A winter version reprise, by popular demand in honor of Toni Pomphrey, who worked there and recently passed away, and Lisa Preston, the RFH Class of ’75 girl at the counter who also passed and just had a birthday … Campus was a “free period” hot spot, as RFH dinosaurs know …
It’s all about being cool these winter days. It was in the 70s for RFHers, too.
Cheers to sunny fall days and classic looks back! The sun is out and, despite the fall sting in the air, it’s something to cheer about. So, we’re taking you back, once again, to a special crew of RFH cheerleaders — the boys of RFH’s Class of ’78 in an encore of this Oct. 8, 2015 Retro Pic of the (George) Day from two views! Cheers!
The 1977 RFH Powder Puff Football game was a good one that made for some great photo ops.
It’s not all about the game when it comes to RFH’s football games. Games have always been a very entertaining full-on production, featuring a big halftime show. And, back in the day, that classic RFH-RBC rivalry game always one of the showiest, most unique halftimes of all high schools. They featured, twirlers, color guard, marching bands, cheerleaders and the one and only RFH Drill Team. All encompassed the entertainment that championed many wins. How could it not? It was and is all about the RFH winning spirit. Go Dawgs!
If some old RFHers had a pre-Thanksgiving turkey wishbone to yank on, they may be hoping to pull the bigger end to make a wish to revisit their own RFH Thanksgiving Day Homecoming game. Yes, the homecoming of today is already over and the RFH Dawgs are already on the state championship path.
But, back in the day, Thanksgiving, to be exact, the RFH football season used to peak with what then was the classic rivalry homecoming/Thanksgiving Day game between Red Bank Catholic and RFH. Two days before, everyone was headed home from college for the big homecoming reunion, dance and, of course reunited partying at Ichabod’s (now Woody’s, owned by RFHer Chris Wood).
Tonight, the RFH Tower Players are opening their fall show of the school year — Frozen Jr.. The RFH shows of this era are always billed as Tower Players plays, because, of course, it’s the drama club. But, in the age of the RFH Tower Player dinosaur, playing with the Tower Players was a bit different.
There were always been two productions, as with now, but not two musicals. That was the spring production only. Originally, there was a fall drama and a spring musical. The fall drama was a Tower Players play. Tower Players only were auditioned and cast. The spring musical a different, bigger, more school-wide production. It was billed as an RFH show, with auditions open to anyone in RFH, casting dance and vocal choruses, lead and supporting role actors and all.
Continue reading Retro RFH Tower Players Play Time
Call it a cool production.
The curtain goes up Friday on the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Tower Players in their fall musical production of Frozen Jr.; and the show will run through Sunday.
Thanksgiving is coming and football is still being served up at RFH, but no longer on the big turkey day as it was for decades.
Six Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) student-athletes have made their college choices official.
A classic reprise … just because we’re all about playing that field at RFH. Did they need drive? Well, they had it here in the most classic ’70s form ...
Fall is football time. And when the home game is over and the coldest of cold snaps hits, it’s bundle-up-and-ride-with-it-time. After all, sometimes it’s not all about the game for spirited RFHers.
Continue reading Retro RFH Cool Guys’ Game & RideWith the chill in the fall air and thoughts starting to turn to turkey and football, old-school RFHers are thinking homecoming. November used to be the time of year for such a thing. And it’s happening in a couple different ways pre-Thanksgiving this year in Rumson.
With the start of RFH Boys Basketball season coming and a memorial mass set for Saturday to honor a past iconic coach, Tom Botti (left), thoughts have turned back to the high school’s teams of yesteryear.
Say “uncle” and hold on tight.
One could say it’s never time to say “uncle” when it comes to letting go of the memories of two iconic Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) teachers/coaches. And it’s really not a problem — never relenting on remembrance. No reason to let such good go, right?
Saying “uncle” often literally had the opposite of the surrender effect for one Sea Bright-raised girl when it comes to her vise-gripping good memories of the now-gone RFH coaches/teachers Hal Lorme and Tom Botti, who taught her and many others well. That girl is Fran Rooney Raffetto and she’s called Lorme and Botti, family to her, “uncle” her entire life. And she’s not giving up that or the memories.
Her parents’ close relationship with the two and their spouses made Raffetto an adopted RFHer and niece, one could say, with enough of Lorme- and Botti-inspired RFH memories to last a lifetime and plenty to pass on to future generations. And she’s always been more than happy to share.
Legacy and love of the RFH teachers/coaches and their de-facto family ties in mind, Raffetto decided that now is that never-too-late time to bring people together who loved and admired her aunts and uncles and share the love by honoring their spirits in a special mass for the foursome years after their deaths on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Holy Cross Church in Rumson.
“I thought the memorial mass would be a nice way to see the Lorme and Botti family and give people a chance to honor and remember them,” Raffetto said. “(We need to) keep their memory alive. We frequented the RFH games throughout my childhood. I was so fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life.”
The family-by-choice tie? Well, the Lormes were her godparents, so saying “uncle” — and “aunt” — to them was a real thing. The Bottis were best friends of her parents, who were Sea Bright icons in their own right, Charlie and Frances Rooney. Charlie was mayor at one time and, well, Frances is none other than Mrs. Rooney of Mrs. Rooney’s Hot Dog Stand fame for half a century. The two and their wives have taught Raffetto well, and she didn’t even have to be taught or coached by them in the traditional RFH sense.
Teachers. Coaches. It’s a pretty sure bet that most have had at least one, the other or both who mentored or taught them a lesson or a thousand in or out of the classroom in their youth. Botti and Lorme were two who embodied that.
Sometimes those lessons, or even a word or a few at just that right moment in our youth change us forever. Unforgettable. That’s what some are. And it’s pretty safe to say that besides Lorme and Botti, there’s an RFH teacher or a few that made that sort of lasting impact on many an RFH student’s life — and then some … even outside of the RFH campus.
And outside of the RFH halls and fields, there were some, like Raffetto, who got to call those teachers and coaches family.
“We spent so many wonderful times together over so many years,” Raffetto said. “One of many great memories was going to cheer on the RFH Bulldogs when my Uncle Hal and Mr. Botti where coaches! It was incredible!”
And the now-92 Mrs. Rooney, over the bridge in RFHers’ adopted beach and party hometown of Sea Bright, is family to RFH students, too. In fact, her photo made it on the inside cover of one of the RFH yearbooks, a de facto auntie.
So, a Bulldog cheer to saying “uncle” for the right familial reason and never letting go of the good memories!
Raffetto asks that all who would like to honor and remember the Hal and Joan Lorme (who passed away on Feb. 15, 2015 and Jan 21, 2020, respectively) and Tom and Vivian Botti (who passed away on July 6 and Oct. 14, 2016, respectively) join her, her family and theirs at Holy Cross on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Holy Cross at 5 p.m..
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