Episode #155: Feeney Talks with Harry Bellucci

#BeAGoodFriend and check out episode #155 of #FeeneyTalksWithFriends featuring Harry Bellucci.

It was great to talk with my #friend, Harry! 

Harry is the Executive Director of Hartford PAL. 

We talked about:
Harry’s background (minute 1)
The Harry Bellucci Football Field (minute 2)
Growing up in Hartford (minute 3)
Teaching for 38 years and coaching for 42 years in Hartford (minute 4)
Proud moment with former players (minute 7)
Harry’s daughter Allie (minute10)
Advice for new teachers (minute 11)
Harry’s favorite coach (minute 13)
His coaching style (minute 16)
Confirm or Deny: Were you a professional dancer? (minute 19)
Teaching at the school that he attended as a student (minute 21)
Coaching the Senior Football All-Star Game in 2012 & 2016 (minute 23)
Who is Harry’s favorite daughter? (minute 24)
Harry’s daughter, Erin was the kicker on the Hall High School Football team (minute 25)
Harry is a great swimmer (minute 27)
Being the Executive Director of Hartford PAL (minute 29)
The Art and Culinary Programs at PAL (minute 34)
PAL is collaborating with Hartford Stage for the theater program (minute 36)
PAL After-school programs (minute 37)
How to donate to PAL (minute 38)
Last summer, Feeney worked for 241 Sports at Hartford PAL (minute 40)
PALvember (minute 46)
The PAL Board Members (minute 50)
The importance of PAL (minute 52)
Eric Mangini is Harry’s brother in law (minute 53)
His wife, Brenda has been his rock for the past 33 years (minute 56)
Who was the biggest knucklehead of The Whitney boys? (minute 57)

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Creators and Guests

Host

Eric Feeney

After teaching for nearly a decade at his alma mater in Waterbury, in 2014, Eric Feeney began teaching at Wolcott Elementary in West Hartford. Shortly following, Sam Sohn, the father of one of his students, passed away suddenly from a heart attack. He left behind four beautiful children and a loving wife, Nancy Wallace-Sohn. Eric saw first-hand the toll this took on the family as they navigated their way through this unthinkable tragedy. The following year, Rashad Collier Sr., another father of a student in Eric’s class, passed away in Hartford as a result of gun violence. Rashad left behind two fantastic children and a loving wife, Denise Villegas. The impact of these tragedies weighed on Eric and motivated him to build an organization that could provide assistance for similar situations. With that, Friends of Feeney was born. In 2019, Friends of Feeney Inc. became an official 501©(3) nonprofit organization, allowing more funds to be raised and expanding the range of services provided to children and families in need. Today, over a decade since Eric’s idea to build a community organization dedicated to supporting our friends in need, Friends of Feeney has burgeoned into a reputable and recognized organization capable of providing financial and resource support to numerous families and individuals across greater Hartford and beyond. Through this work, an incredible community of children and families has been recognized, who care for and appreciate each other’s kindness.

Producer

David Chmielewski

David started his video career in the early 1990s working on video crews as an independent contractor for such companies as Martha Stewart Living, IBM and Xerox. After graduating Southern Connecticut State University with the degree in Corporate Communications, David continued his video production career and accepted a position at WFSB in Hartford, CT. Within a few years the news and production studios became his charge and David designed, installed and maintained the televisions sets for the various programs at the station. At the end of 2013 David founded DirectLine Media, a video production company that specializes in creating memorable and compelling video content for businesses.

Editor

Stefania Sassano

Stefania's acting journey began as early as the fourth grade, where she took on the role of Scarlett O'Hara in a stage production of Gone With the Wind. This early experience sparked a lifelong passion for the arts. With a background in musical theater fueled by her love of music and singing, Stefania stepped into larger roles, such as Fraulein Kost in Cabaret during her sophomore year at the University of New Haven. This performance earned her a nomination for the prestigious Irene Ryan Acting Award at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival—an honor she would receive again in her junior year.

What is Feeney Talks With Friends?

Eric Feeney talks with #friends! Eric is the founder of the nonprofit organization Friends of Feeney. Their mission is to help children and families who need assistance after heartbreak and tragedy. www.friendsoffeeney.com

All right, all right.

Feeny talks with friends episode 155.

Hear that new intro music?

Yeah. You. Sounds good, man.

Good stuff, good stuff.

We're here.
What a great guest. Harry. Baluchi.

How are you doing, Harry?
I'm doing fantastic.

I heard it your first pod.

It is absolutely my first pod at age 68.

There you go.

We're with the man, the myth, the legend.

Hall of Famer, teacher, coach,
executive director.

We have so much to talk about.

I'm very excited that you're here.

Episode 155.

Where do you want to start?

I don't know.

I guess my background a little bit.

You know, I am having, taught
and coached in Hartford for 42 years.

My last 29 at Hartford Public High School,
where I coached, football and swimming.

Before that, I was

at Berkeley,
my alma mater, for 23 years, coaching,

23. I got to 24.

I got put in the Hartford

High, Buckley Hall of Fame
in 24 into the Hartford High Hall of Fame.

The only person in Hartford
into Hall of Fame. So.

So you're in two high school

Hall of Fame, correct for your teaching
and your coaching or, one for that.

Yeah.

At Buckley, for, for, being an athlete

and coaching and at Hartford Public,
obviously for coaching.

So pretty cool.

And then they named the field
after me on my retirement.

There.

So that's pretty surreal,
man there and going, oh geez.

Listen never had we're here with a legend.

Yeah.

Hall of Famer Field named after you.

How was that feeling?

I couldn't imagine.

That's, as being a coach,
a football coach.

You put players into college,

you put players into an NFL,
and they honored you with a field.

Let's elaborate a little bit. When,

Nick LeBron kami was on the

council and he said a coach,
we wanted him to feel that.

Yeah. And I'm like,
you sure about that, buddy? He's going.

Absolutely.

Part of that situation was
I was Hartford High Field.

The Park River runs underneath it.

And the Army Corps of Engineers
covered that back in the 60s.

But, you know, it's a riverbank.

So anytime it rained,
we were literally in five feet of mud.

It was ridiculous.

And I would complain every single year

about it like this
and coaches would complain.

And then finally,
I was able to talk to Matt Ritter,

who is a former student of the iron House,
and I said, Matt,

I have a couple of years that say, coach

is going to play on this mud pit
the rest of his life.

And he's going, well,
we have some bond money coming up.

I'm going to bring it to the governor,
who was Malloy at the time,

and see if we can get the field built.

And I probably texted him every day
during the summer.

I said, this dude's going to blast me here
pretty soon.

And he call me in August of 20, 2020.

And he said, coach,
we knew you needed a name.

We got your we're building in field.

Wow. Yeah.

So which is why I stayed an extra year.

I said, I'll be damned
if I'm not going to play it I one year.

So my last year of coaching
we were able to play on the new turf.

Right. A new turf field. Yeah. Wow.
Which was awesome.

That's so cool.

And then we had to, go to the board and,

and give them the business, and, and
they finally put the lights in the track.

And so now it's a really beautiful
facility. Really.

It's gorgeous.

Now, is that the one when you're
taking a left off

assistant,
have you could see right over here.

There it is. That's you.

No. Yeah. Yeah.
I thought of you the other day.

I got off that to go to Parkville Market,

and I'm like,
I wonder if that's Henry's field.

Yeah. Yeah, that definitely is. Yeah.

So is it the Baluchi field
or the hairy Baluchi field?

It's a hairy Baluchi field. Nice. Yeah.

Yeah. So that that that's nice.

And what was great about upon
my retirement, a bunch of guys

that I am friends with
for a very long, long time,

donated a bunch of money and we created
a Baluchi family scholarship fund.

So every,

June I give

about 5 or 6, $1,000 scholarships away
to, kids from Hartford High.

Kids from Berkeley gets from Weaver,

and helping them out
with their first year of college.

So that's pretty cool thing.

Amazing we're able to do. Yeah.

As being a good friend.

Yeah.

That's what it's all about. Yes.

Being very good friends. Yeah.

So I'm pretty proud of that.

So how was it teaching in Hartford
and why?

Hartford.

I grew up in Hartford.

My first nine years.

I grew up in Rice Heights,
which is a project, over,

for Flatbush Avenue,
which is no longer there.

Then we moved
to the south end of Hartford.

So here was Baluchi
moving to the south end of Hartford.

I fit right in over there
with all the Italian kids.

So it was,

it was a great place to grow up
the south end of Hartford.

Back in the 60s and 70s.

There was just a million kids
everywhere and parks and

and a bunch of pools open in and out.

And I think about probably the fourth
or fifth grade,

you know, my gym teacher
who was a crazy Italian guy,

but I, I just loved sports
and I just love being part of it.

And I think in my mind, in fourth grade,
I made up my mind

I was going to be a first teacher
and a coach and, after going to, you know,

Greater Hartford and then, central,
I got my first job at 23 at no.

Webster School.

And then I actually started coaching
when I was a junior,

in at central, a freshman assistant
freshman job was open.

I ran into my head coach from back in 75,
and I said, yeah, sure.

I came down, I signed some papers,
and I went out in the field

and started coaching
and had no idea what I was doing.

I mean,
just what I remember from high school.

So that's the defense we put in.

I spent the whole season
screaming like a maniac

because I didn't know what the hell
I was doing,

but so I started coaching three years
before I actually got a teaching job,

which is why I have 42 years
coaching, 38 teaching.

Yeah, there's a disparity.

But you know what?

I coached during all the gang wars
back there in the 80s and 90s,

you know,

it was it was rough and,
and and it was frustrating

sometimes it was sad
and but mostly it was rewarding.

And I would say if I had to do it all over
again, I'd do it exactly the same way.

And I wouldn't change anything
as far as being and,

and, you know, coming from a single parent
family, I said, you know what?

I think I have something
to offer these kids

because I understand
what they're going through.

And, and, and, and helping
kids was the real juice for me.

Right. Getting a kid that,

living in the poorest neighborhood,
getting him a scholarship,

getting them off to college,

and seeing him get that college degree,
I knew that was changing his whole life.

And anybody that,

you know, that came after him
was going to have a different life.

He took his family tree and moved it
somewhere else.

Yeah.

Which is definitely
which is the that's the goal, right?

That's the goal.

Yeah. That's the thing, man.

So can you think you have so many years
of 39 years

teaching, 42 years coaching.

Do you have like a proud moment or reflection or a memory that you'd like to share,

one that stands out?

I think going to down to Temple

University and seeing, a parade,
the twins that I had,

Eli and Elijah and Elijah
Joseph walk across the stage

and I told them, look,
if you make the NFL,

I don't know if you're around somewhere,
I'll come watch you play.

But I would definitely come
to your graduation.

So Mike drove down, got a hotel room.

He was watching those,
watching those kids walk across the stage.

And I've been lucky to do it
a bunch of times.

15, 20 times.

You know, having kids,

whether with Division three
or Division one, watching them graduate.

And now one's the top real estate
broker in Hartford.

I have another one.

Andre Lawrence,
who went to Boston College, is,

has a big analytical job in Boston.

And and that was a young man who literally
from the time he got to Hartford High

until he graduated, moved seven times
because he lived with his sister.

And they get a place

and then they wouldn't pay the rent
and they get evicted

because every time I give him a ride
home would be a different place.

I said, hey, what's going on?

And he explained it to me,

and he turned down a job
at one of the casinos

for $130,000.

And I said, Drake, because I, you know, I
they caught me and I gave him a reference

and he goes, I didn't see any movement
upward in that place.

I said, you just turned out not.

So, you know, from a kid that couldn't
even stay in the house for six months

to where he is
now. And you know what he did?

He bought a sister house

man in East Hartford.

That's amazing. Yep. That's amazing.

He said she's not going to have to worry
about that anymore.

That gets me choked up to give back.

Yeah, right.

It's the, the,
boomerang of giving you gave to him.

He's given to the sister,
and it's going around. So.

Man, congratulations. Yeah. I said to you,
I said it.

I sent him a text message
because we're doing at pal.

We're doing our annual fundraiser,
which is called Pal member.

Send him a text message.

Hey, you know, donate.

Within two seconds,
there was a Venmo to pal for 100 bucks.

That kid. No time. Yeah, because he knows.

Yeah. And I always tell him,
you got to give back.

You know, you got to give back
because people helped you.

You you you need to help somebody. Yeah.

So I don't know if there's a connection,
but I, Elijah and Elisha, are they twins?

Oh, yeah.

Because I, I taught and Elisha,
who had a twin,

Elijah in Waterbury, Connecticut,
did they moved to Hartford.

They were Hartford
the whole time. Hartford the whole time.

So where'd that twins, Elijah and Elisha.

Yeah, which is a funny story.

Well, I was going to look up
the last name, but yours are Joseph Joe.

I don't think mine were Joseph, but.

And even I just have to call the
I had to call the NCAA

because they had him confused.

They said, well, here's
I said, no, no, no, that's the wrong one.

Yeah. Look at this one. Yeah.

They had the record.

You were so confusing
because it's only in jazz.

And so yeah.

Yeah. The crazy
very cool. It's a crazy connection.

That's a wow.

Well let me introduce.

My name's Eric Feeney,
founder and president, Friends of Feeney.

I use this podcast.

Feeney talks with friends,

and I talk to wonderful people
that do great things in the community.

And my friend, you've only been doing

great things in the community
for the past 40 plus years.

Are you up to 50 plus now?

Why do you want to count the swim team?

I started at Copart when I was 16. Wow.

When we're at about 50 to 2 years.

Yeah, coach. Swim, golf.

Football, softball.

What didn't you coach?

Why didn't
I coach soccer and basketball on?

Probably.
I think the only two I didn't coach.

I coached indoor track for a while.

Yeah, basketball. And in soccer, I soccer.

I didn't understand
basketball, I guess I did. Yeah,

geez.

Coach Ali's basketball team
I did coach out.

Oh that's true, I did Coach
Ali's rec team in West Hartford.

That is correct.

And this is awesome.

My first father daughter podcast duo.

I've had father son, but I've never had.

So shout out to Ali, I asked twice,
I asked a couple podcasts, hey,

do you have any recommendations on
who should I have?

She's like,
you have to have my dad, Harry.

There you go. That was episode 130.

She recommended.

And then again just now
we just did a Hot Wings podcast at 153.

Ali said it again.

So here we are two episodes later.

Ali did it.

So you're here.

I'm so excited to talk with you.

You're like, I'm on 22 years of teaching,
so I look up to you.

Do you have any advice for me or
do you have any advice for new teachers?

Here's what I'll say,

about teaching.

And I think if you I know there's
a large burnout rate for teachers now,

and it's probably a lot tougher from when,
when I first started back in 1983.

But here's what I'll say.

You have to be able to,
when you walk out the door,

compartmentalize your teaching
and your life.

When you walk out that door

at the end of the school day,
you have to leave everything there

and then leave it at the door walking out
and pick it up when you come back in.

Because if you don't do that,
you can never, ever survive.

Yeah, because, you know, there's
so much going on during the day.

And I would tell that to my football
players,

they would come down
and they would be mad.

They had a fight with their girlfriend
or they want they want the past

and they'd be mad.

And I'd say, stop here at the gate,

leave that problem here and come out
the football practice and enjoy it.

Now, if you want to talk to me
after about it,

and we'll see what we can do for you,
but don't bring it.

Don't
bring your personal problems to the field.

And so I felt like going home to the
the three daughters

in my wife that I had to leave whatever

frustration or something
that wasn't working out at the door.

And then I'll pick it up
the next day and work with it.

And I think that's how I was able to fit
to make it through 38 years of teaching.

Yeah. Awesome. What about the,

the tag

where gym teachers are you a gym teacher
or a PE teacher?

I'm a physical education teacher.

I know, but I don't teach gym.

I teach physical education.

Well, you know what I'm saying
about physical education teachers.

They said,
you know, it's not about showing them up.

It's not about throwing the balls out.
The great ones.

Get them back. Oh, there you go.

There you go.

Now, I usually wait to the end for this,
but did you have a favorite teacher

that stood out in your life
that, helped make you who you are?

Oh, probably coach,

a man named James Brophy,
who was my swimming coach in high school.

I pool is named after him
at at Buckley High School.

Okay.

He he is in the Connecticut High School

Coaches Association
Hall of Fame, for swimming.

Coach. He was a coach for 40 years.

He was a guy that I learned about
how to be a good coach,

how to be a smart coach,
how to be an analytical coach.

And, you know, I mean, he was hard,
but he never screamed,

which I think was so important,
because if he did yell, we're scared.

But Jesus out of us
because he never did yell.

But when he did, Holy moly,
that really got our attention.

But he was just so.

And and he made you love to be there.

Now, you know, I don't know
if you've ever swam competitively,

but going to swim practice is not fun.

It's not like being in basketball
practice.

I made a basket. It's just lab.

Yeah, yeah, app.

And you have to do it
fast and and it's hard.

Yeah.

And he made he he figured out
and I call it the Brophy approach

how to make that swim team
such a close family

and how we just love being with each other
and how we love being with him.

And and and he was a big the probably

the biggest influence on me
in when in my life.

That's awesome. Great sharing that.

Was he still around now? He passed away.

He said he wanted to.

I saw him at a state.
This is a weird story.

I saw him at a state meet on Sunday.

I had a Saturday, we had a diver in it and
he had a couple of swimmers and a diver,

and we were sitting out there
talking and laugh,

and he goes,
I got to decide what I want to do.

I wanted to make it to 40 years
and this is my finish.

Just finished my 40 season

on Monday.

He died of a heart attack two days later.

Like after retiring or after two days
after I talked to G. Man.

Yeah, at 62 years old.

That was pretty crushing,
to be honest with you.

But, you know, his memory lives on, and

and all his former swimmers
just absolutely love that guy.

Well, thank you for sharing that.

That's great.

He'll he'll live on through,
you know, sharing his story. And,

and for the work that you did.

So he was a yeller.

What kind of coaching style did you have?

In the beginning I was a yellow
because I didn't know any better. Yep.

But as I went along in my coaching career,

I started to realize, you know,
if a kid does something wrong

twice on the field,
that he's not doing it on purpose.

Maybe I didn't teach him correctly.

Maybe I taught him the wrong way.

It was like when I coach diving,
I had like 3 or 4 All-State divers.

Some guys I could just tell with know,
you have to do this and they could do it.

Some guys I had to actually
manipulate their bodies and,

you know, work with them
and show them how to do it.

Then I realized everybody has a different
way to learning, and you have to figure

and I would tell my assistant coaches,
you have to figure out how they learn.

Some guys you just tell and they do it.

Some guys you literally have to walk them

through the steps
and that's how they get it.

And I think that approach has helped me
along the way.

You know,
and and here's the biggest thing.

You know, they don't care what you know
until they know that you care.

And if you don't care about those kids,
you will get nothing.

Yeah.
And the whole thing right away. You give a

a lot about

them and that you're in
the can not their best interest.

You know, one day I was in a class
and I had a kid that was really

sort of a pain in the backside,
always doing what he was supposed to do.

So I'm in my office.

I heard him walk by
and I hear him arguing about how

Jay-Z is his favorite rapper
and how he's the best rapper ever.

So I just kind of heard that conversation
as you walk by,

I think 3 or 4 months later,

I, I'm looking through the internet
and I see that Jay-Z dropped

another joint,
whatever you want to call it, right?

Yes, yes.

And, and, so

when I had him in gym class
later on in the day, I said, oh, you boy.

Jay-Z dropped the new job.

He looked at me,
I go, yeah, I know that's a famous rapper.

And he was like, how do you know that?

I said, don't worry about how I know that.

But right then
and there, I made a connection with,

that I knew about what he liked.

And after that, he was much better,
because if he'd be doing something, I'd

said, hey, yeah, yeah, it'd be like,
I got you.

I got you got to build that rapport
and that positive relationship.

If you don't all starts there. Yeah.

If you don't do that,
you're spinning your wheels.

There's a Ted talk by Rita.

I forgot her last name.

But kids don't learn from people
they don't like 100%.

And those kids will make
that determination on you

within a week of school.

And they know you can't.

You know what I mean? You can't fake it.

They know.

You know,
you have to be authentic with them.

And and and respect them.

I you know, if I had a kid in class
that was acting up,

I call him over and talk to him
first, you know, like, look.

And then if he did it again, I'm like,
okay, I'm respecting you here.

So yeah.

You know and that.

Yeah, that you
that approach usually works for me anyway.

You know and I like I like the kids.

That's a big part of it.

Yeah. No it's great man. And now

anything we missed about coaching.

So I know that you.

Oh confirm or deny

we're already into this part of the game.

Were you a professional dancer?

I was

I was a professional disco dancer.

Are you kidding?

No. It. Well, it wasn't.

So that's where Ali got all her moves
last night.

Yeah, I definitely got that gene for me.

And I definitely got it from my dad
because my dad was a really good dancer.

And back in the 70s,
and I turned 18 in 1975.

Like, the different clubs

would have contests, you know,
and they pay between

100 marks or $200 if you won the contest.

Oh, so I had a friend of mine,
a young lady

who was an excellent dancer and,
you know, had took dance the whole time.

And, and I found out,
like when I started going to clubs, like.

Oh, shoot, I have rhythm here.

This is a this is nice. Right.

And, so
then I kind of got hooked up with her,

and then we'd go down to her house
and we practice, and we went to a contest.

We won. And I'm like, oh, this is good.

We split 50 bucks, right? In 1976.

That was pretty good money.

Then we went to

another, we went to 100 bucks
and then we went to another one.

We won 200 bucks.

I'm like,
so we did that about 7 or 8 times.

Then, hey, we won most of the time,
which was cool.

I mean, we did a lot of work at it,
but yes, I was getting paid.

I didn't claim it on taxes.

So that's amazing.

Like the stories that you have.

So I'm so just honored
you should write a book.

Yeah, I'm I'm kind of working on it. Okay.

I was going to say,
hey, you have a wonderful story.

Grew up in Hartford,

went to Hartford schools and then went
back to teach and coach in Hartford.

I did that for a while, too.
I taught at Kingsbury.

I went to Kingsbury School in Waterbury.

I taught at Kingsbury School
out in Waterbury.

So you saw did you have teachers
that had you as a kid

and then you turned into college?

Oh yeah. Yeah, bunch of them. Yeah.

And then he said,
they look at you and go, you're a teacher.

Because that's what they said to me.

Yeah, well, I don't even know if that,
but I think they saw my progress

as a coach and

and coming up into the building,
Abby Buckley and they, you know, they,

teachers that I had literally six years
before that I think they were happy

to see one of their kids, you know,
moving towards that profession back then.

Yeah.

You know, and I had a lot of really
a lot of support.

Felix Caskey, who was a state rep,

captain at Trinity football team, like,

you know, he was a big proponent of mine,
Bob Colangelo, who just passed yesterday,

matter of fact, that I got a guy
who used to work for on Franklin Avenue

package store, was a science teacher
at Berkeley,

bought a package store on Franklin Avenue,
and I worked there for ten years.

Great mentor.

Always helped me out, helped me
get my driver's license that I did.

There's a lot of people that helped
Terry Belushi along the way.

A whole lot of people.

I'm not here without those guys.

Yeah, yeah, it takes a village.

Yeah, we believe in that.

Yes. And I picked the right friends.

I have incredible
friends from seventh and eighth grade.

We still eight and nine of us
still do a bunch of stuff together.

Go on vacation.

Hey, now, talk to each other all the time.

Is it like when friends turn to family?

Sort of. Yes.

Those are my brothers.

Yeah, there's no question.

I trust those guys with my life.

And, you know,
I could have gone either way as a kid,

but those guys were really come
from good families,

and they took me right in and,
and and they were going to college.

I go, okay, I'm going,
you're going, I'm going.

And I think that basically was it.

Yeah, yeah.

I really think some friends
in my path too.

So keep you need friends
that care about you

and want you going in the positive
direction. Right.

They're taking you down
to their misery and negativity.

They're not your friends. Right.

So if you had

if you hang around with five knuckleheads,
you're going to be the six knucklehead.

If you hang around with five good guys,
you'll be the six good guy.

That's a fact. I like it, I like it.

Anything else you want to share
about teaching and coaching?

Because then we'll move on to pal.

Oh, I think we should move on to pal.
Right.

Let me see your resume.

I love this resume.

Did we say,

you put out 23 All-State players?

I did 11 D1 scholarships.

Yes, 57 players played in college
football.

That's amazing.

And then you coached the Senior football
All-Star game in 2012.

And 2016?

Twice. Where's that?

I'm the only two in. Oh, coach.

Connecticut.

We'd get

all the players would come for a tryout
and then we would play Rhode Island.

Oh no way. That's cool. Yeah,
we did that for many, many years.

I was assistant coach for a bunch of
years, and I was the head coach twice.

Yeah. So that was.
And you know, the great, the real.

You have the all time winningest record.

Yeah. That's it.

The greatest thing about
that was the coaches

from Connecticut that I was able to meet.

You know, when I first got on, I was just
an assistant for a bunch of years.

But I met some of the most incredible
Jay Martinez from.

Oh yeah. Kerry. Yeah.

Way. And coach, he went to Crosby.
He went to Crosby I know him.

Very good friend John Crosby,
great player out of Kennedy High School.

Not a coach at Sheehan High School
okay. Yeah.

So I've heard that name
Sean Maranon from Xavier.

Yeah.

I mean, I met so many incredible people
doing that

all star game and being on the Connecticut
High School Coaches Football Committee.

Okay? It was incredible.

I was the chair of that for a
few years, and I mention that

I'm on the all star team was the kicker.

Her sister was on the kicker
on the all star game.

And my, my, my middle daughter Erin.

Which one is your favorite?

Which one's your favorite daughter?
Before,

I take the fifth,

my my middle daughter,
Aaron, played soccer for three years at.

And she came here because
I don't want to play soccer anymore.

I don't

it's because I want to be on a football
team.

I'm like, you're five four, 125.

I don't think that's going to work,
she said.

I want to be the kicker.

I said, okay,
and let me get some balls from Hartford.

I this was in March or April.
We go down every weekend.

We go down the hall,

got the kick and he set it
up, worked on how she should do it and

she had a strong leg, so she was banging
those extra points pretty easy.

I said, well,
you got to go see Coach Robinson now

and tell him you want to play football
because you got to do lifting.

You just can't show up in August.
That's not going to work.

So she went and talked to him
and he said, yeah, sure.

Here's the here's when we way train.

And she went there, you know,
she squat in the bar.

The boys are like, what's up with this?

She got the summer bond about three kids
trying out for the kicker position.

She won it.

And her senior year

she had 35 attempts, 31 made.

Wow. That's amazing.

I just

I was more nervous watching her kick
than any football game I've ever been to.

And I said, don't you get nervous?
She's like, practice every day.

That why would I be nervous?

Yeah, I know what I'm doing.

And, so then that her senior year,
I was there

my second time as, head coach of the
I said, I told the guy, run it.

I said, don't put my daughter
on. She's going to kick.

He said, that's a great idea.

Oh my God.
And then she kicked two extra points.

She kicked against me her senior year
and made three extra points.

Ha. Versus Hartford I.

And the first time
one of the kids hit her.

No, the first time
she made the extra point, all the Hartford

High players were going up and slapping
her. Hi.

I'm like, no, no, no.

And then one guy hit her in the shoulder
after she kicked. Then he fell.

He came. Coach,
I didn't mean I swear to God.

Because I told them if you hit
my daughter, I'm gonna kill you.

Yeah.

So I love that. That was a great story.

Yeah, that's very cool. That was it.

I got to coach my daughter in football,
so that's cool.

And she kicked for Hall,
and she kicked for Hall. So cool. Yeah.

So cool

man. Yeah.

You coached

swimming, softball, tennis, golf.

Which one are you better at as a player?

You think? What's your swim? Swimming.

I was a captain or something.

Yeah, I was a qualified for three events.

For events.

Now I currently swim
twice a week at the JCC.

Now I can get a lap is down and back.

Obviously, I'm like at a a minute. Ten.

That's pretty slow, right?

For I've been back here.

What was your best time
up and back for what stroke I don't know.

What about say, freeze twist?

Astrobiology?

Not a lot.

27 seconds,

27 slow
though it were guys that can go 2324

I think two straight records,
their state record is 21.

But that's a big six foot four dude.

I saw him do it. Yeah.

And I was more it's mostly a breaststroke
or I am all four strokes backstroke.

Okay.

So I did all the other strokes,
but you know,

but you going to pull every day
and your workout was 250 laps.

Yeah.

You get in pretty good shape doing that.

I see the kids practice.

I, they clear the pool at like
530 or 6 for the kids to come in.

And like you said,
all they do is laps for an hour straight.

Yes. Of course you're going to get better.

Yeah. Every day for an hour.

Yes. And you're so hungry after.

Oh my God. Yeah.

But the good thing about swimming like
that is you can eat whatever you want.

Yeah, because you're burning
20,000 calories at a practice.

So yeah, you used to have to eat
or you lose weight.

I would lose weight
because I wasn't eating it out. Yeah.

Now the freestyle stroke or the, crawl.

Now, should I reach out and down,
or do you reach out and down your chest?

Do you go up? Yeah.

You are to reach here,

and then you want your hand
to come down the middle of your sternum,

but you want to as soon as your arm goes
in, you want to push it down

and then come forward.

Yeah. Yeah.

But you want to keep that elbow high.

You don't want to drop your elbow
because then you

push in water with your elbow
and then you're not going anywhere here.

Elbow up, elbow up
and then down the chest like that.

Not too close
but you know. But that far away. Yeah.

And then push down the middle
and then finish at the end.

You got a flat.

But you, you have to

you have to feel that finish
because most people don't,

which is probably what you do is you
get here and then you pull it back out.

You got to get that finish in at the end.

Yeah, I used to go down the chest,
but someone said,

no, it's only off to the side.
No they're wrong.

You bring your hand down
the middle of your stern up.

Then you find it.
Then you finish out here.

And that's the last part of that.

Nice try to go. Yeah.

That try will be popping. Yeah. All right.

Maybe you got to coach me someday.

I'll send you a video,
come down and take that critique

and take a look at that stroke.
Get it down.

I got to get under a minute.

Yeah, I swim a mile.

36 laps. Yeah, yeah, that's that's good.

That's real great.

It takes me like, 44 minutes. Yeah.

It used to take me an hour.

So I'm getting time, getting better.

It's great exercise
because I hurt my knee.

I used to love basketball,
but I hurt my knee. Yeah.

So I'm swimming now. Swimming full body.

And it's easy on the knees at this.

The one thing I miss
I can't play basketball anymore.

I used to play
oh my God, every day I wasn't that good.

But I love playing.

I'm just going to guess and go on a limb.

All your connections
with teaching and growing up in Hartford

have really helped you in your position
as executive director for Pell?

Well, yeah,
I was on the board of directors of power

when they first power has been around
since 1957, in Hartford.

And mainly back then it was in boxing.

Pal and boxing are really associated.
Yeah.

Then it was boxing in basketball. Yep.

So and then it kind of went defunct there
in the late 90s and early 2000.

They didn't have any money
and everything like that.

So when,

Chief Revelo was

the new chief,
now he's though now he's back again.

But when he, he wanted to restart pal.

So he talked to Jay Jorgensen,

who, from Hartford and said, hey,
can you get a boy together?

We want you to raise some money, and.

And we want to restart, pal again.

So what they wanted to do was follow
the Boston model, which is have a separate

503 C raise the money
and then the police running the programs.

So they asked me
they needed an education person.

They asked me to be on a board.

So we were on a board.

I was on the board.

And then one day,

when I retired, from teaching in 2022,
Dave approached me.

He said, Harry, we'd like you to,

apply or be the executive director.

And my first thing was,

well, you're running some sports programs,
but I could help you there.

And I said, but we're raising money here.

We get a raise
a few hundred thousand a year to run, pal.

No, man, I, you know,
I don't know how to do that.

And his philosophy was good
because we're a community based 503 C,

so we're available for money
at the state, federal, city level.

Right, because we're a community based.

He said.

Harry, 42 years in Hartford,
he said mostly

every politician is either
your former student or

or your classmate.

I said, well, that's true.

And he said, well, if you know them
and you can get in front of them

and you can probably you might be able
to get some money from them.

And I said, all right.

And I remember my first day on the job,
I sat down in front of

my computer is
and typed in how to get a grant.

And my first grant.

I filled out was from Liberty Bank.

They gave me $5,000.

I thought I had it done right. You're in.

Yeah. So.

But, you know, Senator John, fanfare,

from Hartford, Senate,

Representative Julio Concepcion,
Jimmy Sanchez,

Dave, Bob and ridiculously helpful.

Plus, we've had some great partners
that help us the archdiocese

help size large parking helped us.

The insurance companies

help us, you know,
because you need those partners, right.

To to to try to raise, you know, a half
$1 million just from friends.

And that's awesome. Yeah.

Corporate
sponsorship. Corporate sponsorship.

Yeah.

So, so between that the state,

and our, and all these partners
that we have in the city,

we were able to maintain free

programing at pal, so
nobody gets charged for anything at all.

And the most important thing is cops,
kids, community.

Right.

And, you know,
we went out through that crazy thing

with defund the police,
that ridiculousness and what

and the Hartford police reputation
with its citizens is really good.

It's very good.

And and they have a huge community
policing department

that goes out to schools
and things like that.

But having,
you know, officers come in and work

with kids playing basketball
or in our culinary program,

those kids don't see the officers
as somebody to be afraid of.

They see, oh, yeah, he's
kind of a regular person.

It kind of nice to, too.

So when they do see him on the street,
they go, hey what's up?

So building that bond between

and you know, they have
we have a lot of, connection with parents.

So a parent has to bring their child
in to sign them up.

You can't do it online.

And then you have to meet
with the officer,

as Vin Marsala is the officer
that runs all the programing and.

And you have to meet with him.

So we already we

we have a good relationship
with the parent

and the kid in case you have issues,
you're always going to have some issues.

So so we build that bond of trust and

where
Pal is located, which is the old Cork

Middle School, is what they call
the first opportunity zone in the state.

That 13 block area
that is Clay Hill Arsenal

considered the poorest, that is city,
one of the poorest in the state.

So now we're in this zone that where kids

a lot of them can
they can even go outside.

Good. Their backyard is a parking lot.

The cars are flying up and down
Homestead Avenue.

You can't go on there.

So pal is a place where they can come

and have a gym and have an, We have,
we have well, we have all the sports

the boxing, martial arts, basketball,
volleyball, baseball, softball.

But when I, when I started there in 2022,
I said, you know what?

Some kids don't really play sports,
especially post-Covid, right?

Am I going on too much notice?

It's great
because I know where you're going.

You're going to talk about the arts
and the cooking.

We're going to well, here we go.

So the so great.

So we started in our class
because we knew kids would love that.

We started out two years ago.

We had an intern from Wesleyan come in,

and she did like a gardening program
in a culinary program.

And the kids just loved
that culinary program.

Then we were lucky enough
to get, a pastry chef that needed a job

and she really wanted to work at pal,
and she's unbelievable.

She's so good.

So we started a whole culinary program
that has over 45 kids.

We have 7 to 9 year olds.

We have all the kids in,

and we have an advanced group that kids
that are really into cooking, right.

So that's a place for kids
that maybe don't like a lot of sports.

And we this summer
we finished the auditorium

because it had a big auditorium,
which was a train wreck.

We, we, we raised enough money in order

to put new seats in the auditorium,
a new lighting system,

a new sound system, a big screen
that we can bring down and show movies.

And I said, one of my

feathering goals is when I took this job
in 2022 Ways

to Get a Theater program, because I think
theater for these kids would be great.

So this year, we were able to hire

Hartford Stage
to come run our theater program. Wow.

Yeah. So now you can collaborate.

You have hip hop Shakespeare
that's getting practice.

And now we need to empower the end of
February, we're going to actually have,

the kids do performing.

We just received a grant from Senator

Fonfara
to start a musical instrument program.

So we're we just
getting the equipment in now.

So we're going to be teaching
guitar, bass and drums.

So we're super excited about that.

And then a dance.

So now we have all the arts got
we have art class, data

class, music class, dance class,
which is a huge thing for us.

And we have a robotics program.

You got to have something for the movers,
the sports and the thinkers with the arts

and the cooking in the theater,
100% and, and, and and you know, we

we wanted to get kids from more places
around the city.

But transportation is always a big issue.

It's a it's a crazy expensive B
if you have to drop a kid off

at the school and the parents night there,
and now you have somebody

sitting there waiting for the parent,
you can't drop individual houses.

So we talked to the Hartford Board
of Education and said, you know what,

we can't get them here,
but can we go there?

So they said, yeah,
we have afterschool programs.

So now we're in two schools in the south
end of Hartford, Naylor School

and MD Fox, which is the old Buckley
High School on Maple Avenue.

So now we have what we call a satellite
Pal program there.

So that being said,
we're about 200 kids a day

now that Pal is servicing
and afterschool programs.

Nice, which is from probably about 40
or 50 when I start.

Yeah, yeah. You know,
and being able to offer more programs.

But in saying that we're able
to offer all these great programs

now, we have to be able to sustain it.

That's what are you podcast
listeners come in.

Yep. Right. So this is our

obviously November is a giving month

and we run something we call pal Vember,
which I came up with, by the way.

Nice.

And, you know, it's,
if you go to our website,

you know, Hartford pal.org and donate

and there's 3 or 4, there's you can Venmo,
you can click it on

and through your credit card,
or there's our address there.

If you want to send a check.

And all those dollars are important,
especially dollars

from, from the community
because then we can take those dollars

and put them in general operating funds
so we can use it for where we need it.

Some funds that come
in, you have to use for specific things.

And but a person could do that.

So if you have somebody
that wants to sponsor the theater program,

say they want to pay for a year
of the Hartford stage,

which is about $9,000,
but $9,000 get you the people teaching it.

Plus they bring in all the background
props and everything,

which is crazy expensive
if you had to build it.

Right? Yeah.

So so if you wanted to sponsor that,
you could,

you could say, okay, I'm
going to give you this money,

but I want it to go
towards the theater program.

So we align out of that in the budget,
because we have a person that gives money

to the boxing program,
and that is a line item

on the her money that she donates
just goes to the boxing program.

We have another person that donates
to the art program, and all their money

just goes to art supplies and the teachers
and all of that stuff, so and

and you keep one an expanding.

But you want to expand smart.

So you could you want to be able
to sustain all these programs.

You don't want to say, hey, sorry,

we can't do theater this year
because now we don't have enough money.

And as you know.

What's going on?

The trickle from is down to a trickle

at the federal level, which in fact,
eventually will affect the state level.

So now you have the Boys and Girls Club,
the Y pal

and all the all fighting soda
for the same dollars.

Right.

And, and, so and we try to collaborate
on some things that we can but,

you know, it's important that we,

we able to sustain, especially the work
that we do is so important.

And we have a great mentoring program.

And just having the officers and the kids,

you know, know each other is
is what pal is really all about.

Yeah. Yeah.

No, I worked at the Boys and Girls Club
in Waterbury for ten years.

I was the physical director.
Now I work for two. For one.

I was in Powell this summer.

Beautiful building. Yep.

I'll show the selfie from me and Harry
right here.

Boom.

Harry and Harry and Feeney.

Apple. It that two for one.

We used the the gym.

And, where was the auditorium?

Is that the new area where we ate lunch,
or is that the auditorium?

There's the gym that you were, and
then there's the gym on the opposite side.

Did you know that there's two games?

One has AC and one doesn't?

Yes. Yeah.

The auditoriums.

And when the big thing in the middle.

Yeah. Yeah. The big thing in the middle.

And it's closed doors were closed.

But yeah, yeah we did
keep it locked out, locked up.

But we bought a massive screen
and a, I can't even remember.

What is it, like a stage and seating?

Oh, yeah.

We saw was a
it was a junior high school auditorium.

Okay. So, you know, the
the bones are all there.

The seats were really small and
and ripped up, and,

the lighting system was shot
because that building was built in 1969.

So we replaced the seats. The lights.

Oh, nice.

And the sound system and and now
we have this incredible auditorium.

And you know what's cool about it?

We were able to rent it out

to a dance studio
that's going to do their recital there.

So which is great now.

So we're going to make a little money

and offer it a little,
show it off and and show it off.

Yeah.

And it's a little cheaper than if you went
some other different places.

So that that's, that's a huge thing
that we're able to make,

you know, we're able to get some funds
in order to,

keep sustainable pal,
without getting donations.

Right. And,
and we'll have community meetings.

Yeah.

They'll do, that, when the cadets
graduate, they'll do it in the auditorium.

Nice.

We have movie night in there
for the kids and all kinds of stuff.

Do you do?

There is Pell cadets for that, too.

Oh, yeah. Middle school.

That was awesome.

I know Waterbury, Neil O'Leary, the mayor

started, pal,
I think, while I was still there, but,

they had the cadets
and they helped like parking or something.

Yeah, pal. We have explorers.

That's what it is.

Yeah, we have a big explorer program.

And then the next step up
is the cadet program.

Gotcha.

So, yeah,
we that's all under the either what?

The explorers are under the umbrella
of cadets or police department stuff.

Yeah. No,
it was beautiful. Like the gym floor.

Nice. Yeah.

I used not like a slippery old floor.

Nice and freshly waxed. Has a nice bounce.

Yeah, we had to sand that
all down to the ground.

They just.

The last few years of school,
they just kept putting this stuff over it.

You could literally peel it up in sheets.

That's how much it was on there.

So we had to sand the floor down.

And that's the original fall from 1969.

Right.

You could never afford
to put that wood floor in there now.

Yeah. Easy money.

So we had to sand it down to the ground
and then and then

and then we picked the paint job
that we wanted, which is fantastic.

Yeah.

And then one basketball court
has, chin up bars because we did a,

I did a hang a dead hang contest. Yes.

And one of the little kids hung for like,
four minutes.

I was so impressed. Yeah,
I started at 20s.

That's the recruit gym.

That. Yeah, gym.

There's,
like a gym. There's, like, pictures of.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah, that's that's a really crew gym,
but which is good if they're not there.

You know,
we obviously pal obviously uses it.

But during the day it's mostly

for the recruiting exercises
and yeah, nice parking, beautiful parking.

You walk right up to the

the facility.

Then if you kept going nice Astro field.

Astro turf field. Right. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. Always
there was a Cal Ripken built.

Yeah, I was going to say that.

And there's, like a monument,
a little plaque.

Yes, a bronze plaque.

But it's not Cal Ripken,
the Iron Man. It's his dad.

Is it his dad? Right. It is that.

Yeah. Cal Ripken SR, right?

Yeah.

And Cal
Ripken is an incredible organization.

You know, they they
they give us some money

for reimbursement for equipment
every year.

They come up and run, they come up and run

a few days, play days for the kids
with their whole Ripken staff coming up.

That that's an incredible organization.
Nice. Great.

Well, so they partner and give funds.

Oh, yeah. And.

Oh, yeah.

And and put on, like practices and. Yeah.

Oh yeah yeah yeah.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah. They, they, they,
they're an incredible.

They've been with us now with Harvard pal
for at least 6 or 7 years,

which is great.

Partners like that is what you need.

Yeah.

Beautiful I think it's soccer field.

Baseball field.

Football field. It's a nice turf.

Nice. Yeah.

I mean that's that's owned
by the city of Hartford.

That's not owned by pal.

Oh, gosh. So
so we used it during the summer. Yeah.

Because there's nobody on it.
But but like like don't you use.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah we use it.

But like during the fall the football team
from Capital Prep may practice on it

or the soccer team, but they'll practice
at one end and we'll take the other end.

There's a little
yeah a little space for us.

But during the summer
there's nobody on it.

So we get free reign, which is great.

Yeah.

Up from there's the playscape and then you
have two outdoor basketball courts. Yep.

So yeah, good stuff going on there.

It's a great facility.
You know what I mean.

And I feel lucky that we're able to finish
the two gyms, finished the auditorium

and and and now we have way more space
for way more kids.

You know, once you once
you get that auditorium down.

Now we're running program in there
four days a week, five days a week,

which is which is awesome.

That's awesome.

Hey, Matt. Record this one.

I'm I'm going to we're going to talk about
pal Vember real quick.

This is my guy Matt. You. Matt. Matt.

Oh, yeah. Harry met Matt yesterday.

Yeah. So, Yeah.

So it's November,
but you called pale Vember. Correct.

Tell us about Pale
Vember again, pal. Vember.

And how can people help?

Okay, pal.

Vember is our month of giving at Pal.

It's our big fundraising month.

We do run a golf tournament in June.

Which if you go to pal, and in April,
you'll see it's at Keeney Park.

A great time there that we'll we'll take
as many golfers as we can humanly get.

But pal Vember is our,
our raising fund month

for for individuals
in, in that not so much businesses, but,

you know, from from people people
in West Hartford and Avon and Hartford.

And I just sent out 112

personal text messages
to my friends and associates

and partners and said, hey,
this is what we're doing.

And, you know,
we've we're doing pretty well.

Well, we always need a big push.

Now, how you can get to that
if you just go to, Hartford,

pal, that org,
it'll bring you to our website.

And then on that there,

there's a donate button,
and it gives you three different options.

To donate, you can donate through Venmo.

You can donate to,

you just

tap the icon and it brings you to the
where you can put your credit card in.

And there's also our address there

where you can send a check
if that's the way you want to do it.

And that will come.

The check will have a P.O. box.

So don't say or what it's a P.O.

box because the way the building,

the building that we're in was when
building used to be called middle school.

So the front of the school is the
that the school that's there

now global, where we are
is the old back of the school.

So 50 William Street is it.

There's nothing there. Yeah.

So we don't even really have a mailbox
that all because of where we are.

So we get on our maybe we'll get the check
if it's sent to the P.O.

box. You.

We will get the check
if you send it to the P.O.

box, or even if you send it
to the a police department on High Street.

You know, officer, my fella has a box
there, and you created the term pal.

Vember. Yeah, I don't know how.

And I'll stop with that. Yeah.

Well done, well done.

And I like personal connections

that text, like, if you want something
done, don't send a group email.

Don't put a Facebook post out.

You need to go one on one.
So you're all a route.

That's about the executive director
making the relationships, right.

Keeping positive rapport.

So that's good.

And I think
that's the way to do it. Right.

Because if I send out an email with 50
names on it and you're going, okay,

okay, whatever.

But if I say, you know, freebie,
you help me out here,

you're going to say, okay,
I'll send this guy some money. Exactly.

Right. And, and and you know, I, but,

you know, the whole board of directors

is involved, and, you know, they,
they do the text messaging, too.

So, you know, we're always hopeful
that we're going to be able to raise.

And thanks for having me
because I think this is important

that so that a lot more people
can hear the message here

and that the super important work
we do at Pal

because we live, I am telling you,
our, our, our place is located in a place

where kids sometimes can't go outside
so they don't come to power.

They leave school and they go home
and they're in the house.

Yeah, year round

they can't really go outside
unless their parent brings them somewhere.

So pal is a place they can be themselves.

They can relax.

They don't have to worry.

They don't have to watch their backs.

They can come and play and choose
from an array pals programing it.

So you come in
and you actually have a schedule,

like you're going to homework club
and then you're going to martial arts

and then you're going to cooking.

So every kid has an individual schedule.

There's no kids
just running around Helter Skelter.

Yeah.
So just that structure for these kids.

And then to be able to come in here and
be themselves and not have to worry about.

So I had to watch my back is crucial.

And, you know,

they are

around so many positive role models
in that building.

And if you can get a kid around enough
positive role models,

it makes a huge difference.

But we can only do that if people are
generous and businesses are generous.

And we've been lucky so far.

But in order to maintain
this great programing

over the sustainability for years,
we need everybody's help.

Yeah.
So you heard of here. Be a good friend.

Donate to pal.

It's pal Vember and if you miss Pal member
there's a golf tournament in June.

I'm going to play in that. That's the.
Sounds like fun.

Are there any executives?

Us. You. You're the executive director?

Anyone on the board?
Do you want to shout out your board?

Yes. We have some great board members

who work so hard and have worked so hard.

Dave Jorgensen, who is our chair,
Michael Clifford, West Hartford resident.

Our own body builders, Cynthia Sales,
who work for the state of Connecticut.

And attorney, Matt Galinsky, who is our,

treasurer and who works countless
hard, vin marsala,

who runs all of our programing
and takes care of the building at Powell.

Sergeant Nikki Maudie Savage, who runs
our explorer program, does a great job,

and we and runs
all of our Special Olympics.

And she's super involved
with Special Olympics at the state level.

She does a plunge, which is crazy.

Yeah, yeah she does.

And and we have a great unified
our Special Olympics program

at POW that we run a couple of days
a week to sell those people

all the yeoman's work and and to make Pal

a great experience
for the kids that really deserve it.

So many great things going on there
and so many great people at POW.

So it was really excited.

Where do you think you're going to be
in five years with the Pal program?

Oh, well, in five years I'll be almost 75.

I don't know,

we just take it year by year now,
you know what I mean?

Like, I mean, I feel good,
I like the work that we're doing there.

And even when I leave the position
as executive director,

I'll probably be down there
coaching flag football.

You know what I mean?

I mean, I think from for me to be around

young people is something that I've done
for my entire life.

I can't see that stopping,
you know what I mean?

So I'll be over there
and running flag football once a coach,

always a coach, once a coach,
always a coach.

As I feel teaching.

No. So did I miss anything?

Anything you want to share?

No. You did a great job man.

And I'm so grateful
that you had me on here man.

And I just want people to know how
how important it plays to the Hartford

community, especially to the Clay
Arsenal area where we are.

It's it's a critical,
crucial area, in the city

and in, in, in your donations,

your help makes a huge difference in
just doing this.

Makes a huge difference.
Thank you man I appreciate it. Thanks.

Now now I'm going to ask a favor
for a future podcast guest.

Who who do you think I'm going to ask?

I think you got into coaching.

Are you coached?

He went on to coach.

I think he played at Wesley
and coached at Wesleyan.

And he went and coached for the Jets.

I think he could be talking
about my brother in law.

My brother in law is Eric Mangini.

He's working at Fox Sports one now.

Oh, okay. Yeah.
He does, first things first.

He does that show every other week,
and then he does a little once

in a while with Colin Coward.

But he loves it. He's had one.

Signed him to going to be a senior
in high school playing football.

He's got one at Williams playing football.

Is he still in Connecticut or. It's.

No no no no no no no
he's still in Ohio. Ohio.

Yeah man.
All right. So does he come around.

Can he be a guest at.

Well I'll talk to him about it.

Yeah I mean I don't
I can't speak for Eric.

And that's how you met your wife, right?

Did you coach him or do you? Well,
that's funny story.

So I coached Derek in high school,
and I had an apartment back there.

Single guy. And I
used to give him a ride home all the time.

You know, he live right near me.

And he used to say, coach,
can I get a ride?

I go, yeah, yeah, just go wait by my car.

But then I'd be in there and get in
a conversation with the head coach.

I'd be literally in there an hour.

I'd come out.
He'd still be waiting at the car.

And I said,
if you say one word, you're walking home.

And he lived about two and a half miles
from the school. He didn't live close.

He wouldn't say a word.

So when he went to his dad died,
when he was a sophomore.

So, you know, we kind of the head coach
and we kind of

watched out from a little bit.

He was a great kid.

He didn't top of his class at Berkeley,

but when he went to Wesleyan, I would go
up and, you know, watch his games.

And then back then when you always
I mean, you literally

lean up against the goalpost and watch
him, you know, they are standing out.

There's nobody it's still so old school.

It was like in the middle of the quad.
Yeah.

There's the buildings, around 100%.

I love it. So,
I think it was his senior year.

And like his last game, he goes, hey,
you know, we're having a little cookout

or, you know, some sandwiches
and stuff with my family.

Why don't you stay?

And I'm like, dude,
you know, I'm young guy, like, I'm 30.

I'm like, get out of here.

And and he's going to stay for 20 minutes.

I said, okay, so I stayed.

You came out, introduce me

to his mom and, and
and introduced me to his sister Brenda.

So we just kind of started
talking a little bit, and then, we,

we went to a play together, at the boys,
you know, and that was that.

So when I tell that story,
I say, well, yeah.

And then I met Brenda

and we got married and worked out,
and he says, it worked out for you.

Yeah. Now he's stuck.

Well, I'm not going to lie.

You know, I got that I got a great
opportunity to go to three Super Bowls.

You know when because he won three rings
with the Patriots.

Oh he was a
it was the offensive coordinator.

No no the defensive coordinator
or defensive defensive backs coach.

That's right.

And I think Romeo was the defensive
coordinator back then.

And Charlie was the offensive
coordinator Charlie Weis that's right.

Yeah. So he was defense.

Yeah. So he he's been a great friend. He's

him and his brother Kyle.

But we lived in Australia.

They're

they're,

they're like brothers to me.

And you know what?

He knows what I'll say about that
and about my wife.

All these awesome things that when I was
in coaching and teaching that I was able

to do would never have been possible
without my wife, Brenda Baluchi.

I mean, she

she just ran our whole household
with three girls and running

all over West Hartford, bringing them
the different things and making sure

birthday parties were, all,
all that stuff, you know,

I mean, that that I'm, I'm, I'm teaching
and I'm coaching and I'm scouting games

and all that stuff.
And she is just doing yeoman's work.

So I know what my resume reads, a vision
like a pretty good resume,

but half of that would be erased
if it wasn't for Brenda mangini.

Baluchi I will honestly say that.

And to
and she has been the rock in that family.

She is the she is the matriarch.

She she she runs the ship
and she does an incredible job.

And she's done incredible job
for 40 years, 30 years, 30.

Wait a minute.
How long have I been married?

33 years. Yeah. Cheers to Brenda.

You're a good friend at the sticker
for Brenda.

Thanks for being a good friend,
a good wife.

I met her yesterday at the dance off
at the dance contest.

Well, so exciting to talk with you.

Thanks for sharing all
your wonderful things that you're doing.

Please, listeners, go out and support Pal.

It's Pal member.

You can donate on Venmo
or the donate button or mail a check.

And also please subscribe
to Feeny Talks with Friends.

This podcast is on YouTube, Spotify,
and anywhere you can find a podcast.

Thank you to Maximum Beverage
for hosting us.

Thank you to Direct Line Media.

Who is the bigger knucklehead of the
Whitney Boys from from Maximum Beverage?

Brian. Brian by far.

All right.

Going on was oh this going on record
Brian is the biggest knucklehead.

And then who's next Connor or Matt?

Well,
well probably Mac as Connor was so little.

I mean, I remember picking Connor up
because he was like

the third of the three, right?

Oh, and then there was the, hit there.

Sister. Sister.

Morgan. Morgan. Yeah.

Who was a little sweetheart.

Yeah.

So but they were just, you know,
it was a great little area.

Managers ran around like crazy people
all the time. It was fun.

I used to go down there
because my head coach here,

Graham Martin, on the house,
so I was a single dude.

I would go down there
all the time, stay for a couple weeks.

He finally say, here, you got to go home.

And so I would say, okay, yeah,
I'm going home.

Graham and I would.

We walk into the front yard

and his wife and kids were like,
don't leave, don't leave.

And I said, I'll be back, I'll be back.

That was a great experience.

Never again. Such a great place.

Yeah, well thank you.

Maximum beverage and all our sponsors
Brooke Golf lore Group,

Parkville Management,
Sally and Bob's Luna Pizza,

fix Ivy float, 41.

People's Bank,
New England door and security.

And it was a wonderful chatting with you.

I'm so happy
that you talked with us again.

This is episode 155.

Check out that intro music
at the beginning.

It's new.

Let us know what you think.

On three will say be a good friend.

123. Be a good friend.