From J-Mac to 'Soccer Sam': New book shares stories from Rochester notables
After the Second World War ended, Stan Hwalek, who had served in the Navy and survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor, returned to Rochester.
“I came home on the bus,” the veteran told sportscaster and author Bill Pucko before he died at age 99. “Carried my bag and came home. My mother was home. I said, ‘Hi Mom. I’m home.’ And that was it. She asked, ‘What do you want to eat?’”?
The recollection – surprising and endearing – is one of many in Pucko’s newly published book, “Just Passing Through. Life Lessons from Notable Rochesterians.”
We get to know people, some familiar, some not so familiar, through their own words. In talking with Pucko, an empathetic and skilled interviewer, the subjects he features opened up, become candid about the good days and the bad days and what they have learned.
In one particularly gripping interview, Denny Wright, a Rochester police officer, talks about being assaulted and left blind in 2019. “I feel like I’m in a box by myself,” Wright says of the isolation he experiences because he cannot see.
It’s chilling to read this, but it’s inspiring to learn how Wright has chosen to share his story with other police officers, how he helps them deal with the stress of their jobs. He does this because of the gratitude he feels toward his family and to those who saved his life. “How disrespectful would it be, if I weren’t trying to do something,” he says.
The collection of 29 interviews is arranged by the age of the interviewees, youngest to oldest.
Maeve Reed, the youngest person interviewed, reflects upon how she reacted to her best friend’s suicide, channeling her grief into efforts to prevent other suicides.
“Soccer Sam” Fantauzzo, founder of Salvatore’s Pizza, talks about the awful consequence of gastric surgery in 2009. Bleeding internally, he was near death before he was saved. When he woke up, he had no memory of who he was. He didn’t recognize his wife, his children, his home. Thus, he relearned his own life. “Everything I’m telling you now is based on what I’ve read and on what people told me,” he tells Pucko.
Given Pucko’s 40-plus years working in the Rochester media and covering sports, it’s not surprising that he includes several interviews with people in these fields.
Don Alhart, Rich Funke, Stacy Pensgen, John DiTullio and Brother Wease are among the broadcasters. Basketball’s Jason “J-Mac” McElwain, football’s Roland Williams, and baseball’s Naomi Silver are among the sports figures.
There are people from entertainment, as well. Musician John Dady talks about the deep loss he felt when his brother Joe — the other half of music’s the Dady Brothers — died in 2019. Two days after his brother’s funeral, John Dady was back playing, his way of dealing with his sorrow.
In an interview with himself, Pucko talks about how he broke into broadcasting. First it was radio, then TV, in New England. In 1980, the Ithaca College graduate landed an on-air sports job at WHEC-TV, Channel 10 in Rochester. Later, he moved to the 24-hour news operation at Time Warner Cable.
He had a job he loved. Not an athlete himself, he had grown up in Hingham, Massachusetts, reading great sportswriters in the Boston Globe. At Time Warner he had the freedom to feature moments that others might have missed. But that part of his life ended in 2010, when he was told he no longer had a job.
Pucko was devastated. “It was a feeling I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy,” he said in an interview. “You feel drained and defeated.”
However, like the people in his book, Pucko rallied. He still does a weekly sports show, “The Press Box,” on WHAM-TV, Channel 13. And “Just Passing Through,” is the product of four years of hard work, a job well done, for sure.
Remarkable Rochesterians
In last week’s column, I wrote about electric bikes. This week, let’s add the name of someone who has had an extraordinary impact on the design of bikes to the list of Remarkable Rochesterians that can be found at : https://data.democratandchronicle.com/remarkable-rochesterians/
Georgena Terry (1950- ): Named one of four female cycling pioneers by Bicycling Magazine, the Alabama native was working as engineer for Xerox Corp in 1980 and living in Penfield, when she built a bicycle with a smaller front wheel and other features more suited to women’s physiques. The bike caught on, leading to the formation of Terry Precision Bicycles for Women, a manufacturer that influenced bike design worldwide. She sold the company, which also featured bicycling apparel, in 2009 to a Vermont company, but continues to make bikes in Penfield on a customer-by-customer basis.
From his home in Geneseo, Livingston County, retired senior editor Jim Memmott, writes Remarkable Rochester, who we were, who we are. He can be reached at jmemmott@gannett.com or write Box 274, Geneseo, NY 14454
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Book shares stories from J-Mac, Soccer Sam, other Rochester notables
