More RHS Memories - Part 3!

A few posts back I started posting memories from a book titled well, Senior Memories! A month or two before we graduated a questionaire was distributed to all seniors asking us to answer 5 basic questions about a classmate. I forget what the questions were but we think they went something like this: What would they be remembered for, Just imagine, Aspires to be, Something they didn't like and one other one. Here are some more classmate memories!

KEVIN MARSHALL

- Eating beer Bottles, The Bowling Alley Sprint
- The FBI
- Bags not having the munchies
- Dicy Tracy
- My '65 Ford (if it last that long)

JEAN LINEWEAVER

- Her jokes
- "Nobody laughs at my jokes!"
- Jean in a gymsuit
- Ave's mujer
- Mr. Gomez' 273,001 vocabulary words

NAN KRITZLER

- Jumping out windows
- Not enough time
- A straight weekend
- An insane artist
- a pile of........

DAN PEPE

- How the hell do you like that?
- His old Impala
- 217% of Florida as water
- Nothing
- One medium size grunt ball for Mr. Leach

ANITA SIMOS

- Staring
- School
- Anita with luxurious fingernails
- Harvard law graduate
- Herself

NICK LAGOS

- Twice in one night
- Exploitation of koala bears
- Nick without his flower
- A stain on Fran's pillow
- One painted Fair Lawn water tower

Ridgewood and Perdue's Sport Shop

Above is "Perdue's Sport Shop" - what memories from this simple photo! Photo was from the Ridgewood High School Class of 1977 blog.

I know I'm not the only one with fond memroies of Perdue's Sport Shop. It was a place in one's town that stands out - so much so, that it is sorely missed. I would place it in the ranks of  T & W Ice Cream, Mac Hugh's, Renatos Pizza (still there - yay!) and Sealfon's to name a few.

It was a friendly place that seemed much bigger than it was. It seemed to carry everything and it was one of Ridgewood High School's biggest supporters!

I remember buying fishing stuff there, baseball equipment and a football.

When I was in elementary school - Glen School - we had our fathers come to our class to tell us about their professions - my dad included. The fathers always brought cool things: films, pins, etc. One of the dads that also came was Walter Perdue - his daughter Beth had recently jogged my memory helping me recall that he had brought each one of us a tennis ball as a keepsake! To this day, I can see Mr. Perdue driving around in his 1931 Model A Ford woody that advertised his shop (the Perdue's lived nearby).

Paul McCubbin who has the Ridgewood High School Class of 1977 blog wrote a nice piece on Perdue's Sport Shop and I will simply reprint it here. I have been searching forever for a picture of Perdue's and finally found it on Paul's blog - I include here for sentimental reasons and know it will bring good memories to all.

Below are Paul's memories as he wrote them:

"Never forget the first time I went to Perdue's Sport Shop. It was simply known as Perdue's when I was growing up in Ridgewood. I was all of seven years old and I drove there with my Dad and my entire life savings of ten cents. I believe my allowance at the time was five cents so this was a long anticipated day.

I was in Perdue's to purchase a red rubber ball, the kind you throw against a wall to practice your pitching or to play the game "Baseball Off the Wall."

On this particular Saturday I was assisted by Mr. Perdue. You would think that the man might have had better things to do than help a 2nd grader buy a ball but that was Mr. Perdue. He was filled with patience and saw immediately how much this meant to me.

My father had been there many times before and he recognized him well enough to give him a hearty hello. We were only there to make this one purchase though instinctively Mr. Perdue knew he had a new customer and that I might come back every year until I went to college to buy sporting goods from him. It wasn't a cold calculation on his part, only common sense. I handed over my ten cents to Mr. Perdue and I left the store the happiest kid in town. On this particular day I had been out, just me and my Dad on a beautiful Saturday morning in early Spring, and had been to Perdue's, where the nicest shopkeeper in town had personally made certain my simple purchase was completed with the utmost dignity.

Perdue's Sport Shop is now a parking lot. Though if you stare at it and squint your eyes you can see it, and the old wood paneled truck with the Perdue's name emblazoned on the side. Mr. Perdue had a commute to work that most men who lived in Ridgewood would have taken in a heartbeat. And he had a job I bet most men also admired. Not just because it involved selling all types of sporting goods, but because he did it with such aplomb and assurance of manner that people were drawn back as often as they could find a reason to shop there. Even if it only meant a ten cent rubber ball for your son."

Above is one of the many Fall, Winter & Spring sports schedules Perdue's sponsored for Ridgewood High School. Walter himself was inducted to the Ridgewood High School sports Hall of Fame as a star athlete.


 

The Fairlawn Water Tower Crew To Be Honored at Reunion - Sorry Cutters!

Hey remember the Fair lawn water tower? It's not there anymore but a few guys made it a memorable landmark in Ridgewood lore - Ridgewood Class of '73 lore that is! Just before the 1972 Thanksgiving football game between Ridgewood and Fair Lawn New Jersey, a classic group of my classmates set out on a mission - to paint the Fair Lawn water tower with this simple message - "RHS #1 RHS". If you were a Cutter it had to be aggravating to wake up to that message - I always imagined what it must have been like for Fair Lawn students on the way to school looking up at the tower!

The tower was adorned with the initials "Gut", "CF", "NL" and "CB" - we all know who they were. Personally, I thought it was the coolest thing - what a badge! What makes this incredible is that this was accomplished late at night and they literally climbed up there to do it. In fact, for some reason I seem to remember some of Fair Lawn's players being so upset by this that they arrived in the courtyard of our student center yelling and screaming - does anyone remember this or am I just imagining it? Nick Lagos (the "NL") has been putting together a better story which we hope to publish in a book we may do for the Class of '73 reunion on October 18, 2013 but until then see Nick's email below.

The above photo was given to me my senior year. I believe it was taken by a yearbook staff person. I still marvel at the guts - um, no pun intended Gut - it took to do it!

Below is Nick's email verbatim:

"A small group of 7 to 8 set out to paint the Fair Lawn water tower prior to the annual Thanksgiving football game. Within that small group, 4 actually climbed the tower with paint cans and brushes: Scott Gutting, Chris Ferraro, Chris Bowe and Nick Lagos. It is believed that Bob Haworth, Dan Pepe, Tommy Nepola, Brian Tobin and an out of town cousin of Chris Ferraro's - Johnny Johnson, were on the ground serving as lookout and getaway drivers. Although it can't be seen in the photo, there is a 4th set of initials - the initials "CB" were painted to the right of "NL".............." - thanks Nick!

Personally I can't wait to hear more - I sent Scott a message on Facebook and hopefully we'll get a good accounting from Chris Ferraro, Chris Bowe and more from Nick. You can't say this class wasn't memorable and you have to admit - where football was concerned we indeed were number one that year!

Anyway, I'm sure Nick won't mind me using his story as it was one of many episodes during our years that made living in Ridgewood so much fun! This crew was definitely cool!

The above photo is the more modern Fair Lawn water tower as it looked in 2012. In fact, in the Fair Lawn Patch of March 21 that year this was the headline:

"Water Tower Paint Job Budgeted at $1.3 Million" - I kid you not. Hey Cutters, I know a few guys who would do it for free!

We will be honoring this group at our reunion in October! If you're still wondering if you should come to the reunion - just do it! Its gonna be so much fun - reunion weekend goes from October 18 - 20, 2013 - Friday night at Smith Bros (in town) to town walk-thrus, high school and neighborhood visits and dinner on Saturday to small breakfast or brunch get togethers on Sunday. Hey it's not just about water towers and football - it was the whole experience at RHS and Ridgewood. I know RHS was always a great experience all of the time for some but hey, my freshman year was less than memorable but I loved high school and my junior and senior years were so much fun! We just want to see everybody so mark the calendar!

Jim Saporito Coming To Smith Bros Oct 18 - '73 Reunion!

Heard through the grapevine that Jim Saporito will be dropping by at Smith Bros to say hi to all at the start our Class of '73 reunion! He leaves for Japan that weekend but making time..........love it!

Ridgewood High School Class of '73 Reunion 10/18/13-10/20/13

Well, I am back. Our 40th high school reunion - Class of 1973 - is being held the weekend of October 18 - 20, 2013. There will be a get together for cocktails at Smith Brothers in Ridgewood at 51 N Broad Street  starting at 5pm Friday night.

Saturday will be the main reunion at the Sheraton Crossroads from 7- 11pm - but don't let that stop you! Don't forget to check out downtown and the high school during the day saturday especially if you haven't been to Ridgewood in a while.

Then Sunday for those who care to - breakfast or brunch - not organized - just with whoever you want.

You can't miss this one you guys! Its a great class . We're celebrating the championship football team and honoring those who painted the Fair Lawn water tower.

Don't miss it even if you tend not to come to these things it'll be a blast just to sit and observe everybody else and remember!

A lot of people have been contacted and we're finding at least 1 a day via mailings and payments are starting to come in - all payments should go to Terri.

For more info, room pricing etc contact:

Terri DiModugno terridimo@verizon.net

John Wescott  - tooches@msn.com

Frank Petrucci frank.ucss@gmail.com

Rick Flannery cmadbase@yahoo.com