More highlights from the Holy Name Foundation Dinner-Dance
Over the years many people have purchased lottery tickets from Rae and Otto’s (it’s now owned and operated for the past 25 years by Ricky and his family, sorry but I don’t know the correct name, I just know they are good people. If you know the family, Ricky’s mom addresses everyone with ‘Hello Love’!)
I used to try my luck often with lottery tickets – no way Jose, as you can see I still have a job.
(A great picture with Bobby Trapp and Jimmy Rauthier)
Father Jim Cunningham stepped up to the microphone last Friday night at the Holy Name Foundation Dinner-Dance and announced, ‘it felt like he had won the lottery‘, this coming after being named the future pastor at Holy Name.
Of course it was a metaphor for how he feels being at H.N.
I kinda felt the same way on that special night.
Cunningham seems like a great fit for the Parish. His speech was outstanding (TOP NOTCH, TOP NOTCH!).
On that unforgettable night, I had the pleasure of meeting Rev. Peter Rayder, a frequent and compelling contributor to the comments section of Container Diaries. He has since moved on to O.L.H.C., but his presence at the dinner shows his loyalty to Holy Name. Speaking of Our Lady Help of Christians, I think I scored 24 points against them when I played Rookie basketball.
After being greeted by the lovely Mrs. Dolan, who did the honors of pinning a gorgeous rose on me, I stepped into the area where they served the appetizers and lo and behold I walk into Bobby Trapp. (By the way, Mrs. Dolan did a great job taking photo’s all night long – hopefully she e-mails some of them to me so I can put them up on the blog)
What a pleasure to see one of the best dude’s the neighborhood has ever produced.
Jimmy Rauthier was also in the house. Jimmy is another one of my favorite guys of all-time. He was always real cool with me. Matter of fact, he took me out one night to the Mustard Seed in Bay Ridge…what a night we had! It was the first time I had ever stepped out on the town. Jimmy still looks great, he looks like he can take guys to the ba-ha like he often did in the schoolyard! And it must be mentioned that I had the chance to meet his lovely mother; whom I haven’t seen in years. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Jimmy’s brother Georgie’s son who was also in the house. The Rauthier clan is one of the best from the neighborhood.
I stood there and chatted with Bobby for a bit and had a great conversation with Jimmy. To my surprise, along comes Ray Nash. The guy looks great! He gave me my first chance at coaching High School basketball when he hired me to be the head boys freshman coach at Ford. (The year before, Danny Pisselli hired me as his assistant for the J.V. team)
While chatting with all the lovely people from Holy Name, out of the corner of my eye I noticed everyone passing me to get at the food. I kept thinking to myself, ‘maybe I should just get on line’? Most people were probably coming from work, so I couldn’t blame them.
Stares from people who probably didn’t know me, or even recognize me were the norm. A quick ‘hi’, or a warm smile from a few folks, all the while thinking to myself, ‘damn, what if they run out of food’?
I hadn’t eaten anything all afternoon, my stomach was growling. I actually thought of crossing the street to Nathan’s on my way from the subway to grab a dog or two but remember, I was running behind…damn I was starving.
Also representing the Ford Falcons; Dennis Nolan, Pete Goyco and Eileen Long. Eileen was great. I had watched her play basketball for Bishop Ford years ago and we had never had any conversation before Friday night. I had always seen her and even crossed paths with her at Ford but never did we exchange a word. She reminded me, “remember when I wore goggles at Saint Francis”? Of course she was referring to her playing days down at the college as a Lady Terrier.
Dennis is a great guy. He’s now the boy’s head basketball coach at 500 19th street. The following morning I awoke extra early to get up to the gym to observe him working his guys out. He’s one of the best teachers on the court. I’m glad to see him back at his alma mater. During my tenure as freshman coach, Dennis was the JV coach, we spent a lot of time together on and off the court.
Pete is now the athletic director at Ford. He’s done a good job over the years as Nash’s right hand man; but now he’s steering the ship. While we chatted in the gym watching the basketball team on Saturday, I couldn’t help but notice how many keys Pete had on a ring. It looked like he had the keys to everyone’s house in the neighborhood.
To be continued…
-Steve
Hoops135@hotmail.com
