There’s nothing like a best buddy — or a few best buds. There was also nothing like the combination of best friends and the iconic bridge that was a leftover statue or cement billboard of sorts from the McCarter estate in Rumson.
So, to pay tribute to both buds and the bridge, the Retro Pic(s) of the Day offers a glimpse of both in milestone moments of friends paying homage to one another by painting the bridge way back in time.
As the unofficial start of summer approaches, thoughts turn to beachy sorts of antics among pals — RFH pals, specifically. Call it something to sing and dance about — center stage.
The formation of a Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Girls Gymnastics team that will compete in the Shore Conference North Division is in the works.
It was a history-making season for the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Girls Winter Track Team that culminated in the team’s first State Group Championship.
In light of baseball season and honoring high school firsts in the breaking down of gender barriers, this Retro Pic of the Day, originally published in 2015, is being recirculated …
Yes, it’s all about baseball right now.
And the idea of RFH girls breaking into sports that were traditionally boys’ is something to think about.
So, who was on first, or, rather who was first to be somewhere on the field with the guys in the 1970s? It was RFH Class of ’78 alumni Nancy Whelchel.
Yes, Nancy got onto the baseball field with the boys at RFH a year or two after Chris Bowden scored a goal for girls in soccer.
It all happened back in the day when girls had just made strides to change the dress code and wear pants to school. That was a mass effort. There were a lot of girls walking around wearing skirts or dresses with pants underneath. But that’s another girls’ liberation story for another day.
It’s about those singular sensation girls who defied a status quo form of sexism when literally playing the fields.
So, the Retro Pic of the (George) Day honors one of those girls — Nancy Whelchel. It’s a snapshot of Nancy on the field with Ward Tietz.
We’re not sure if this is an actual team practice shot or just one in which she was just tossing the ball around for fun with a couple of the guys from her class.
Still, there she is playing ball. She had the guts and the sports acumen to break the good ol’ — or young — boys’ sports network.
Home run.
I somehow don’t recall any sort of rebellion from the boys. She was good. That was all that mattered.
Any firsts for girls on the football field? Anyone? What was Nancy Whelchel’s specialty on the baseball field?
Many thanks, again, to George Day for this classic!
Finally! The warmth of spring is in full bloom. And there’s nothing like parking yourself on a sunny spot on the grass and read a book or study — or something like that.
She said she wanted to read something in tribute to her little girl on what would have been her 20th birthday. She said she was sure it would make her cry. Then something happened.
That answer, or any other, has hardly come easily for the longtime Rumson mom and Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) graduate who grew up in the area and raised her family there. But now she thinks she’s found a way to keep the light that she and so many knew as Maddy shining bright.
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