Quarterly Newsletter – October 2019 Alumni to Honor the New PMA HOF Inductees on November 2nd A large turnout is expected to attend the Power Memorial Academy 88th Anniversary Reunion Dinner and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. The event will take place on November 2nd at the Immaculate Conception Center located in Douglaston, New York. The starting time for the dinner is 6 PM and will continue to 10 PM. This year’s HOF honorees include faculty members Brother Thomas Jensen and Mr. Gerald Grimmeyer, PMA alumni Julio Alonso, Steven Donohue, John Lovett and Joseph Reilly and the 1969 Penn Relays Championship Two Mile Relay Team consisting of Tony Colon, John Lovett, Peter Lovett and Andy Walsh. (See full bios and complete details on the event starting on Page 4) Board Member Steve Kallas Named Sports Editor for WestchesterCountyPost.com The PMAAA Board of Directors invites the alumni to join Kallas on this new sports adventure for weekly stories and exclusive offers: Visit WestchesterCountyPost.com; Click on “Please Sign Up for New Stories;” Fill in the blanks and check the box above the green button; Click the green button. FILE: PMAAA October 2019 Newsletter-FINAL-(Rev. 2) Quarterly Newsletter - October 2019 P a g e | 2 (Please read the full story below) Board member Steve Kallas is the new sports editor of a Westchester County-based publication that focuses on quality of life issues such as wellness, education and literacy, youth development, sports, and entertainment. The target audience / catchment area includes Westchester County, NYC and surrounding areas. (Please visit WestchesterCountyPost.com). The publisher, Janelle Allbritton, MPH, is a health educator by training and sits on the boards of three non-profits: Young Life – Bronx Region (serving teens, teens with children, and teens with special needs through NYC public schools, private schools, and churches; see BronxRegion.YoungLife.org) Life Progressive Services (serving the formerly incarcerated to assist them in the re- entry process to reduce recidivism); Westchester County Federation of Women’s Clubs (raising funds for $1000 scholarships to Westchester Community College for women; see WCFWC.org) Allbritton also hosts a weekly show on WVOX 1460 AM, “Speaking of Wellness.” (Please visit WestchesterCountyPost.com and select “Wellness Audio.” At the October 12, 2019 board meeting, Kallas made a proposal, which was passed unanimously by the Board, to provide a short news story about how the WestchesterCountyPost.com has offered to cross-promote with PMAAA to support the activities of the alumni association and its efforts to assist the students of All Hallows. One project Allbritton has suggested is for Kallas to deliver a workshop to the All Hallows students who are interested in sports news reporting. They could then hone their craft on Yankee games, for example. Once approved by Kallas, the news stories would be posted on the WestchesterCountyPost.com website. As many of you know, Kallas was very helpful (along with Sean Crowley and Jennifer Abelaj) in dealing with the legal side of compliance issues that the Alumni Association had over the last two years. We wish him luck. PMAAA Board of Directors Meetings The PMAAA Board of Directors met on August 17th, 2019 at All Hallows High School, Bronx, New York, NY and again on October 12th at St. Josephs Residence located on the campus of Iona College, New Rochelle, NY. The August 17th meeting focused on fund raising methods with a presentation from Colleen Noonan and Rich Carter of the Brother Rice Christian Brothers Foundation. Also, updates where provided by the Scholarship and Nominating Committees. A Financial Report was also provided by the Board’s Treasurer. The upcoming Hall of Fame and Reunion Dinner plans were also discussed. In addition to the customary updates of the various committees and financials, plans for the HOF Dinner were finalized at the October 12th meeting. This included the assigning of Board members to various tasks that need to be attended to during the night, and confirming that all HOF inductees will be represented at the event. Also, Quarterly Newsletter - October 2019 P a g e | 3 Board member, Steve Kallas, proposed a mutually beneficial arrangement with WestchesterCountyPost.com that will allow the Association to announce upcoming events on the website in exchange for advising the alumni of the website. A Fundraising appeal, utilizing a mailer to the alumni, was also proposed by President Pisani. Complete meeting minutes to both meetings may be found on the PMAAA website: www.PowerMemorialAcademy.com Powerful Thoughts 5 by Dr. John R. Cleary, PMA ‘57 What could a 5’3”, 105 pound freshman expect? Those were my physical statistics when I started Power, a shrimp by most standards for someone who wanted to play on the Panthers’ frosh basketball team. I was a playground basketball player. I did well in intramurals at LaSalle JHS. I learned on the blacktop from the “big guys,” those already in high school or even in college. It was a rough and tumble game. We enjoyed the elbowing and the boxing out, even though b-ball is supposed to be a non-contact sport. In the fall of 1953, I walked boldly onto the brand new gymnasium floor dressed in my Converse sneakers, gym shorts and tee shirt ready to take on any competition. But how could I know it was a handpicked squad, already selected to be the team? How did I know they would go on to be the best frosh team ever (in that era) at Power with a 20 and 4 record -- without me? I decided that I could “pass muster” at basketball and, as a sophomore, I made the junior varsity. My brother Jim joined the team in our junior year. We defeated St. Ann’s at Cardinal Hayes for the Manhattan Junior Varsity Championship in 1955. We lost our second game for the city championship but so what, I was now playing championship high school basketball. In my senior year I was on the varsity. Power had a new coach, Mr. Behrens, replacing Mr. Ed Burns the beloved coach for many years. My yearbook entry reads: “Brought up from the JV were (only) seniors Cleary and McCarthy.” Later in the season a local newspaper column School Sports by Gene Roswell read: “We hear that Iowa State feels it might be getting a hoop sleeper in Johnny Cleary from Power Memorial.” At 5’ 10” and a muscular 160 pounds, I had made it and was off to North Dakota State Agricultural College (now ND State University) in September 1957 on a full basketball scholarship. Note: Dr. Cleary has volunteered to author a series of articles reflecting on his experiences at PMA. Alumni are encouraged to submit articles and share their experiences at Power Memorial Academy. Send your articles to: [email protected] Save the Date Please save the date for the upcoming 2019-20 PMAAA activities: Annual PMAAA Hall of Fame and Reunion Dinner – Saturday, November 2nd at 6 PM to 11 PM, at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, New York Annual PMAAA Mass of Remembrance – March 14th, 2020 Quarterly Newsletter - October 2019 P a g e | 4 St. Patrick’s Day Parade – March 17th, 2020 Alumni Spotlight PMAAA Board Member to Join All Hallows Board of Directors PMAAA Board of Directors member, Sean Crowley PMA ‘83, accepted a nomination to sit on the Board of Directors for All Hallows High School, Bronx, NY. In an email sent to his fellow PMAAA Board members announcing his nomination, Mr. Crowley stated: “I have accepted a nomination to the All Hallows Board of Directors and trust that this flows with my role as a PMA Board member. I will work to connect AH with PMA alum, and to help the school in every way possible.” In addition to being a Board member for the PMAAA and All Hallows H.S., Mr. Crowley is Partner in the New York City office of Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP. Mr. Crowley focuses on government affairs and lobbying efforts in New York State and New York City while providing a supporting role in the firm’s Washington DC practice. Mr. Crowley is a member of the Queens County Bar Association, Past-President of the Brehon (Irish) Law Society of New York City. Mr. Crowley resides in Forest Hills with his wife, Maureen and their three sons: Pearse, Owen and Sean Crowley Garrett. Hall of Fame Inductee Bios (Continued from page 1) Br. Thomas Jensen – Faculty 1967-1977 Br. Jensen came to Power in September of 1967 and over the following 10 years taught Mathematics, Religion, English and Latin across all four grade levels. Equally versatile in the athletic arena as he was in the classroom, he coached Freshman, JV and Varsity B basketball, winning 3 City Championships along the way. More significantly, it was his coaching of young players in their formative years that helped lay the foundation for the '70, '72 and '76 Varsity City Championship teams. He had the same effect coaching JV baseball, honing skills and instilling confidence in his players on their way to the Varsity team. Br. Jensen, a member of the CHSAA Hall of Fame, went on to teach and coach at Iona Prep and Bergen Catholic High School until his death in 2011. Mr. Gerald Grimmeyer – Faculty 1959-1984 Having attended All Hallows and Iona College, it was only fitting that Mr. Grimmeyer would, in the fall of 1959, come to teach at Power Memorial Academy. Over the next 25 years he taught Social Studies, A.P. European History, English and French, to name a few subjects, but is best remembered for developing and teaching his Modern Russian History course.