JerseyMan Magazine V14N4

Eagles newest star making an impact

BARKLEY

Traveling with the Green Legion NFL Season Predictions Arm Wrestling Has Taken Off

BY KEN DUNEK

The Finish Line

Sixty-seven years of age now, and it has my attention. I don’t dwell on it, but it looms like a specter in the distance, and it is not going anywhere. Still active with my job, personal and family life, and hobbies. Mainly golf.

Collecting social security now. Seems hard to believe.

Wasn’t it yesterday I was excelling at sports in college and the pros? I couldn’t wait until the next game, the next challenge.

Now, I lift weights in my basement and walk the neighborhood. It’s about all I can physically do anymore.

But my concentration is on the many blessings I have in life, and that brings me peace.

Health, family, friends, Sunday dinners with my kids,  and a successful business are the things I thank God for every morning.

I still have so much more to do…just doing it at a slower pace, while pushing the finish line as far back as I can.

Ken Dunek PUBLISHER

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Ashley Dunek

EDITOR

George Brinkerhoff

ART DIRECTOR

Steve Iannarelli

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

George Anastasia, Jan L. Apple, Michael Bradley, George Brinkerhoff, Sam Carchidi, Alexandra Dunek, Mark Eckel, Dei Lynam, Jon Marks, Anthony Mongeluzo, Kevin Reilly, Kurt Smith, Dave Spadaro

Event Coordinator & Administrative Assistant

Alexandra Dunek

Website & Digital Coordinator

Jamie Dunek

Editorial gbrinkerhoff@jerseymanmagazine.com

Advertising 856-912-4007

Printing Alcom Printing, Harleysville, Pa.

Controller

Rose M. Balcavage

Sales Associates

Ashley Dunek, Jamie Dunek, Terri Dunek, Allison Farcus, JP Lutz

JerseyMan/PhillyMan Advisory Board

Peter Cordua (Chairman) Cordua Consulting, LLC

Don Eichman .............................. Alcom Printing

Bill Emerson .............................. Emerson Group

Jerry Flanagan .............................. J Dog Brands

Damien Ghee TD Bank

Bob Hoey Janney Montgomery Scott

Kristi Howell Burlington Co. Chamber of Commerce

Ed Hutchinson Hutchinson

Robert Kennedy Waterworks Metrology

Anthony Mongeluzo .................................. PCS

Charlie Muracco ............................ CLM Advisors

Ryan Regina ...........................Big Sky Enterprises

Scott Tanker Tanker Business Solutions

Joe Tredinnick Cornerstone Bank

Jim Wujcik The Joseph Fund

“You can learn a line from a win and a book from a defeat.”

– Paul Brown

SAQUON BARKLEY

JOTTINGS

BY GEORGE BRINKERHOFF

“The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there.”

– Vince Lombardi

South Jersey restaurant named Top 50 in country

ASOUTH JERSEY RESTAURANT right in our backyard has been included on The New York Times annual list of the 50 top restaurants in the country. Sweet Amalia Market and Kitchen, on Route 40 in Newfield, describes themselves on their website as “a southern New Jersey oyster farm and a modern roadside farmstand offering casual take-out cuisine that features fresh local harvests and celebrates our Jersey roots.” The Times remarked that it is farm-to-table, “though the farm in question is an oyster-growing aquaculture operation more than 25 miles away in the Delaware Bay, but still.” They concluded that while it’s set up like other typical New Jersey roadside farm stands, the oysters at the raw bar “are exceptional.” The Times also highlights “standby’s … no

matter the month, like the fried oysters on a grilled, buttered roll and the Italian cold-cut hoagies.

The folks at Sweet Amalia posted a magnanimous South Jersey-centric response upon attaining this laurel, on their Facebook page:

“ We are so incredibly honored and proud to be listed as one of  @nytimes Top 50 Restaurants in the country. We wouldn’t be able to do this without our incredible and devoted staff and partnership with the brilliant @sweetamaliaoysters. Our menu and vision are fueled by the bounty that is South Jersey aquaculture and agriculture and we are very grateful to be right in the center of it. Thank you to all of our guests and community that continue to support us.”

For more information and to check out their menu, go to sweetamalia.com.

The Woodstown Central Railroad

HOW ABOUT A TRAIN RIDE in vintage restored train cars, right through the heart of South Jersey? Yes, straight out of 1863, you can experience exactly what our ancestors experienced as they rode the rails, the fastest mode of travel available at that time. The Woodstown Central Railroad offers “the nostalgia of a bygone era with the modern amenities and comforts that discerning travelers expect.” The railroad has painstakingly restored four train cars representing four different classes of service they offer, including Coach Class, The Caboose, the Table Car and the deluxe Mineral Spring car. Currently, a diesel engine pulls the cars but, a steam engine, Engine No. 9, is being restored for future use on the line. The line itself runs between Woodstown and Swedesboro to the north and

from Woodstown towards Salem to the South. Some of the more popular excursions are Brew to Brew, an 11 mile round trip visiting both the Swedesboro Brewing Co. in Swedesboro and the Farmer’s and Banker’s Brewery in Woodstown; the Autumn Leaf Pumpkin train, a 90 minute journey through lush woods and farmland where you can pick out a pumpkin and enjoy cider and donuts at their station; the Fall Foliage Rambler, a 32 mile, 120 minute autumn-themed roundtrip taking in the entirety of the Woodstown Central line through Woodstown, Swedesboro and Salem; Fall Festival Train Rides,

a 75 minute excursion servicing and allowing you to take in the crafts, food and music of the Woodstown Fall Festival; Salem Ghost Train, in conjunction with the Salem County Historical Society, a 19 mile, 135 minute jaunt to Salem, with deboarding in Pederson Park for the telling of ghost tales of Salem City. All Aboard!

For more information and to schedule your journey online, visit woodstowncentral.com.

New Jersey’s First Farm Brewery

THE BULLOCK FAMILY FARM has been around a long, long time (est. 1860), long enough for the family to have developed and very successfully marketed their businesses. The Screamin’ Hill Brewery has been located on their grounds since 2015. The farm is set in the serene, picture-perfect rolling farmlands of Cream Ridge, New Jersey. Their grounds include fields for growing a wide variety of crops including corn, straw, soybeans, wheat, barley, gourds and pumpkins. In fact, they specialize in pick-your-own pumpkins, as well as cut-your-own Christmas trees. Their pumpkin market includes many varieties of classic pumpkins as well as a few unusual pumpkins and gourds. And, of course, they are the proud growers for and the home of their own Screamin’ Hill Brewery and honored to be New Jersey’s first farm brewery. As their farm website maintains, “The farm produces the grain, along with the hops, fruits and vegetables for beer that is handcrafted in a rustic old barn on the property.”

You can enjoy offerings like Tractor Pullin’ pale ale, Back Road Rambler American IPA, Strata Sphere IPA, Thresher IPA, Bullock’s Lager, Wisecrackin’ Wit (Wit bier), and Heirloom Ale, just to name a few. Their wide assortment of beers is distinctly fresh, cleverly named, nicely packaged and most importantly very tasty. They are poured fresh in either the taproom or in the courtyard where you have your choice of picnic tables, Adirondack chairs or rustic wooden slabs with barrel supports. There may be no better atmosphere on a sunny, pleasant fall day than soaking up the suds in this pastoral scene, with lots of like-minded folks, being serenaded with live music and watching the friendly but mischievous farm dogs circulating throughout. And, yes, it’s confirmed, as the sign says, Molly Will Steal Food!

In addition to enjoying brews at the brewpub, there are loads of other activities available, like hayrides, the Bullock Barnyard, the corn maze and the flower fields. You can visit with donkeys, goats, sheep and chickens and kids can play in a corn crib sandbox, climb a straw mountain and run through an obstacle course. There’s also a converted 1967 International grain truck turned into a corn box that kids can play in. You can take pictures in the flower fields or try your hand at getting through and out of the 6-acre corn maze created on the side of a hill. There is even a kid’s maze for kids to explore. And there’s also a snack shed with apple cider donuts as well as other treats, as well as the Cranberry House Craft shop for seasonal gifts.

Bullock Farms host’s all manner of events, including corporate and milestone events, birthdays and school tours and weddings and other special events.

You can do pumpkin picking along with all the other fall activities at the Bullock Farm through October 27th.

The Screamin’ Hill Brewery taproom is open year-round, Thursday and Friday 3–8 pm, Saturday 11–6:30 pm and Sunday 11–5 pm. They also have curbside pickup hours Tuesday through Sunday. For more information on the farm activities, go to bullockfarms. com, and for information on the brewery go to screaminhill.com.

Photos Sue Brinkerhoff

Eagles Alumni gather at halftime of the Eagles/Vikings preseason game – Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pa.

Ladies of Legacy Wine Tasting with Traino’s Wine – Cherry Hill, NJ Infinity Club DMB Tailgate with Raves & Referrals – Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, Camden NJ

Project Paws Alive

To support local law enforcement, Stephen Fox with Sonitrol Security of Delaware Valley and Bryan Bensel with Sonitrol Security of Central New Jersey selected two recipients of our donation to Project Paws Alive in order to provide a ballistic vest to K9 Rip and K9 Flash. Sonitrol is honored to be able to have this opportunity to give back to our community and support canine protection.

To support local law enforcement, Stephen Fox with Sonitrol Security of Delaware Valley and Bryan Bensel with Sonitrol Security of Central New Jersey selected two recipients of our donation to Project Paws Alive in order to provide a ballistic vest to K9 Rip and K9 Flash. A very special thanks to Salem County Sheriff's Office, Officer Cody Henderson, Lieutenant Siegfried Kreusel, and Sheriff Charles Miller and Mount Laurel Police Department, Sergeant Kyle Gardner, Officer Wilmar Santiago, and Chief Timothy Hudnall We are honored to be able to have this opportunity to give back to our community and support canine protection Sonitrol Security looks forward to continuing our partnership with local law enforcement and making a positive impact on the safety of both the officers and their loyal K9 partners.

Chairman’s Club at the Phillies game courtesy of Rob Curley & TD Bank

Legacy

Legacy Club at Parx Casino – Philadelphia, PA

Photos John Wilchek Photography

MOB SCENE

BY GEORGE ANASTASIA

Cooperator or Fraudster?

THEY’RE GOING TO TRY IT AGAIN.

Anthony Persiano is scheduled to be sentenced next month on mail and wire fraud charges. The street hustler and con man is looking at a 20year sentence, but no one expects that to happen.

Persiano is a cooperator. Wore a body wire and recorded dozens of conversations that helped the feds nail several key mob figures and a drug kingpin. Capped his cooperation by wearing a wire to his own mob initiation ceremony.

Not the Philadelphia crime family’s finest hour.

The making ceremony took place back in 2015. Persiano entered guilty pleas to the fraud charges about four years later. He was originally scheduled to be sentenced on June 6, 2019. But it never happened.

His sentencing in federal court in Camden has been scheduled, postponed and rescheduled thirteen times. Justice is never swift, but this seems to be a little excessive. His sentencing is now set for Nov. 6.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Askin said that, barring any unforeseen developments, the sentencing will take place next month as scheduled.

“We’d like to get this done,” said Askin who declined to discuss specifics in the Persiano case and his role as a cooperator but said the most recent delays have been caused by retirements. Several FBI agents involved in the various investigations, Persiano’s original court-appointed attorney and even the judge originally assigned have retired over the past three years. A few wiseguys who have been following the case roll their eyes at the delays and are taking bets that it will be put off again. It is one of the benefits, they say, of being a government informant.

Or, from their perspective, a rat.

Victims of Persiano’s scams are also following the proceedings. Several have said the government gave Persiano “a license to steal” and contend that authorities are reluctant to lay out the case against him and give potential victims a chance to be heard in open court.

MOST RECENTLY Persiano, who is living in another part of the country, was designated “rat of the month” by one-time Philadelphia mob boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino.

Merlino, who has exchanged the role of Philadelphia godfather for that of a gadfly podfather, does a weekly podcast called “The Skinny.” Rat of the month is a recurring segment.

Persiano became a government informant after getting jammed up in a couple of insurance fraud schemes back in 2014…

In Union County, he was part of a phony jewelry store robbery in which the store owner submitted insurance claims for substantially more

his own personal and business expenses.”

There is also a civil case in which Persiano is accused of defrauding investors of $150,000. His criminal record includes a murder conviction from the 1990s that was overturned on appeal.

He also worked for a company tied to First Plus Financial, a Texas-based mortgage company that was at the heart of a multi-milliondollar fraud investigation. Persiano was never charged with any crime but two hidden principals of that company, Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. and Salvatore Pelullo, were each sentenced to thirty years following their convictions.

Persiano was released on a $100,000 unsecured bond after pleading guilty to the mail and wire fraud charges in 2018. He is now living and working in another part of the country, according to court records. While details are sketchy at best, it appears he is engaged in the same kind of insurance-financed restoration work.

And that has former customers shaking their heads.

“Every time I complained about him, I was told there was nothing they could do. He had a license to steal.”

than was taken during a “staged armed robbery” carried out by Persiano and an associate, according to a court document detailing the charges to which Persiano has pleaded guilty.

In Camden County he was accused of using his company – Code Red Fire Water Restoration – to “enrich himself by diverting a portion of insurance payments, due and owing to homeowners who were his customers…to pay

“Every time I complained about him, I was told there was nothing they could do,” said a South Jersey homeowner who went to law enforcement when Persiano skipped out on restoration work after pocketing some of the insurance money. “He had a license to steal.”

That was nearly ten years ago.

Nothing has changed and the homeowner wonders about accountability.

FPERSPECTIVE, this is the way the feds work, the way the system is stacked against them. That’s certainly the take coming from Skinny Joey. But the reality is more complicated. Merlino and associates would put Persiano in the same bag as anyone else who cooperated. But there are degrees. Persiano has pleaded guilty to fraud charges, and it is legitimate to wonder why he has yet to be sentenced.

But the tapes he made speak for themselves. He has never gotten up on the witness stand to testify. Didn’t need to. The conversations he recorded were that strong, that incriminating. So, when wiseguys complain about his deal they largely ignore what really went down.

How and why Persiano became a cooperator is certainly open to examination.

But he didn’t put words in anyone’s mouth.

So here was drug kingpin Joseph “Joey Electric” Servidio discussing how he couldn’t stop dealing drugs. “I’m a criminal,” he said. “Everything I do is criminal... It’s the money. I like to spend money.”

Or here was mob capo Domenic Grande discussing the economy of organized crime, explaining how all mobsters had to kick up to the wiseguy above them, and telling Persiano,

during a discussion about drug dealing, to “do what you gotta do.”

Most damaging, there was mob underboss Steven Mazzone railing about the loss of opportunities in Atlantic City and urging his crew to “plant the flag” there again.

“We’re still street guys…we’re gangsters,” Mazzone said on a tape Persiano made at his own making ceremony and at a celebratory restaurant dinner that followed.

Persiano’s tapes were devastating. And the government has clearly benefitted from the work he did. That should be part of any sentencing hearing and could mitigate against a substantial jail sentence.

But that same hearing should include an examination of Persiano’s role as an expediter and insurance claim magnate before, after and DURING the time he was working for the feds. That, many critics believe, is why his sentencing has been put off thirteen times.

Persiano made dozens of tapes while working for the FBI. Since none of the targets of those investigations ever went to trial, we’ve only gotten snippets of those conversations, pieces of dialogue that have shown up in affidavits and court documents. And we’ve never seen Persiano on the witness stand.

We may never hear all of those tapes. But nine years after he was formally “made” and six years after he pled guilty to wire and mail fraud charges, it’s time for Persiano to be held accountable for the crimes he committed before and, perhaps while, he was working for the FBI. n

DEI LYNAM

The Clark Effect

CAITLIN CLARK BECAME A HOUSEHOLD NAME last winter when she entertained basketball fans everywhere, male and female, young and old, with her talents, which allowed her to score 3,951 career points, the most all-time in women’s Division I NCAA history. When she left the University of Iowa to go to the WNBA as the number one overall pick, people wondered if the fandom would continue. The answer is yes.

Clark has guided the Indiana Fever to their first playoff appearance since 2016. She set a WNBA single-game record by tallying 19 assists. With two games remaining in the regular season, Clark managed to set a new WNBA high for assists in a single season. She is the only rookie to ever record a triple double, let alone two.

The Fever led the league in attendance for both home and away games. On multiple occasions, the opposition playing host to Indiana moved

“Clark is one of the greatest things that has happened to our sport …she is the ONE that has impacted the sport’s worldwide interest.”

their game to a larger venue because the ticket demand was that great. If you dig deeper, Clark has created a movement with the next generation of hoopsters.

“Clark impacted my business in the seriousness that young girls are looking at basketball now,” said Steph Carideo, owner of the Steph Carideo Basketball Academy in Delaware County. Her business is entering its fifth year. Carideo, who played her college basketball at Philadelphia University, has 100 clients who see her weekly or biweekly. Since opening her doors when restrictions were lifted after the pandemic, Carideo says she has serviced 700-800 kids, not including the lectures she delivers at various basketball camps.

“The clientele base I had established was progressing very successfully. But I will continue to have my clients and grow my business because of Caitlin Clark’s impact on basketball,” she explained. “Basketball is a difficult sport for young girls to play from kindergarten until high school because of all the intricacies necessary: the physicality, passing, dribbling, scoring, defending. It takes a lot to be focused and driven to do all that. Kids aren’t interested in practicing as hard as possible because it’s too difficult.

“But now kids are looking at Clark as a role model and saying she did it; she’s doing it. I want to do that. Clark’s accolades aside, she is one of the greatest things that has happened to our sport. There have been a lot of great women’s basketball players who have tried, but she, to her credit, is the ONE that has impacted the sport’s worldwide interest, not just playing the sport, but playing at the highest level and taking it to a different competitive level.”

Carideo went on to explain that Clark has it all in terms of her basketball skill set, but she is also a “killer.”

“She goes out and competes every single day no matter what is being said about her or asked of her, she’s doing it,” Carideo said. “I love that these young girls are looking at her with such high regard and respect. It’s what the game is supposed to be about. People feel its authenticity and, therefore, will buy into it.

“I am not comparing myself in any way to Caitlin Clark, but from

Steph Carideo

Caitlyn Clark

the business perspective, that is what these young girls are doing with me. These kids really believe it. It is not a trend. They aren’t told through the media to like her. They sit in front of the TV and watch this girl do what she does, and it looks effortless at times. And they want to be like her. They say wow, I connect to this.”

PEOPLE CONNECT TO CARIDEO also, for several reasons. Carideo coached at multiple levels before starting the academy. She started her career as head coach at John. W. Hallahan Catholic Girls’ High School in Philadelphia. She later became an assistant coach for the men’s team at Thomas Jefferson University. She has Division I women’s experience after spending

time as an assistant at the University of Pennsylvania. And to round out a diversified resume, she had stints as a head coach both at Penn State Abington and Haverford College.

“I thought I had a unique basketball background,” Carideo shared. “I felt that a lot of people locally connected to me because of that. They wanted their daughters to be around someone who isn’t the same old, same old.”

Carideo grew her clientele by word of mouth. She does not have a website but shares success stories on social media. Brooke Wilson joined Carideo four years ago and trained with her throughout her Archbishop Carroll career. Wilson had multiple Division I offers but chose Army because she wanted a more rigorous challenge, in the way that only the United States Military Academy at West Point will provide.

“I think as a business model, it is sustainable because of the people,” Carideo said. “It’s likeminded people. The parents want to surround themselves with someone like me, and the kids see me and say this is what I want to do; this is who I want to be around. This is how I want to be pushed.”

The Caitlin Clark effect is here to stay, and the Steph Carideo Basketball Academy can say the same. n

GET FIT

BY ALEXANDRA DUNEK

Morning Motivation

WHAT DOES YOUR MORNING ROUTINE LOOK LIKE? It varies for everyone but a good AM routine or an effective habit or two can not only make you feel better, but it will also set the tone for the day ahead. It can be something simple like making your bed. Admiral William McRaven makes a great point in his inspiring book, “Make Your Bed.”

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right. And, if you by chance have a miserable day, you will come home to a bed that is made—that you made—and a made bed gives you encouragement that tomorrow will be better.”

As McRaven said, the little things are worthy. Here are some ways to help elevate your morning routine. Try doing one of these every day if you are looking for some inspiration to create something positive of your own and add value to your day. n

– Drink 12-16 oz. of water (before coffee)

– Make a nutritious, high protein breakfast

– 10 minutes of stretching or mobilit y exercises

– Get some sunlight with a 10-15 minute walk

– Try journaling or simply take a moment of gratitude

– Read a chapter or two of a book instead of scrolling on your phone

“If you can’t do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”

KEVIN REILLY

Chi Chi and Me

AFTER PLAYING in the Getty Celebrity Pro-Am at Cavaliers Country Club in 1982, my friend John Riley and I were approached by Dave Press, the local public affairs director for Getty. (John is a former captain of the University of Delaware golf team and has recently published biographies on the life of local golf greats Porky Oliver and Bill Hyndman.) Press shared with us that Getty had been spending about $25,000 a year and raising far less for the designated charity, the Leukemia Society of America. He was worried that the event could not be sustained and wondered if we might like to get involved.

The Getty tournament was fairly unique at the time, with golfers paying to play with a local or national sports figure. John and I thought it had significant potential both as a charitable fundraiser and as a venue for corporate client entertainment. We also saw it as a chance to bring the PGA Tour to town, something that had rarely happened in Delaware.

We knew we would have to hit a home run the first year, but the fledgling event could not afford an Arnold Palmer or a Jack Nicklaus. (A couple of years later, with the help of his Wilmington dentist Howdy Giles, we would book Palmer.) While still considering the options we thought we could afford, I went to New York for my bi-annual check-up with Dr. Ralph Marcove, who had saved my life when he amputated my arm and shoulder to remove a Desmoid tumor. I mentioned to Marcove what we were trying to accomplish and that we were looking for the right PGA headliner to ensure our success. Without hesitating, he said, “What about Chi Chi Rodriquez?” When I asked if he knew him, he explained that he had operated on him to remove a tumor on his arm. He gave me his number.

AT THAT POINT IN HIS CAREER, Rodriquez had won eight times on the PGA circuit. He had a hardscrabble upbringing in Puerto Rico but discovered golf through caddying and taught himself the game. His swing was unconventional but generated significant power enabling him to keep up with some of the longest drivers on the pro tour. To the shock of Arnold Palmer’s fans, he beat him by a stroke in 1964 to win the prestigious Western Open. Chi Chi also developed a repertoire of trick shots combined with amusing one-liners which often targeted the “King of Golf” himself.

While Chi Chi could entertain the fans and crack jokes with the best of them, he had a more serious and humanitarian side. To my surprise, when he arrived in Wilmington, he turned down the opportunity to have dinner with Joe DiMaggio and Warren Spahn, telling us he wanted to make certain he was rested and at his best to entertain our patrons the next day. The next morning, he began a long day stationed on a par 3, hitting trick shots and having his photo taken with everyone. Late in the afternoon, he came back to the clubhouse to regroup before he

Kevin Reilly is an author, motivational speaker, and former Philadelphia Eagle. To contact Kevin Reilly, visit https://www.kevinreilly52.com

While Chi Chi could entertain the fans and crack jokes with the best of them, he had a more serious and humanitarian side.

began his famous golf exhibition. John and I were sitting at a table with him when a young girl with Down Syndrome caught his attention.

As we got up to head out to the tee to begin the show (We had skydivers and the Phillie Phanatic timed to appear just before the exhibition!), Chi Chi headed straight towards the girl and spoke softly to her. After a minute or so she removed her apron, and Chi Chi took her by the hand. As we started out the door, he looked at us and said, “This young lady will be my special guest.” He walked out with her and had a seat placed immediately behind the roped-off area, where he announced to the crowd that he was dedicating his golf exhibition to his new friend. The smile never left her face.

The Leukemia Classic went from losing money to reaching $100,000 within three years. Chi Chi set a very high bar in 1983 and even with names like Arnold Palmer, Fuzzy Zoeller, John Daly, and Payne Stewart, I’m not sure we ever matched the joy people felt from rubbing shoulders that day with the wise-cracking man from Puerto Rico. When we lost Chi Chi Rodriquez on August 8, 2024, we lost more far than a golf champion. n

Photo courtesy Kevin Reilly

The author, right, with John Riley and Chi Chi Rodriquez

W TEEING OFF

FOR PHILADELPHIA-AREA YOUTH

hen Caitlyn Plover

was growing up in Roxborough, she was a “sports hopper.” She played soccer, lacrosse and basketball and knew nothing about golf.

One day, when Plover was seven, her mother asked if she would like to take a class at Walnut Lane Golf Club, which wasn’t too far from her house. Plover said yes, and that began what has become a 10-year relationship with the game.

And with First Tee of Greater Philadelphia.

“I can’t remember why I went back after the first day,” she says. “I thought it was fun. What keeps me coming back now is the challenge of the game. Golf is one of the hardest sports in the world, maybe not physically but mentally.

BY MICHAEL BRADLEY

“ You can’t get in your head. You’ve got to keep cool, and you have to keep persevering when you’re having a bad day.”

Now a senior at Little Flower HS, Plover plays on the Sentinels’ golf team and is looking forward to studying political science and media communications in college. She has also become extremely involved in the First Tee program, which was created in 2003 – six years after the national First Tee organization was founded.

The Philadelphia chapter is based at Walnut Lane, and it aims to help develop youth through the game of golf. First Tee’s goal is to help teach young people life skills that can help them be successful now and in the future.

“ We want them to learn to manage their emotions and to be resilient,” says Bill Hyndman, V, who is in his 10th year as execu-

Photos courtesy First TeeGreter Philadelphia

Caitlyn Plover

tive director. “They start to play golf and get hooked on it. Then, they come back each week to take classes that teach them interpersonal skills.”

Hyndman reports there are 45,500 students involved in First Tee as part of 105 schools and youth services organizations in eight counties in southeastern Pennsylvania and south Jersey. Its classes are free of charge and held at 24 different locations. The golf is gratis, too, and First Tee boasts 8,000 “kid rounds” of golf each year. Golf has a reputation – well-earned in most instances – of being a game for people with money. First Tee wants to debunk that and add the extra value of character-building classes that go beyond sports.

“We’re breaking the paradigm of golf as an elite sport,” Hyndman says. “It doesn’t cost anything to play at First Tee.”

The organization runs Walnut Lane and John F. Byrne Golf Course in northeast Philadelphia and has raised money over the past

few years to renovate each. First Tee of Greater Philadelphia is one of only 15 chapters out of 150 nationally that run golf courses. Students can also practice at indoor golf locations in the area that have simulators. It’s a beneficial relationship for both parties. First Tee golfers aren’t charged for using the facilities, which introduce themselves to a large number of potential new customers, like family members

and friends.

First Tee offers more than 2,000 different classes a year and has 80 coaches. In order to fund the programs and provide remuneration for the rounds of golf played and the practice times, the organization raises about $2 million each year. One example of First Tee’s impact can be found in the 19121 zip code of the city’s Strawberry Mansion section, which is one of Philadelphia’s most distressed. First Tee introduced a program – funded by Comcast – that would have a bus pick kids up after school, take them to Walnut Lane or John F. Byrne to play and attend a class, feed them and then get them home. When it started a couple of years ago, two students took part. Now, there are 80.

“When I’m at one of the courses, and I see the kids getting off the bus, I can hear how excited they are,” Hyndman says.

“Tons of kids are learning the game of golf and how to be good individuals and great additions to the community.”

When

Michael Brown was 22 years old, he qualified – for the third straight year – for the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship in Spokane, WA. Brown had grown up in modest environs in Manayunk and attended Temple on a golf scholarship, so getting to eastern Washington state wouldn’t be easy.

The folks at Walnut Lane understood this, so when the club’s pro shop manager put out a cup asking for donations to fund his trip for the tourney, members donated $3,500, in one weekend, enough for Brown and his father to travel to Spokane.

“People are willing to help out others if you give them a chance,” Brown says.

Photos courtesy First TeeGreter Philadelphia

Bill Hyndman V

Brown certainly provides enough opportunities for people to give. As president of First Tee’s Board, he is constantly asking for money. He even turned his 60th birthday party into a fundraising opportunity. Now in his seventh year with First Tee, Brown is committed to improving programming, building new facilities and increasing the organization’s number of participants. Golf has been a huge part of

Brown’s life since he was 12 and was sneaking on courses to play. He appreciates how much it can mean to the area’s young people.

“Golf teaches life skills,” he says. “You meet someone on the first tee, and you shake hands and look them in the eye. It helps you learn integrity, hard work and dedication.”

Brown believes “the lessons learned in the classroom” are even more important than

those on the course, especially for kids who don’t have regular access to that kind of training. He says students learn “a lot of common sense,” but recently the lessons have been expanded to offer some STEM training.

First Tee isn’t complacent.

Its program is outstanding and quite important for its participants, but there are plans for even more. Brown has proposed putting a nine-hole, parthree course on a 25-acre piece of Fairmount Park. He also wants to build driving ranges that First Tee participants can use. It will take money, but Brown doesn’t mind asking. And asking.

Michael Brown

“When you are changing a kid’s trajectory, people are always willing to listen,” he says. “When we’re raising money, we invite people out to a class. We got [Comcast Chairman] Brian Roberts out, and he said, ‘I didn’t know you were doing this.’”

Brown isn’t the only person raising money for First Tee. Six years ago, Plover came up with the idea of hosting an event to benefit the organization’s girls golf program. So, the Tea Time Tournament was born. It has taken place each of the last six years, and in 2024, it raised $45,000. Thanks in large part to Lily Pulitzer,

girls and women can play golf and then enjoy a luncheon and fashion show. If that is how young participants in First Tee feel about the program, it’s easy to figure out that it has been successful.

Plover is involved in the leadership area of the program and has had the opportunity to attend programs that have helped further her development. In the summer of 2022, she was in Philadelphia for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion “power of listening” forum that focused on diversity in sports. In 2023, she traveled to Atlanta to participate in the PGA Tour Superstore Leadership Academy. In October, she’ll be in Jacksonville for the “John Deere Drive Your Future Academy,” which is a female empowerment event.

“I’ve played a lot of golf in the program, but what’s more important are the lessons I’ve

learned,” Plover says. “If I hadn’t ever gotten involved with First Tee, I wouldn’t be the same person I am today.

“The biggest lessons I’ve learned are to never pass up a good opportunity and always thank the people who have invested in and supported your success. I think it’s extremely important as I look to my next life in college to look back at the people who have supported me. Everybody needs somebody in their corner. I have so many people in my corner, and that’s such a good thing. First Tee tries to do that for kids in the Philadelphia area.”

And will continue to make a difference. n

GREEN LEGION

BY SAM CARCHIDI

THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES ARGUABLY HAVE MORE FANS AT NFL ROAD GAMES THAN ANY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE. IT’S BECOME A PART OF THEIR DNA.

Watch an Eagles road game on TV and the cameras, at some point, will invariably pan to the green-clad fans as the announcers talk about the thousands of die-hard Birds followers who made the trip.

At some road games, Eagles fans number in the tens of thousands.

The Green Legion, founded and owned by Craig “Quimby” Chenosky in 2004, is one of the

companies that arrange many of the Eagles trips, along with tailgate parties and pep rallies that accompany it. This year’s first trip was in Brazil, the site of the Birds’ season-opening, 34-29 win over the Green Bay Packers. The night before the game, the Green Legion hosted a pep rally at a Sao Paulo pub that included the moms of Eagles players Nakobe Dean and Jordan Davis.

At the game, Eagles fans were plentiful. As

always. The Green Legion was a big reason. On average, between 300 to 1,200 fans – and sometimes more – travel with the Green Legion to games in which airfare is involved.

“If you hear fans in opposing stadiums, that’s us!” the Green Legion says on Facebook. Chenosky, 53, who is known by almost everyone as “Quimby,” is overwhelmed by the Green Legion’s success.

“I don’t think anyone could have expected it to be what it has turned into,” he said. “Also, the speed in which it took place. There probably could have been some inclination when I

Green Legion fans are excited before the Eagles-Giants game in East Rutherford, N.J., in 2022.

LEGION FlyEagles(Fans)Fly

sold 200 spots to Miami in less than two hours back in ‘03, but I was in my early 30s and pretty naive. Then we added a swimsuit calendar of all Eagles fans.” He smiled.

“That,” he said, “was probably as popular as our trips.”

PROVIDE FESTIVE ATMOSPHERE

Some road games have more than 10,000 Eagles fans in the stands. And while only a fraction of that number traveled with the

Green Legion, many of the fans meet up at the energetic pep rallies and tailgate parties that are arranged by the Green Legion, providing a festive atmosphere for the weekend.

The Green Legion gets glowing reviews from 248 people on Facebook, where 98% of the folks recommend using them for traveling to Eagles away games. Transportation, hotel accommodations, transfers from the hotel to the stadium, and game tickets are included in the package; some fans elect to buy just part of the package. The trips also offer optional sightseeing visits. (For information, go to https://trips. greenlegion.com/.) The Green Legion also does a handful of Phillies road trips.

During the NFL season, trips are made to all Eagles road games, most by plane, and the closer ones by bus. About 300 fans made the trip through the Green Legion to Brazil, but people who traveled to the game on their own joined the Green Legion group at the pep rally, swelling that number to at least 600.

Mike Diaz, who is a media liaison for the Green Legion, said one of the company’s biggest trips occurred in 2017 when 1,000 travelers went to Los Angeles, and the tailgate party before the game had close to 2,000. That was the game in which quarterback Carson Wentz, who was having an MVP-type season, suffered a knee injury. Nick Foles stepped in late in the season, of course, and led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl win.

Diaz said Chenosky arranged for a trip “for a group of friends” in 2003, a Monday night game in Miami. “And the group ended up being like 300 people,” Diaz said. “Word kept spreading… So, the next year, 2004, is when” he decided to start the company.

It was good timing. Led by Donovan McNabb, the Eagles had a terrific season and ended up in the Super Bowl; the Green Legion had just one trip that year – to Dallas.

COMPANY GROWS

“And from there, it got bigger and bigger,” said Diaz, a Montgomery County resident whose full-time job is as a financial planner, which is not affiliated with the Green Legion.

At first, only premier cities were chosen for road trips each season. For the last decade, every road game has had trips planned by the Green Legion.

“The trips basically provide a chance for people to get together,” Diaz said.

People usually fly out on Friday for Sunday games. They can join the group for planned events or do things on their own. Most attend the pep rallies and tailgate parties.

The popularity of the trips depends on the city. “For San Diego, we had 1,200 people,” Diaz said. “We got 600 for New Orleans.” And maybe half of that for Cleveland.

“I was a customer at first,” Diaz said. “I was a traveler with them, And I told (Chenosky), ‘You’ve got to get on Twitter, you’ve got to do this and that.’ He said, ‘You can do this.’” Diaz was given “free” trips for his services. “And then my role just kept getting bigger,” he said.

Diaz and his wife, Abby, now have young children so he doesn’t go on many trips anymore, but he said he has friends in cities spread all over the country thanks to meeting them on Eagles excursions.

That, he said, is one of the best perks of the trips for all of the Eagles fans who travel to the games.

“People get to meet other people and have a good time, and it grows each time you go,” Diaz said. “It is a very cool thing.”

He added that “everyone feels they’re the biggest Eagles fan around. Some of them go to every single game, and it’s really cool that friendships are built around the Eagles. There are people I met in New Orleans in 2007, and

Photo courtesy

The Green Legion

then there are people I met in Miami in 2011, the Canadians I met who came down to Buffalo in 2019. And once every year or once every two years, we get back together and talk about the old times. And what’s nice about it is that everyone is on vacation (during the trips) and has a vacation mindset, where you’re not worrying about work or kids or family. So, it’s kind of a vacation or party atmosphere, and you start building that bond with people.”

Chenosky was asked about his favorite part of the trips.

ORCHESTRATED 8 MARRIAGES

Without question, watching people with “zero similarity in backgrounds become friends,” he said. “I know for a fact I’m responsible for eight marriages...Not sure how many divorces but that’s a topic for another time.”

He said the travelers have become like one big family through the years. And the eight marriages that have resulted make him feel “truly humbled. They like to give me credit, but I refuse. I just put excellent people together and they forge relationships that will last them their entire lives! For many, one or two road trips or home tailgates at Xfinity are the only times they are all together and they waste zero time before

Photos courtesy

The Green Legion

Craig “Quimby” Chenosky (second from left) and some of his Green Legion group at their pregame tailgate party before the Eagles played the Rams in Los Angeles last year.

AT SOME ROAD GAMES, EAGLES FANS NUMBER

IN THE TENS OF THOUSANDS.

they start enjoying the hell out of themselves. Watching them forget about life and responsibilities is the most rewarding part of all of this.”

There is no question, Chenosky said, that Eagles fans travel to road games more than any NFL team.

“I don’t want to hear about how well Pittsburgh fans travel. Or Packers fans. Or the Bills Mafia,” he said. “Sure, they travel well, but no visiting fan base has ever changed the course of home-field advantage like Philadelphia Eagles fans. Anytime in Miami, Tampa, or (Washington), we take over! It has been the case for years and we never received credit until October 1, 2017.”

That, he said, is when broadcasters Dick Stockton and Mark Schlereth were calling the game between the Eagles and the host Los Angeles Chargers. “And finally let the entire world know” about Eagles fans’ devotion. “Jordan Hicks raised his arms on a big third-down play in the fourth quarter. This was in the endzone where The Green Legion was sitting. And every Eagles fan exploded (in joy)!”

One of the announcers said he had “never seen anything like this” from visiting fans, Chenosky proudly added.

Chenosky said if fans have never taken an Eagles road trip with his group, “it’s time to lose your virginity. Whether you go with us, by yourself, or even our competition, it needs to be on your bucket list!”

When he’s not arranging trips, Chenosky

hosts Green Legion Radio and calls it “sports talk with no holding back.” In his radio bio, he proudly proclaims he is “one of the loudest mouths on the planet.”

It is a characteristic of many Eagles fans. Chenosky, a Pottstown native who attended Valley Forge Military Academy and Drexel University, does the show with Diaz. Their show, which can be heard on 102.5 FM in Philadelphia and South Jersey and worldwide on the iHeartRadio app, talks about all of the Philly

sports teams, with an emphasis on the Eagles.

The Green Legion does a pregame radio show for every matchup, home and away.

“We host the FOX Sports pregame show for Philadelphia on 102.5 FM,” Chenosky said. “I never studied broadcasting or had any radio experience except for Angelo (Cataldi, formerly of WIP) bringing me in before big road games. When I think back about it, I’m just happy as hell and try not to look a gift horse in the mouth.” n

Photos courtesy

The Green Legion

Mike Diaz (third from left) of the Green Legion and many other Eagles fans are watching the Birds play in London in 2018.

Many Eagles fans traveled with the Green Legion to Los Angeles in 2017.

SAQUON

BY DAVE SPADARO

Will Saquon Barkley’s trip down the turnpike lead to a trip to the Super Bowl with the Eagles?

IN THE AFTERMATH

of his first game as a Philadelphia Eagle, running back Saquon Barkley proceeded as if scoring three touchdowns and accounting for 132 total yards was an everyday occurrence, as if he was part of a “cool” experience (his words) and that he didn’t necessarily recognize the insanity of glee being shared by the team’s fans around the world.

“This is a great way to start things off,” Barkley said, smiling, “but it’s just the start. I take everything day by day, I do my part and whatever they want me to do on and off the field, I’m here to do it. Anything to help us win.”

That’s the bottom line, isn’t it? For a player like Barkley, a superstar since grade school, a 5-star recruit leaving high school and landing

at Penn State, and then the No. 2 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, it isn’t about the accolades, the attention, the thousands of No. 26 jerseys he is selling in the team’s Pro Shop at Lincoln Financial Field.

The guy just wants to win.

“That’s why I’m here,” Barkley said after the Eagles signed him on the first day of NFL Free Agency back in March. “That’s why I play football. I love the game and, you know, there is nothing like winning football games. I’m not sure people understand how hard it is to do and so I appreciate having a great team around me.

“This football team here, you get into a huddle, and you look around and you see Jalen [Hurts] and A.J. [Brown] and DeVonta [Smith]. Dallas [Goedert]. A great offensive line. It’s like, ‘I’m going to fit in just fine here.’ And that’s the

way it has been for me since the first day. It’s all about fitting in and doing my part and winning football games because nothing else really matters to me.”

Of course, other things matter to Barkley, a family man and father of two, a son whose football home is closer to his mother (in Camp Hill, PA), a young man obsessed over the game of golf.

But his answer to how he will “fit in” as an Eagle is one that is true to the way Barkley has always been: This is not an aw-shucks kind of guy just keeping a low profile for the sake of doing so in the NFL. He’s been this way forever – here is an answer he provided during Media Day prior to his sophomore season at Penn State after he ran for more than 1,000 yards and scored seven touchdowns as a freshman there:

“If someone comes to a game with the mindset that they think I’m talented enough that I can take over a game and they want to stop me and they do stop me… but if that opens up Chris Godwin, DaeSean Hamilton, Saeed Blacknall, Trace McSorley and Tommy Stevens, then we just won the game,” Barkley said, who then talked about helping out more on special teams. “I love the idea, I actually went to [head] coach [James] Franklin to see if I can get on special teams a little more because, personally, I just want to try and win games and do whatever I can to win games.”

The similarity in mindset, as you see, is striking. And genuine. And that’s just the way Barkley is.

“He is a humble, down-to-earth kind of guy

who works hard and plays football,” Brown said. “From the first day, he was just one of the guys. We know what kind of impact he’s making on our football team, and I think everyone was excited when he signed here. He’s that kind of a difference-maker.

“We have all seen him on the other sidelines and it’s just good that he’s with us. We know how much he can help us.”

THAT WAS CLEAR

when the Eagles opened the 2024 regular season in São Paulo, Brazil. It was a history-making game – the first time the NFL has staged a game in South America – and it was on a Friday night and it had the feeling of a playoff atmosphere. And

everything Barkley has done in his career to date – a two-time Pro Bowl player, the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2018 – was on display in his Eagles debut.

Barkley ran with power between the tackles and carried defenders on his back. He saw holes created by the offensive line and scooted through them with quickness and purpose. Barkley doesn’t waste motion; he keeps his shoulders down the field to maximize his vision of the defense and he punishes teams when he reaches the second level of the defense. As a running back, there are few in Barkley’s class.

And then as a pass catcher, well, everyone saw it: Jalen Hurts tossed an 18-yard pass to the left side of the formation, toward the corner of

the end zone, in the only spot where Barkley could catch it after running a wheel route and Barkley did, indeed, catch it, tippy-tapped his feet down inbounds and scored the team’s first touchdown of the season in the 34-29 victory.

That was the “cool,” reaction from Barkley, who then went on to thank the world for allowing the Eagles to play in Brazil and to participate in such a remarkable environment.

“It was truly special in every way, and it is something you don’t ever forget as a player,” Barkley said. “The atmosphere was amazing. We’re part of history as one of the first teams to play in South America, so I’m proud to be part of that.”

The performance was extraordinary – Barkley became the second Eagle (after wide

receiver Terrell Owens in 2004) to score three touchdowns in his debut – so now the obvious question is: What does he do for an encore? Exactly what is fair to expect from Barkley for the rest of this season in an Eagles offense that clearly has a lot of weapons?

“He is a big part of our offense,” head coach Nick Sirianni said. “We’re just exploring the things we can do with Saquon and the way he’s going to impact how a defense plays us. He is such a gifted, all-around player who does everything well, and we want to involve him as much as we can. We have other players who can hurt defenses, too, so that’s a good challenge to have.

“It’s exciting adding a player like that. Then you see him on the field, and you get to know

him as a person, and you understand that he just wants to do anything we ask him to do to help win football games. No ego here. Confidence, yes. But the ego is about helping the team. Those are the kinds of players you want.”

IT HAS FULLY SUNKEN IN

, hasn’t it? Saquon Barkley is an Eagle. After rooting against him for six seasons when he played for the New York Giants, Barkley is wearing Eagles Green. The entire summer was a “Pinch-me, is-it-real?” feeling for the fans. Not any longer. They’ve seen what he can do. They know that if Barkley can impact games like this all season, the Eagles are going to be in a very good place.

“There were already a lot of really good pieces here, so it wasn’t like I was coming in here and changing the way the Eagles do things or how they approach the offense,” Barkley said. “I considered a lot of factors when Free Agency started, and the Eagles happened to check off a lot of the boxes I had set out. It’s been everything I hoped for. I love this situation, this team and the way Eagles fans embrace the football team.

“We’re just starting. It is a long, long season. You take it step by step and you just try to keep improving in every way and you understand what the ultimate goal is here. The expectations are extremely high. I love that. I love the competition that comes with the team every week. We’re on to another challenge every day, really. That’s kind of what I’ve always been about.” n

Photo

Predictions for the

BY MARK ECKEL

2024 NFL Season

Can the Kansas City Chiefs do what no other team has done and win three straight Super Bowls?

Will the Detroit Lions, the only NFC team to never reach the Super Bowl, end that infamous streak?

Are the Buffalo Bills, losers of four straight Super Bowls in the ‘90s, ready to get back to the big game for the first time since those losses?

Is quarterback Lamar Jackson, a two-time MVP, ready to shed his playoff albatross and take the Baltimore Ravens to the Super Bowl?

Can the Green Bay Packers, with the youngest roster in the league for the second straight year, bring the Lombardi Trophy back to Lombardi Ave.?

Will the San Francisco 49ers become the

first NFC team in 50 years to return to the Super Bowl after losing in it the year before?

Finally, which are the real Philadelphia Eagles — the ones who began 2023 10-1, or the ones who finished the season 1-6?

All of those questions will be answered by February. Keep reading to see one opinion of what will happen in the 2024 NFL.

Four teams that will be better than you think:

Los Angeles Chargers — If you believe in the theory that to win you need a good quarterback and a good head coach, then the Chargers certainly qualify. Justin Herbert is a top-tier quarterback and new head coach Jim Harbaugh has won at every stop from the University of San Diego to Stanford to the 49ers to the University of Michigan. The Chargers won just five games last season; that

could double this year.

Seattle Seahawks — Seattle missed the playoffs in 2023, which is rare for the Seahawks. They had been in the postseason all but two years since 2012. Pete Carroll was the architect for most of that success, but his voice may have grown stale after 14 years, at age 72. Mike Macdonald, who was highly regarded as Baltimore’s defensive coordinator, takes over. The Seahawks have drafted well the past two years, and those young players may make the difference.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Want to win a bar bet? Ask what NFC team has the longest active streak of making the playoffs. You can collect when you answer “Tampa Bay.” Every year “the experts” pick someone else to win the South; last year it was New Orleans; this year it’s Atlanta. Don’t be surprised if Todd

Bowles/Baker Mayfield and the Bucs make it six straight years in the postseason.

Washington Commanders — There are comparisons to be made between this year’s Washington team and last year’s Houston Texans. There is a new defensive-minded head coach (Dan Quinn), a rookie quarterback taken with the No. 2 pick (Jayden Daniels), and some good, young talent on both sides of the ball. Washington might not be ready to be a division winner, as Houston was last year, but the Commanders do seem headed in the right direction and will not be an easy win any longer.

Four teams who won’t be as good as you think:

Chicago Bears — Everyone’s chic pick to make the playoffs and challenge Detroit and Green Bay in the NFC North may still be a year, or more, away. Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, will be good. It’s just going to take time. In the modern era, only one quarterback has taken No. 1 overall and has made the playoffs, or even had a winning record as a rookie. That was Andrew Luck.

Los Angeles Rams — The Rams won’t be

bad, but they could miss the playoffs which would qualify as “not as good as you think.” Aaron Donald, the heart of the defense, retired. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has to be close to doing the same. And head coach Sean McVay talks about it more than he does his game plan.

New York Jets — Let’s see a 40-year-old quarterback coming back from a torn Achilles, who decided to skip a mandatory minicamp to go to Egypt, behind an offensive line bolstered by two older, oft-injured tackles. What could go wrong?

Pittsburgh Steelers — Could head coach Mike Tomlin suffer his first losing season? Yeah, he could. The Steelers are decent, although when you have two quarterbacks in Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, you may not have any quarterbacks. In a loaded AFC North, it’s going to be tough for Tomlin and the Steelers to find nine wins.

The Rookie Quarterbacks

There were an unprecedented six quarterbacks taken in the first round of the NFL draft. Three have been named starters; two are wait-

ing and one is out for the season with a knee injury.

Chicago’s Caleb Williams, Washington’s Jayden Daniels and Denver’s Bo Nix are all starters. Atlanta’s Michael Penix and New England’s Drake Maye are QB2s. Minnesota’s J.J. McCarthy is out for the season.

The Rookie Head Coaches

There are eight new head coaches in 2024. Three, however, have previous NFL head coaching experience — Los Angeles’ Jim Harbaugh (with the 49ers), Atlanta’s Raheem Morris (Buccaneers), and Washington’s Dan Quinn (Falcons).

That leaves five true “rookie” head coaches: Antonio Pierce (Raiders), Jared Mayo (Patriots); Brian Callahan (Titans), Dave Canales (Panthers) and Mike Macdonald (Seahawks).

Pierce was the Raiders intern coach at the end of 2023. Mayo played for the Pats and was an assistant last year. Callahan came from Cincinnati where he was offensive coordinator. Canales was offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay. And Macdonald was defensive coordinator in Baltimore.

Philly/Jersey Head Coaches

There are 13 NFL head coaches, not even counting the Eagles Nick Sirianni, who have connections to Philadelphia or New Jersey. Here’s the list and the relationship.

John Harbaugh, Baltimore — former Eagles assistant coach under Ray Rhodes and then Andy Reid.

Sean McDermott, Buffalo — grew up in the Philadelphia area and was an assistant under Reid with the Eagles.

Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland — grew up in Philadelphia.

Sean Payton, Denver — assistant coach under Rhodes.

DeMeco Ryans, Houston — played for the Eagles.

Shane Steichen, Indianapolis — assistant coach under Sirianni

Doug Pederson, Jacksonville — played for the Eagles and was head coach of the Eagles.

Andy Reid, Kansas City — was head coach of the Eagles.

Jon Gannon, Arizona — assistant under Sirianni

Raheem Morris, Atlanta — born and raised in Newark, N.J.

Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota — his father Bill, a former FBI agent, is from Delaware County and played high school ball at St. James.

Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay — played at Temple, assistant coach under Reid.

Dan Quinn, Washington — born in Morristown, N.J.

Award Time

MVP (offense): Josh Allen, Buffalo

MVP (defense): Aiden Hutchinson, Detroit

Rookie (offense): Marvin Harrison Jr., Arizona

Rookie (defense): Terrion Arnold, Detroit

Coach: Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles

Playoff Predictions

NFC: East: Eagles, North: Lions; South: Buccaneers, West: 49ers

Wild Cards: Packers, Seahawks, Cowboys

AFC: East: Bills, North: Ravens, South: Texans, West: Chiefs

Wild Cards: Bengals, Dolphins, Chargers

Super Bowl Pick

In the NFC the final four will be Detroit, Green Bay, San Francisco and the Eagles.

Throw out the 49ers because that Super Bowl loser jinx is real. The Eagles’ defense is scary and not in the way you want it to be scary. The Packers may still be too young. That leaves the Lions. Detroit will play 14 of its first 15 games in domes where quarterback Jared Goff had a 104 QB rating (as opposed to 87.9 outdoors). If the Lions get home-field advantage they could get to their first Super Bowl, which happens to be in a dome.

In the AFC it’s just too easy to pick Kansas City. The Chiefs caught some breaks last year and it just seems like it’s time for the breaks to go against them. Houston may be in the same boat as Green Bay, just not quite ready (that’s my 2025 Super Bowl). It will come down to Buffalo vs. Baltimore in the AFC Championship Game. Everyone is overlooking the Bills, except the Bills. This might finally be Sean McDermott and Josh Allen’s year.

Final Score: Buffalo 31, Detroit 28. n

Arm Wrestling Has Taken Off

Who knew?

Who knew that one of the hottest sports around these days has probably been around longer than all the rest?

Maybe it doesn’t go back quite as far as the cavemen—or perhaps it does? But chances are the Greeks and Romans used it as a way to settle disputes. And likely others have followed suit over the centuries.

In fact, most of us probably have tried it at least once or twice, though not in serious competition.

So, what are we talking about? Give up? Arm wrestling!

BY JON MARKS

Maddie Walker trains with coach Ray Romanowski as Mike Mignogna looks on.

It turns out arm wrestling has become quite a thing over the last half-century, especially around these parts. Participants in Pennsylvania and New Jersey travel to tournaments all over the country—usually driving there and often at their own expense—to compete for meager prize money.

They do it for the love of the sport, which members of the New Jersey Arm Wrestling Team consider more like a hobby than a job. “Every hobby costs money,” said 59-year-old Harry O’Neill, who was a regular on the circuit in the 1990s, before family and work commitments made him step aside for a couple of decades until recently. “The best I ever did financially was when Univision had a tournament.

“I won $1000, a year’s supply of vitamins and Miss Puerto Rico gave me the trophy.

“Now it’s my time. I’m just starting to get back into it. You need a reason to get out of bed and do something. “

His buddy Steve Walker, a five-time national champion and 2021 world champion seconds that notion. Like O’Neill, Walker arm wrestled religiously in the ‘90s and early 2000s, before turning his attention to raising his family and work. And like O’Neill now that his kids are grown, including daughter Maddie who picked up the sport during the pandemic and has already become a champion, he’s rediscovered his love for the sport.

A love that was born more than three decades ago. “I’ll be 54 in October,” said Walker, who works as a security guard at Lenape High following a 25-year career as a prison guard. “I started at 17 years old when I graduated high school.

“I heard there was a tournament in Trenton and just went to watch. That’s where I met my trainer, my mentor, my coach Mike Mignogna, who just passed in June, which was devastating to all of us.

“He took me under his wing. He said, ‘I’m going to start a New Jersey arm wrestling team. You only have to come to the house once or twice a month to train.’

“It wound up being twice a week.”

That’s how it started for them. Two strongmen–or women–sitting at a small table, locking arms, each trying to force the other’s arm to the table.

Sounds pretty simple. Not really.

HERE ARE THE BASIC

RULES

according to Ray Romanowski, who’s become a referee the last two years when he’s not competing in the 200 lb. weight class. “You have a head ref who’ll start the match

Two strongmen–or women–sitting at a small table, locking arms, each trying to force the other’s arm to the table.

Sounds pretty simple. Not really.

and then a down ref,” explained the 40-yearold Romanowski, a novice when he started, but who has since become the 2023 amateur champion. “Two referees because you can’t see both sides of the table.

“The head ref starts the match: ‘Ready… Go.’ You’ve got to make sure your wrists are straight. Your shoulders are square to the table. Your elbow has to stay on the pad.

“When the match is on my side of the table, I can’t see the elbows coming off the table, so the other ref is looking to make sure they’re not coming off. When it’s on the other side I’m looking.

“ You get one false start. If you continue to do it, you get a foul. Two fouls equal a loss. There are a lot of rules.”

There are also up to 12 weight classes, ranging from 130 lb. lightweight to superheavyweight. You can wrestle above your class, but not below. And there are several age groups, starting in the teens, going all the way up to seniors.

Photo courtesy Maddie Walker

Walker has had great success early in her arm wrestling career.

While you’d naturally think the bigger, stronger man or woman has the advantage, it ain’t necessarily so. “It’s hand and wrist,” said O’Neill, whose best finish was second in the nationals in 1998. “It doesn’t matter how big your arm is.

“If I control your hand, I control your arm. You can go into a gym and see guys with gigantic biceps and their wrists are like a girl. You might be able to bend and curl more than I can, but I’m gonna be able to bend your wrist back.

“If your wrist goes the rest of your arm will follow.”

Of course, since most top arm wrestlers are well aware of this, other aspects come into play. “There’s so much technique involved,” pointed out Romanowski, who is an auto mechanic during the day. “You use different techniques against different guys.

“When you referee you can see what other guys who might be in your class do and learn a lot of things. Any little advantage helps.”

MIGNOGNA’S unexpected death, resulting from complications from back surgery, has left the New Jersey team in a bit of disarray. That’s led to Walker picking up the mantle, with members of the team practicing in his house–which contains a complete gym–twice a week

One of the participants, though, doesn’t have to go very far. She lives there and has turned into an arm-wrestling sensation in just a couple of years.

“Growing up I didn’t know anything about it,” recalled 23-year-old Maddie Walker, who decided to give it a shot after her 2020 softball season at Dominican U. in Orangeburg, NY was

wiped out by COVID. “My first tournament was a world qualifier, and I finished second.

“Then I got three gold medals in juniors–right hand, left hand and open. There are a lot of tournaments, but you have to travel pretty far. I’ll be going to Montana in October, and to Bulgaria for the Worlds next summer. And I just qualified for the Arnold Classic (named of course for Schwarzenegger) in Ohio.”

In the process, Maddie’s already racked up three golds at the Nationals and four in the 2021 Worlds, held in Orlando, as well as six individual state titles. That makes a father proud.

“No girl in this area will touch her,” said her 340 lb. Dad, adding that they often train together, with Maddie using several rubber bands to give her added strength and make it more competitive. “She works hard.”

In fact, Maddie’s got a full rooting section. “It’s definitely cool since he’s been around for a while and people know him,” said Maddie, who broke the school home run record at Dominican with 34 and is now teaching science and math at a local school while pursuing her master’s online.

“And my mom, Tracy is my biggest cheerleader.

“She sets up my promos and my sister, Devan, is my videographer. So everyone has their own role.”

Photo courtesy Maddie Walker

Maddie with father Steve Walker

WHILE ARM WRESTLING has turned into the latest of many burgeoning sports for women, it’s not quite the same for the men. “Arm wrestling, in my opinion, you do when can’t do anything else,” said Steve Walker, who gives many of the medals he’s won over the years to the kids at Lenape. “A lot don’t get to the sport until they’re 35 years old when they’re done playing flag football or hockey or softball.

“It’s an individual sport. It doesn’t matter your size or age. You’ll get as good as you put into it.”

They have just one complaint. If badminton, weightlifting, canoeing, and even break dancing are Olympic sports, why isn’t arm wrestling? “We’ve been trying to get into the Olympics for a long time,” lamented Walker, who played football on both lines back in his days at Trenton Central High. “The reason we want to go is because they drug test.

“Most of the tournaments in the States don’t drug test.”

For now, though the competition, the camaraderie, the adrenaline rush when your opponent’s arm hits the table, is enough. The Walkers, father and daughter, O’Neill, Romanowski and their supporters will keep on doing the thing that they love -- even if the rest of us never fully understand just how big a thing it really is. n

for T he record

BY KURT SMITH

THE FIRST IMPRESSION one gets upon arriving at Soundplex might be to check the address.

The brick warehouse-style building is on Rudderow Avenue in Pennsauken, a short side street in clear need of repaving. There’s no visible signage, except for the Victor Talking Machine Co. sign which gives little indication of the building’s purpose. You have to wander around to the back to see anything bearing the studio’s name on it.

That is, undoubtedly, how owner George Koch wants it. Underground, exclusive, however you want to describe it–the very definition of a hidden gem. Soundplex Studios calls itself a recording studio, but it’s much more than that. It’s a bona fide art gallery too…there are delightfully decorated lounge areas throughout the place, including a larger room featuring a grand piano and drum kit for intimate performances. In each dimly lit space, there are portraits of musical artists, as one might expect…Frank Sinatra,

George Koch

Duane Allman, The Supremes and countless others. LP records hang from a large door in the lounge, as necessary nostalgia. But there are also stunning paintings on walls every where…breathtaking pieces depicting female beauty, masterful abstract works, and even glow-in-the-dark ultraviolet features.

There’s no question that Soundplex’s owner truly is a music and art lover himself.

It’s clearly a labor of love, but it’s good for business too. When you wander around Soundplex, you can’t imagine struggling musicians not wanting to cut their first disc here, or artists declining an offer to display their efforts among the masterworks.

KOCH DIDN’T SELECT Soundplex’s location out of any desire to be obscure. He just happened to own the building and discovered its potential almost by accident.

“I was in the medical business, distributing medical supplies,” he remembers. “I just needed raw warehouse storage space. It was boarded up, no amenities whatsoever. I fitted out a few small areas downstairs as an office, but basically just used it as a distribution spot.

“I got out of the medical supply business and got into software, so I didn’t need the space. I started renting it out to tenants, and each one was a little interesting. We had some artists in here, and musicians rented the space to be rehearsal studios.

“A musician came in here who had the rights to Victor Records. They were once the center of the music recording world, Victor Talking Machine. They rented the space for a few years. During COVID, they had to move out.

“So, I just said, I’m gonna run with music and art. I was always a fan of art, my father was an artist, and my grandfather was a nightclub singer. So that was the vision, the initial origination.”

As one might expect touring Soundplex, it takes time to make a vision like this a reality…three and a half years, at this point, and counting.

“I want to keep this place pretty fresh and always changing,” Koch shares. “I get bored really easily. I’m always talking to local artists. We just had our gallery opening a few weeks ago,

Photo

and I’m always looking at new art and bringing that in.

Soundplex is a destination not just for recording, but for business networking too, if you’ve ever heard of such a thing. The lounges with their stunning artwork make for a truly

unique business networking space, and Koch is using it for such outings. It may even host a Legacy Club gathering.

“I like to network. I like to go to events. I like to go to parties and throw parties. Now I have this space, this complex where I can enter-

tain and develop new business relationships. Bring people in instead of going to a Marriott or Hampton Inn to do a business conference. Come here instead, a lot more to offer.”

EVEN WITH ITS CLEAR POTENTIAL as an art gallery and a networking space, Soundplex is a recording studio first and foremost, with all the necessary instruments, sound boards and audio equipment, including a separate room for the singer.

It hasn’t seen the likes of Taylor Swift recording an album…although it’s certainly conceivable that a megastar might choose such a place to get back to their roots. That said, Koch can describe some mind-blowing artists that have both recorded and performed here.

The first one he mentions when asked is a Frank Sinatra tribute artist, Brandon Tomasello.

“They brought in the Philadelphia City Rhythms Orchestra,” he remembers. “Real top shelf, 17-instrument big band. When Sinatra would do his tour, there were certain songs that he didn’t play for some reason. So, Brandon got hold of them, and they recorded about 13 of them. We are actually doing a show at Scottish Rite in Collingswood on Nov 30th to introduce the album.

“These songs were put together for Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. They were recorded here for the first time. We made the Channel 3

Music posters hang on the walls at Soundplex

Photo Kurt Smith

news at 6:00, which was kind of cool.”

Koch can easily rattle off names of other artists who have performed or recorded at Soundplex, that he believes people should hear more of.

“The most recent one was Mike Ian and Gabby Howarth. He plays guitar, piano, amongst other things. Gabby has an unbelievable voice. Stunning voice. And she’s a stunning woman. Watching those two play a Stevie Wonder song or Bridge Over Troubled Water was pretty powerful.

Putting The Band Back Together?

Despite its hidden and obscure nature, The Soundplex’s location is actually ideal for artists in the Philadelphia area. It is just ten minutes from the Ben Franklin Bridge, after all. Their website’s blog makes the point of its convenience on several pages.

Soundplex also goes beyond even being an inviting atmosphere. If you’re looking to make a record, or if you’re an artist hoping to be discovered, a key part of their vision is to help you however they can. Koch also focuses on the business end for artists, which often seems antithetical to the artist mindset.

To Koch, it isn’t. He points out that some of the best music ever made was done for profit.

“The Led Zeppelins, Pink Floyds, Rolling Stones, Beatles… there’s a ton of others, were so good back then because they put the work into it. You’ve got to put the work into anything you do. And they did it, in addition to their drive to create music, because they were paid for it, and they were paid well for it.”

“South Jersey is kind of a hotbed of good performers. Tara Hendricks is one of them. She’s a local girl. She has her own band, and she does a great Amy Winehouse, but she also has some original music. She’s actually gonna be recording a Christmas album here next month.

“When you’re that close to a performer and that’s what I like about the place too, you’re very intimate. You’re the audience, but you’re part of the show itself, because you’re that close to it. You can see the expression on their face, how challenging it is to deliver a performance. Since we are a studio complex, we film most of our performances and put stellar productions together for music fans.”

TO BE A MUSIC AND ART enthusiast is easy for anyone, but making a living through it is exceptionally difficult. That isn’t lost on George Koch, who’s lived it himself. It drives his desire to deliver for creators and make Soundplex the ultimate destination for artists.

He becomes emotional speaking of the struggles of bringing Soundplex to life, and three and a half years of converting a building into a first-class studio complex full of stunning artwork. He also has had personal challenges that had nothing to do with creating a music and art mecca.

“I’m an entrepreneur, so I like being creative and building something. A business around music and art, creativity, and how that can be used to do all the other things in life, is fabulous. You couldn’t ask for a better position to be in than I am right now.

“Not to say it’s not fraught with its challenges…by no stretch of the imagination has it been easy. But I’m at a stage now where in life, I want to enjoy something and bring people together. When you see some of our gath-

Soundplex supplies all of the equipment you need, including help from Randy Weaver, his audio engineer. Koch adds that they can also connect you with others in the industry.

“We’ve gotten really good at helping folks brand themselves. A lot of musicians may be really good at doing music, but they don’t know the business side of things. We know people with a lot of experience who have been around a long time that can help.

“It’s like a melting pot of artists and producers and composers and businesspeople, that can interact with one another.”

“I go to live music shows all the time, like an obscure place and a band I’d never heard before. I listen to them like, ‘These guys are good. Let me give them my card.’”

Koch is similarly motivated to boost notoriety for artists whose spectacular work is on display everywhere in the venue. In addition to live music gatherings, Koch frequents art shows where he finds new pieces for The Soundplex, and he works to make it worth the artists’ while too.

“I probably have met easily 200 artists over the last two years. Some of them are pretty big players and others aren’t so big. We really just kind of learn a little bit about how they work and what they work in. Then I say, ‘Well, I’d love to have your stuff on display.’

“I want to make sure that artists are getting good exposure. I kind of have a good deal with them. It’s a little bit more weighted towards them because I get something out of the art as well.”

Photo Kurt Smith

erings, interactions I have with folks, and how they interact with each other, it’s special to see. That alone is rewarding enough to keep me entrenched in this space.

“I’ve had a real rough three years. Two of my sisters passed away, one of ALS, one of cancer.

My mom passed away, they all passed away within two years. That I’m still standing here is pretty amazing, and that’s a testament to how I was brought up.

“ You never give up. I teach the same thing to my son who’s 25, I say, ‘Mike, nothing’s easy,

you’re gonna have days when you’re gonna say, ‘S***, this sucks, and I want to quit this nonsense.’ But you persevere.’

“All I need is folks to enjoy themselves here, because to me, it’s all about making people happy, and that’s what I’m doing.” n

Photo Kurt Smith

BY JAN L. APPLE

Valley Forge Tourism: Make it Montco Expanding in Leaps and Bounds

History, sports, leisure, theatre, arts, cuisine, shopping and miles and miles of nature are all at your doorstep in the ever-booming Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Located just outside the City of Philadelphia, it’s the third largest county in the state, stretches over 450 miles and is home to more than 864,000 residents.

The Visitors Center for Montgomery County is on the grounds of the historic Valley Forge National Park, explained Mike Bowman, president and CEO of the Valley Forge Tourism & Convention Board (VFTCB). Last year alone, the park had more than two and a half million visitors. The historic grounds, where General George Washington led foot soldiers through a snow-covered battlefield during the Revolutionary War, attract tourists from across the country and the globe. “When I travel overseas and meet with international tourism groups, the historic park is on their bucket list,” said Bowman. Yet, once people visit the region, he noted, they

realize how much more there is to do and see. And the county is extremely family focused.

Over the last few years, several hotels have opened to accommodate the increasing number of visitors to the region. With weddings – traditional and destination –on the rise in recent years, the county offers a wide array of venues. Some couples choose hotels or catering halls to celebrate, while others gravitate to small towns, barns, cafes or breweries. One constant is the choice by many to take wedding photos at Valley Forge National Park.

“When you come for a wedding, come early and play golf, stay late, have brunch,” said Bowman. “Economically, it’s an amazing county to come to – to shop, dine, and stay overnight because of the value proposi-

Mike Bowman

Valley Forge

“When I travel overseas and meet with international tourism groups, the historic park is on their bucket list.”

tion.” Bowman is quick to point out that parking is free in many towns and attractions throughout the county, a huge perk.

“We were the first county in the state to promote pet-friendly hotels,” added Bowman, proud of one of the area’s many distinctions. The campaign, Embark Montco, emphasizes outdoor attractions and much more. “Bring your dog, your bike, your kids, yourself, just have a great weekend,” said Bowman.

Rebranding of the VFTCB

Shortly after Bowman took the reins in 2015 of the VFTCB, a 501c (6) non-profit organization, a marketing and rebranding campaign was launched. When he and his team began working on the campaign, they realized there were 17 Montgomery Counties in the country. So, it made sense to focus on the Valley Forge name, “a world icon.” As a result, the brand – Valley Forge Tourism: Make it Montco – was born. And the unprecedented growth has continued to soar. At the time, they also launched sub-brands, such as Cirque du Soleil, Montco Weddings, Crave Montco (cuisine for every taste bud), Valley Forge Sports and Montco Golf (over 50 courses). Suffice it to say there’s a lot to do. Visitors enjoy walking and hiking trails, sports, arts, entertainment and world-class shopping.

In 2023, the plethora of tourism translated into over $1.7 billion in economic impact to the region, an increase from 2019, another phenomenally strong year just before the life-changing pandemic. “We’re outperforming some of the other counties with our indicators, such as hotel occupancy,” said Bowman.

Elmwood Park Zoo Giraffe Feeding

The King of Prussia Mall had over 25 million visitors in 2023.

“We were the first county in the state to promote pet-friendly hotels.”

The Pandemic Altered the Landscape

Bowman shared some of the changes that occurred when the unprecedented COVID pandemic occurred, and the recovery and growth that has since resulted. “We were the first county in the tri-state region to shut down,” recalled Bowman. “Schools, Valley Forge National Park, the mall, everything was completely shut down on March 20, 2020. I always said we were the first ones down and we’ll be the first ones up. And we were.”

Even with a dramatically altered landscape, the VFTCB sprung into action, implementing creative ideas, with health and safety top of mind. “People wanted to be outside, so we focused on main streets,” said Bowman. Although outdoor dining and festivals were already a trend, the VFTCB took that to the next level. Whether it was going to a brewery, flower shop, arts festival, concert or outdoor cafe in one of the region’s many towns, that world – with an inviting ambiance all its own – became the new and popular norm.

“Our weekend business, like leisure (weddings, getaways) and youth sports, has really taken off. It’s through the roof,” said Bowman. He noted that the Montco boasts 2500 restaurants, over 100 miles of walking and hiking trails, LEGOLAND, the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks featuring a variety of consumer shows, The Proving Grounds multi-sports

complex and the King of Prussia Mall. “Last year, the mall had nearly 25 million visitors,” said Bowman. “It’s the number one mall in the Northeast for high-end shopping.”

All Roads Lead to Montco

According to Bowman, the number one reason that people visit the VFTCB’s website is because they are looking for things to do. And they are sure to find options in ready reach. He explained that all major arteries, including the Schuylkill Expressway/76, the Blue Route/476 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike all lead to Montgomery County, making it easily accessible.

Bowman is also proud that Montco is home to every major international and national life sciences company, including Merck, GlaxoSmithKline and CSL Behring.

Passion for Tourism and the Region

Bowman, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, is clearly passionate about the region and brings a unique perspective to tourism and hospitality. Prior to his current position, he was president and CEO of the Valley Forge Casino Resort. Over the last 30-plus years, he has held senior-level positions in the hospitality and gaming industries, with stints at Hilton Hotels, Wyndham Worldwide, Rush Gaming and Harrah’s (now Caesars) Entertainment.

“I worked my way up the ranks, which has benefitted me,” said Bowman, a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. In fact, he began his career as a chef.

Even with the flurry of activity at the VFTCB, Bowman finds time to serve on multiple boards, including the Elmwood Park Zoo, Montco 250 and the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Looking Ahead

One of the long-range goals of the VFTCB is to build a 100,000-squarefoot youth sports facility – a necessity to meet the growing demand. “We’re working with elected officials, private investors and existing sports facilities,” said Bowman. “We will have something bigger and better; it’s a matter of when.”

Numerous existing facilities continue to host youth sports – indoors and outdoors.

Tournaments and competitions are ongoing throughout the year: soccer, basketball, baseball, field hockey, football, rugby, spike ball, dodgeball, kickball, paintball and quidditch, to name a few. This past May, the YMCA Nationals, a large gymnastics competition, was held at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center and Villanova University. Visitors filled the Montco hotels. “We had an incredible week,” stated Bowman, which resulted in $6 million in economic impact for the county. There’s also the National Dog Show, an annual event held at the Expo Center which aired on NBC – a huge draw for people near and far.

The VFTCB continues to reach out to millennials as well as Gen X and Y to promote activities based on their likes and interests, including biking, festivals and more.

Bowman’s sales team consistently travels around the globe – to such places as Asia, India and the UK – where they meet with destination travel organizations to promote the region. International tourism has been a steady over the years, and Bowman hopes to expand this further.

2025 and Beyond

Numerous changes are underway at the King of Prussia Mall. “Netflix is building a major facility that will be opening at the end of 2025,” said

Numerous existing facilities continue to host youth sports – indoors and outdoors.

Bowman. “It will include restaurants, theaters, celebrity chefs, bars. It’s going to be a must-see attraction and experience. No one in the country has anything like this. It will be the first of its kind in the world.”

Eataly, an experiential food and dining concept featuring Italian cuisine, will also open inside the mall. And in May 2025, the PGA will hold the Truist Championship at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.

America 250

The VFTCB is gearing up for a monumental year in 2026 to celebrate “America 250,” the Semiquincentennial. It will be a nationwide commemoration, noted Bowman, but with Philadelphia being the birthplace of America, celebrations will take on extra significance.

Major events are set for the region, including the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club, World Cup Soccer – attracting fans from around the world, NCAA (March Madness) games and more. Although some of the competitions will be held in Philadelphia, Bowman expects the largest number of people ever to visit Montco.

“We’re focusing on history, and we’ve been strategically marketing in Europe,” said Bowman of the 250th anniversary of the founding of our nation and signing of the Declaration of Independence. “It’s going to be a huge deal for the region and the whole country.” n

YMCA Gymnastics

H

Legacy Club Members

Samuel Agresta Agresta Engineering & Planning

Ross Akselrad Pulse Entertainment/Productions

Alexis Allegretto City Abstract

Chris Ambruch Alcom Printing

James Andreacci OceanFirst Bank

Joel Ardman Carroll Engineering

Tyler

Liz Arking Weichert Premier*

Bob Arnold SeatonHill Partners LP

Suzanne Aumack AUMOST Creative Group

Keith Baldwin Spike’s Trophies & Awards

Ed Barlow III Barlow Auto Group

Michael

Photos: John Wilchek Photography

Evan Dumont BELFOR USA Group

Ken Dunek New Opportunity Publishing

Doug Easlick Graham Company

Anna Ehlenberger Converge HR Solutions

Donald Eichman Alcom Printing Group

Bill Emerson Emerson Group

Will Emerson Emerson Group

Ryan Esposito Constellation Brands

Bill Evans Liberty Fox Technologies

David Ewing Coldwell Banker

Gary Farnesi WSFS Bank

Mark Fisher Fisher Financial Management

Jerry Flanagan JDog Brands

Sean Flanagan Always A Good Sign

Stephen Flanagan JDog Carpet Cleaning

Steve Foreman Financial Business Systems, Inc.

Rachel Frkovich Workplace HCM, Inc.

Mike Fuller Maggianos

Lauren Gallagher Live Nation

Joe Gangemi Suite Recording

Denise Gardner DeGerolamo Financial Strategies

Tom Gee Palo Alto Networks

Robert Gelsher Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Julia George Combined Insurance

Damien Ghee TD Bank

Jim Gibson Alcom Printing

Dave Gill Haefele, Flanagan & Co., P.C.

Robert Glycenfer Financial Guide

Mark Godofsky Surety Title

Ryan Golembiewski Cloud113

Michelle Gollapalli Food For The Poor

Steve Goodman Greater Philadelphia YMCA

Gary Greco Scientia Consulting LLC

Chris Green Richard Green & Son Public Adjusters

Liz Green Richard Green & Son Public Adjusters

Jen Groover Thuzio

Dr. Thanuja Hamilton Advocare Sleep Physicians of South Jersey

Steve Hanscom McCann Commercial Real Estate & KW Commercial

Berkley Harmon Insperity

Joe Hassan MPI Valuation & Advisory

Pete Hatton Hutchison Mechanical Services

Amy Jo Haven-Reynolds Haven Marketing

John Herring LINKBANK

Gary Herviou A Neumann & Associates, LLC

Fred Hoelsworth Topgolf Mount Laurel

Robert Hoey Janney Montgomery Scott

Robert Hoey, Jr. Janney Montgomery Scott

Kirstie Holmes loanDepot

Michael Holt Holt, McNally & Associates

Cheryl Houtz The Benefit Doctor

Nichole Howard Nichole MCH Photography

Kristi Howell Burlington County Chamber of Commerce

Stephen Hruby, Jr. Patriot Landscaping Services

Edward Hutchinson Hutchinson Mechanical Services

Michael Hyland Gateway Mortgage

Tim Irons T.C. Irons Insurance

Mike Jaconelli Tam Lending

Ron Jaworski Ron Jaworski Golf

Jim Jeffers BBSI

Timothy Jennings Telecorp

Chris Jerjian Kiwi Offices

Keith Johnson Laurel Lanes

Jessica Jones Simplifi Payroll & HR

Kenneth Justice KMJ INC.

Abbie Kasoff Say It With Clay

Corey Katzen Forefront Telecare

Keith Keller SpeedPro South Jersey

Lisa Kelly Foundation Title

Bob Kennedy Insperity*

Robert Kennedy The Kennedy Companies

Kristen Kidd Lux Summit Studio

David Klemic Klemic Performance Method

Damon Kline Remington & Vernick Engineers

George Koch SoundPlex

LEGACY CLUB SPOTLIGHT

“I just finished my first year with Legacy Club and it’s been as advertised. When people say it’s a social club where business gets done, they mean it. Each event is part catching up with old friends and part meeting new ones. Every member has an interest in helping each other’s business grow.”

– John Cruice, John Cruice Photography

Tonya Kok T-Mobile for Business

Anne Koons BHHS Fox & Roach, NJ/PA & Vineland Construction Co.

David Kryszczak Four Star Event Catering

Edward Labman Univest

Joe LaGrossa Intellicor

Keith Langan Surety Title Company, LLC

Arthur Leiby Lerepco IT Group

Andrew Lesser New York Life

Bryan Levens SNEVEL Technologies, LLC

Brian Libby Primepoint

Ronald Lieberman Rigden Lieberman LLC

Robert Lipinkski Cherry Hill Cigar Club

Jason Litman Capstone Search Advisors

John Lorenzo TwoTwo Creative

Doug Lotierzo The Lotierzo Group

Eric Lynn Northbound Strategies

Joey Mac Dizon The Mobile Cigar Lounge

Chris Maciborski Weisman Children’s Hospital & Voorhees Pediatric Facility

Doug Madanick Kulzer & DiPadova, P.A.

Jennifer Madera The People Placers

Anton Makharynets ANTVAL Rentals

Matthew Malinowski Corporate Source

Sarah Mamzic Comtec Systems Inc.

Joseph Mancini TriState Engineering & Surveying

Jason Mancivalano JP Morgan Private Bank

Tom Matera AnnieMac Home Mortgage

Betty Maul FrontEnd Graphics

Matthew McDevitt Positive Wiring

Carson Merine Keller Williams Realty

Frank Messina AllRisk Property Damage Experts

Jeremy Messler Jeremy Messler Photography, LLC

Marla Meyers Legacy Treatment Services Foundation

John Milne JPM Benefits Services

Brian Minker Able Technology Partners, LLC

Anthony Minniti Camden Apothecary Dispensary at Bell Pharmacy

Justin Mirigliani Checkmates Charitable Association

Samir Mody Keller Engineers of New Jersey*

Rachel Monaghan Metatron Marketing, Inc.

Anthony Mongeluzo PCS

Ron Monokian We Make It Personal by Joy’s Hallmark

Dan Morroni Morroni Custom Clothiers

Steve Mullen Insperity

Peter Musumeci TD Bank

Rick Nelson EOS - Advance to Vision LLC

Joel Needham AssuredPartners

Kathryn Newell IDS Drones Inc.

Dan Ninerell Modern Classical Chefs

Joe O’Donnell Fulton Bank N.A.

Joseph Ohlweiler The Alternative Board Southern New Jersey

Sheryl Oliver New jersey Angels

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Marc Oppenheimer Parx Casino

Amy Osborn New Jersey Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation

Colette Oswald Colette Oswald Photography

Michael Ott At Home Technology

Michael Oxman Henry A. Davidsen

Richard A. Palko Closet Factory

Michael Pallozzi HFM Investment Advisors, LLC

Rae Pastore Durand, Inc

Deep Patel GenRise Wealth Advisors, LLC

Tom Pellegrino Everest Discovery LLC

Lee Perlman Law Offices of Lee M. Perlman

Mike Perlow Perlow Productions

Genell Peterson Garcierge

Jaime Picozzi CTN Staffing*

Victor Pitts Insperity

Frank Plum Workplace HMC Inc.

Roy Plummer Armed Forces Heritage Museum

Mike Poalise PeopleShare

Steve Pontrello Barlow Work Trucks

Peter Ponzio Penn Investment Advisors

Casey Price Price & Price, LLC

Andy Pritikin Liberty Lake Day Camp & Special Events

Eileen Propp Prime IV Hydration and Wellness

Steven Quagliero Vantage Labs

Geoff Rabinowitz New Balance

MaryAnn Ragone AltruVision - A Lions Eye Bank

Soleiman Raie Law Offices of Michael Kuldiner, P.C.

Ryan Regina Big Sky Enterprises, LLC

Keith Reynolds RVN Television

Matt Ribaudo BostonMan Magazine Raegen Richard Amerprise Financial Services, LLC

Robert Richardson Allied Document Solutions and Services, Inc

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Sebastian Rohan Weichert Premier

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Jawad H. Salah Archer & Greiner, P.C.

Robert Salotto First Financial Lending

Michelle Sapp Arhaus*

JP Sawyer The Alias Group

Al Schuster Polaris Brand Promotions

Sergio Scuteri Capehart Scatchard, P.A.

Jeremy Shackleford WSFS Bank

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Lee Shields Marcum

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Gary Shickora Northwestern Mutual

Joe Silva HBK CPA’s & Consultants*

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Joe Simone Regional Resources Energy Group

Josh Smargiassi Boomerang

Chris Smith Micro Integration Services, Inc.*

Ralph Smith Capehart Scatchard

Michael Snyder Spark Creative Group

Brett Soper TBT Barter

Richard B. St. Maur III Coordinated Project Solutions, LLC

Jeffrey Steigerwalt Mid Penn Bank

Robert Sullivan Schooley Mitchell*

Scott Tanker Tanker Consulting Services

Dr. Keisha Taylor Dr. Keisha Stephenson Taylor Consulting Services, LLC

Thomas Taylor Repice and Taylor, Inc.

Robert Telschow, Jr Colliers Engineering & Design

Brooke Tidswell Farm Truck Brewing

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Ron Tornari Groceries for Grandparents Fund

Manuel Torres Insperity

Kenneth Toscano New York Life Insurance Company

Joseph Tredinnick Cornerstone Bank

Jim Turpin Chelsea Wealth Management

Tracie Ullman SoulScapes Medical SPA & KT Aesthetic Academy

Les Vail Workplace HCM, Inc.

Emory Vandiver Interactive Security

Joseph Velez 3D Voice & Data

Angela Venti Alloy Silverstein

Michael Vertolli Comtec Systems Inc.

Michael Vitarelli Jessco Construction, Inc.

Josef

Wessner

TECH TIME

BY ANTHONY MONGELUZO

Have any tech ideas you want to talk about? Feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@PCS_AnthonyM) or email me any time at Anthony@helpmepcs.com.

Top Back-to-School Tech for Kids

AS SUMMER DRAWS to a close and the back-toschool season kicks off, many dads in Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey are on the lookout for the latest technology to help their kids excel in the classroom. Whether you’re gearing up for high schoolers preparing for advanced coursework or younger kids starting to explore the digital world, there are several tech tools and gadgets that can make the transition smoother and more exciting. Here’s a guide to the best back-to-school technology to consider for your kids this year.

Chromebooks: Affordable and Functional

For many families, Chromebooks offer the perfect balance of affordability and functionality. These lightweight laptops run on Google’s Chrome OS and are ideal for students who primarily use web-based applications and services. With prices starting around $200, they are an economical choice for both elementary and high school students.

The Lenovo Chromebook Flex 5 and the HP Chromebook 14 are excellent options. The Lenovo model features a versatile 2-in-1 design, allowing students to switch between laptop and tablet modes, while the HP Chromebook offers a larger screen and long battery life, which is perfect for long days of schoolwork and extracurricular activities.

Tablets for Versatile Learning

Tablets can serve as both educational tools and entertainment devices, making them a versatile addition to any student’s tech arsenal. The Apple iPad (9th Generation) and the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 are standout choices.

The iPad is known for its robust ecosystem of educational apps and

accessories, such as the Apple Pencil for notetaking and drawing. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 offers great value with its impressive display and access to Google’s suite of productivity tools. Both tablets are lightweight and portable, ideal for taking notes, reading ebooks, or watching educational videos.

Noise-Canceling Headphones: Focus and Comfort

In a busy classroom or a noisy household, noise-canceling headphones can make a huge difference in a student’s ability to concentrate. The Sony WH-1000XM4 and the Bose QuietComfort 45 are two of the top choices for high-quality noise cancellation and comfort.

These headphones are perfect for students who need to focus on online classes, complete assignments, or simply enjoy some quiet time. Their long battery life and comfortable design make them suitable for extended use throughout the school day and beyond.

Smart Backpacks: Organize and Protect

A smart backpack combines traditional carrying features with modern technology to keep students organized. The kopack Slim Laptop Backpack and the Targus Cypress EcoSmart Backpack are excellent options.

The kopack Slim features dedicated compartments for laptops and tablets, as well as RFID-blocking pockets to protect personal information. The Targus Cypress EcoSmart Backpack is made from recycled materials and includes a padded laptop compartment, offering both environmental benefits and practical protection for your tech.

Smartwatches for Safety and Communication

For younger kids or those transitioning into middle school, a smartwatch can be a helpful tool for communication and safety. The Garmin Bounce and the TickTalk 4 are popular choices among parents.

The Garmin Bounce offers GPS tracking, messaging capabilities, and a fitness tracker, allowing you to stay connected with your child throughout the day. The TickTalk 4 provides similar features with added video calling and a range of educational apps, making it a great option for both communication and learning.

Conclusion

Equipping your kids with the right technology can significantly enhance their back-to-school experience. From Chromebooks and tablets to noise-canceling headphones and smartwatches, the right gadgets can support their education and make their daily routines more manageable. Dads in Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey have access to a range of high-quality tech options that cater to different needs and budgets. By investing in these tools, you’re not only preparing your children for academic success but also helping them navigate the modern educational landscape with. n