Alumni Journal: : Remembrance -- One Lucky
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Sullivan et al.: Alumni Journal » REMEMBRANCE one Lucky GUy JOURNAL the life and times of new york columnist mike mcalary take center stage in a Broadway hit that brings back some wild memories for former classmates By mark SUllIvan In the tony-nomInated play journalism to write movie scores. But uses the full gamut of reporter’s tricks Lucky Guy, tom hanks portrays mike mcalary, who died in 1998, is the only to get the stories he wants. he bullies, alumni mcalary ’79 as a swaggering, ambi- one whose life has been turned into a badgers, and charms. at SU, that lucky tious tabloid reporter for whom the Broadway play. “there were so many guy personality was very much in evi- standard rules do not apply. In nora talented people on that staff, but it’s dence. tim Wendel ’78, the author of ephron’s play set against the back- pretty clear now that mike had the best seven books, recalls sitting in the DO drop of new york City’s tabloid wars combination of talent and ambition of office one day when mcalary showed of the mid-1980s, mcalary stays out any of them,” says tom Coffey ’80, who up looking for tickets to comedian Steve all night chasing scoops, uncovers two worked with mcalary at the DO and is martin’s appearance at hendricks Cha- major police scandals, and jumps from now an editor at The New York Times pel that night. Wendel did not have Newsday to The Daily News, then to The and author of three novels. “even then tickets, but mcalary was undeterred. Post and back to The News. there, he he had the ability to get sources to talk “let’s sneak in,” he suggested to Wen- faces a scandal of his own, survives a to him and he had great instincts for del and the two headed over to hen- alumni.syr.edu horrific car accident, wins a pulitzer what people wanted to read.” dricks for the performance. “We made prize for commentary, and then dies of In Lucky Guy, mcalary’s character it into hendricks using press passes, cancer at age 41. It sounds like tabloid sensationalism, but it’s all true. and none of it is surprising to anyone who knew mcAlary at Syracuse in the late 1970s when he attended the newhouse School, worked at The Daily Orange, and told everyone he wanted to move to new york and become a big city colum- nist. “most of us who were in school at that time wanted to be Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein,” says Jim naughton ’79, of The Washington Post investiga- tive reporters who broke the Watergate scandal. “But mac wanted to be Jimmy Breslin.” Breslin was the longtime col- 1-800-SUALUMS (782-5867) 1-800-SUALUMS umnist for The New York Daily News, whom mcalary ended up replacing when Breslin jumped to New York News- day. “that’s what he aspired to and he did it,” says naughton, who as The Daily Orange editor-in-chief hired mcalary as sports editor. that Daily Orange staff produced three pulitzer prize winners (mcAlary, maura mcenaney ’79, and mike Stan- tom hanks and maura tierney appeared as mike mcalary and his wife, alice, in the ton ’79), the authors of numerous Broadway hit Lucky Guy, which closed in July. the play received six tony nominations, books, and one editor who gave up including one for Best play, and won two (for more on the tonys, see page 61). 44 Syracuse University magazine photo © Joan marcus, 2013 Published by SURFACE, 2013 1 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 30, Iss. 2 [2013], Art. 9 alumniJOURNAL mike mcalary ’79 was a fearless, street-wise columnist who wrote for all three of new york City’s tabloids during his career. he received a pulitzer prize for commentary in 1998 after breaking the story about new york City police brutalizing abner luima, a haitian immigrant. mcalary was receiving chemotherapy at the time, but acting on a tip went to luima’s hospital bedside to interview him. but security stopped us just outside the weekend. “he must have put 10,000 miles he needed to,” recalls howard mansfield offices of hillel and two doors away from on the van that summer,” Coffey recalls. “It ’79, the managing editor of The Daily Or- martin’s dressing room.” mcalary pulled was never the same after that.” ange, who has gone on to write numerous Wendel into the hillel offices where they In ephron’s play, mcalary and another books. “as much as he could drive you donned yarmulkes and walked confident- reporter get into a brawl one night argu- crazy, it was hard to stay mad at him.” ly past security and into martin’s dressing ing about who’s the better reporter. It was as a student, mcalary lived off campus room. “martin was at a table putting on not mac’s first bar room brawl. during his in a ramshackle saltbox house not far from his stage makeup and saw our reflections time at SU, mcalary was a regular at the the Brewster Boland dorm complex. “the in the mirror,” Wendel says. “he looked orange, a dingy bar on South Crouse av- houses served as temporary residences us over for a few seconds and then said, enue, where townies and students would for rats and students,” recalls Claudia ‘you guys aren’t Jewish.’ We ended up congregate. “even back then, mike was hutton ’79, who lived nearby. “the houses talking to him for 20 minutes and then cultivating his ‘man of the people’ per- all looked the same and more than once went inside and saw the show. It was a sona,” naughton says. one night in spring after a night at the orange, mike and his great night.” 1977 after a few tequilas, a brawl broke roommates would have trouble recogniz- Indeed, mcalary had no problem out and mcalary and several other com- ing which house was theirs.” So to make bending the rules. as editor of the Summer batants were arrested. When the arrest- sure the house was easy to find,m calary’s Orange, the weekly version of the DO ing officer asked for his name, mcalary, roommate created a four-foot paper ma- that was published in June, July, and more of a wise guy than a lucky guy that che phallic symbol, which they hung from august, mcal ary and the staff would take night, told the cop his name was Gary their second-floor balcony. “It became a turns driving to the printer in an old red Gilmore, the murderer who had been ex- landmark,” hutton says. “We would use it Ford econoline van owned by the paper. ecuted before a firing squad a few months to give directions to our house.” once the paper was printed, mcalary earlier. the next morning mcalary was mcalary’s antics occasionally caused would commandeer the van as his own brought into court before Judge richard problems for his friends. mcenaney re- recreational vehicle. one weekend mac Sardino who took one look at the docket calls waitressing in the student center one strapped several canoes to the top of the and bellowed out, “Who the hell arrested day when mcalary came to visit and after van and took it to nearby Green lakes Gary Gilmore last night?” mcalary ap- a few drinks broke a wine glass over his State park. While fillingthe gas tank for the proached the bench and said, “I’m sorry head. “the manager made it clear I had return trip back to campus, he encountered your honor. last night I was so intoxicated, to get him out of there right away. Some- George meusel, the DO business manager I thought I was Gary Gilmore, but I’m not times it was like he was John Belushi,” and the guy in charge of paying the bills. and I apologize.” Sardino, a notorious no- she recalls. “he was crazy and funny and others may have panicked at being busted, nonsense jurist especially when it came to when you were with him you wanted to go but mac smiled and waved and then on SU students, laughed and let mcalary go. along for the ride.” monday morning showed up at meusel’s “mike did have the ability to turn on the Joel Stashenko ’83, who ran the DO office and turned in the gas receipts for the charm and show his choir boy side when sports department with mcalary, says photo/new york daily news archive Summer 2013 45 http://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol30/iss2/9https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol30/iss2/9 2 Sullivan et al.: Alumni Journal even in college it was clear that mcalary restaurant on manhattan’s east Side that former classmates went to see Lucky Guy had a presence. “he drew people to him,” was a clubhouse of sorts for writers and in early may and afterward spent a few Stashenko says. “he had this outsized athletes) and cultivated friendships with hours at Sardi’s restaurant talking about personality that thrived in certain settings. singer paul Simon and now new york gov- the play and telling stories. It was an emo- he was impulsive and emotional, but was ernor andrew Cuomo. (mcalary was a tional, hilarious night. “When mike died, somehow able to get away with it.” groomsman at Cuomo’s wedding.) we never got to have a wake for him, so While the two worked together at the But he always had time for his old class- years later it felt like we finally got to do it,” school paper, mcalary had a dispute with mates.