs of Fort Lee and Cliffside Park, NJ. On weekends,
massive crowds of New Yorkers traveled across the bridge clogging every major
road in their effort to get to the park. It became part of the rhythm of life
in the borough.
So, of course it was a natural
place for me to find work. Besides, I had a connection. One of my best friend's
fathers owned a few concession stands at the park and would introduce me to
someone I could work for. It turned out that he knew someone who owned two
COTTON CANDY stands in the park and was looking for a young person to run them.
That young person was me.
I had just turned 15 at the end
of April.
My boss was an older gentleman
with a gruff personality. But he was willing to train me how to make the cotton
candy, balance the register, and open and close the stands. For this he would
offer me virtually unlimited hours at $1 per hour. That's right, a buck. But
since the park was open for extended hours, it allowed me to work quite a bit,
often 10-12 hours a day. I would walk from my house (about 2 miles away) in the
morning, work all day, and then walk back, often late at night (note: in those
days it was still safe to do that). One week I actually worked 51 hours and the
prince of a boss of mine paid me $56, claiming "the extra $5 was for
working so many hours." Really.
And the strangest part is that
I don't like cotton candy. Never did. I don't have a sweet tooth at all and the
idea of eating spun sugar off a paper cone didn't appeal to me at all! And if
that wasn't bad enough, I already had hairy arms (I am Sicilian after all) so
on very hot days - and there were many - the sugar would stick to the hair on
my arms until I could wash it off at the end of the day. One of the stands was
in front of the park's large stage so one bonus was that I got to see some
great performances from my little box. The other was under the roller coaster,
and I think is one of the reasons I may be a little hard of hearing today.
So, why would someone consider
putting oneself though such misery for $1/hour? Well, one reason was that as a
park employee, I could go on ANY ride in the park for free - if and when I had
the time. That, my friends, is strong incentive for a 15 year old boy. But my
real motivation lied with my desire to play sports on a competitive level. As I
mentioned previously, I was a good athlete but more importantly, I loved it. It
was what I wanted to do. I had had a very successful freshman football season
and thought that if I played my cards right, I just might get some varsity
playing time as a sophomore.
At the end of my freshman year,
I was invited to join the team at a preseason, private camp, just for the
incoming football players. It would last a week and was located somewhere in
the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I just HAD to be there! But there was a
catch: the school couldn't/wouldn't pay for it. And, as it turned out, neither
would my parents. But they didn't say I couldn't go either. As was their way,
they said, "if you can earn the money, you can do whatever you want with
it (within limits, of course)." So, that provided incentive #2.
There was one more.
My favorite football player was
#30 of the NY Giants, Ron Johnson. And Johnson was the only play in the league
at that time who was wearing BLUE, Puma brand cleats. I thought they were the
coolest things ever. And I found a place that sold them - not blue but black, and still Pumas. That place was Cosby's Sporting Goods Store at the base of Madison
Square Garden. I saw them in the window one day. I HAD to go in to find out if
I could actually get them.
Yes, they had them in stock. Yes,
they had them in my size. And, yes, they were $50. I was shocked. $50 for a 15
year old kid is a lot of money, even today. But, in those days it was a
mountain, especially for a pair of shoes you were supposed only wear once a
week for a few months! My folks thought I was crazy but once again stressed,
"you buy what YOU want with YOUR money."
So, at the end of a long, hot
summer, I spent MY money on the things that were important to ME at the time. I
went to the camp AND I bought the shoes.
Life was good.
Epilogue: I went on to have a good sophomore year and football career at FLHS, even being co-caption my senior year. As for the shoes? I actually never got to wear them. The night I bought them I polished them to a high sheen and then placed them in our basement closet and closed the door - or at least I thought that I did. We had a puppy at the time and found a gap in the door. And what teething puppy could resist chewing on fresh leather? So, he ate the heels off both shoes. A shoemaker tried repairing them, but they were too far gone. Like the park, they are only a memory know. Palisades Amusement Park would last just one more summer, closing in September of 1971.
Graphic by: Davies Adele
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