For the next few days I will be paying tribute to people I have known for a long time. People from the neighborhood that meant a lot to me growing up. These people made a huge impact on me. From friends to teachers to coaches. I’ll even mention a couple of priests and nuns.
Glenn Thomas:
My best friend – we talk often, even text on a daily basis.
Growing up as kids Glenn and I played lots of ball together. Holy Name schoolyard. P.S. 154’s, East 5th street and Manhattan Beach.
Despite being a year older than me, Glenn and I hung out often. We played together on the basketball team at Holy Name. We also played pick-up ball everywhere there was a court.
We’d hop on our Mongoose mountain bikes and ride to Manhattan. Over the Brooklyn Bridge up 6th avenue to West 4th street, Central Park, the Lower East Side; we covered a lot of ground.
“Hey Kid, you know how to ride a bike?”
When it was time to step out at night, we hung out in dance clubs all over the city. We danced, drank and met so many good people.
“YO FRANKIE!”
A classic line on the dance floor at the Limelight. Or maybe it was Xenon?
Cat Club. Studio 54. Peppermint Lounge. Danceteria. Boy-O-Boy, so many clubs…
“Do I know you?”
Glenn and I worked together as messengers down on Wall Street with our boy T-Bone. A few years later we both worked the door at Planet Hollywood.
“Any advice for a struggling actor from Queens?”
“Yo Lance. Blue Fish…Blue Fish…”
One weekend we made a road trip York College in PA, it was a memorable one.
We played ball on Saturday afternoon against their players and went to a cool club later that night.
“You can’t get those Lima beans up that high…”
Knicks games at the Garden, Mets games at Shea and most important, spending time down his basement on Sherman Street listening to records.
The night Bernard King scored 60 points against the Nets we were both in the house. My guy Sugar dropped 36 that night for New Jersey leading the Nets to the win.
Glenn’s parents were gems; his mom treated me like a son. His dad was aces.
Speaking of aces, how about Frankie the Ace? We played so much ball down 154’s; basketball and stick-ball. We called it Swift.
Remember that bowling ball bag the Ace carried.
“Hey Jerry, there’s no tomorrow…”
Last but not least one day in August we were walking the boardwalk at Coney Island. All of a sudden we see Gerard Grayson on the sand, naked. Cops were hauling him off.
“YO FINAMORE, THEY TOOK MY CLOTHES!”
Hundreds of people on the boardwalk and he sees me…
SMH
To conclude, I miss those days of hanging out with Glenn. We had so much fun and learned a lot about friendships.
Yo Glenn, hope all is well.
Your friend,
Steve
