By Bob Montgomery
Dave Lepore – writer extraordinaire
I have two key remembrances of Dave to share, those which I think of from time-to-time. First, I recall telling Dave that I’d never be able to write as well as he did. I was so impressed with his style and smarts.
“Bob,” he replied, “you have to be you, and I am me. Everyone writes differently.” That made me feel good about myself because his words were cleverly thought out.
The second story I have goes back to when we were both working at The Bristol Press. He was starting a column that really caught my eye with the words he used, something to this effect:
“As I sit on my perch on the second floor of The Bristol Press (near a window looking down and viewing all the movement of people going into banks, stores and the Chamber of Commerce), I see the citizens of Bristol scurrying about downtown.”
“On my perch,” that was a Dave Lepore classic!
Two sports legends
There are two fellows from Bristol’s sports past that have unique credentials, Charles “Stretch” Murphy and Hardy Brownell. Starting with Mr. Murphy, he was the executive director of the Bristol Boys Club system during the 1940’s before going to Miami to do the same.
“Stretch” (1907-1992) was Purdue’s center in basketball between 1927-29 and was a teammate for part of this time with John Wooden. Wooden would go on to coach UCLA to a record national 11 collegiate titles. “Stretch” was a Helms All-American for three years.
Brownell, on the other hand, pitched for Julie Larese’s Tramps softball team. In 1946, he tossed a perfect game in Waterbury and allowed no ball to hit the ground in the process. This was highlighted in “Ripley’s Believe it or Not.”
Miscellaneous
Some years ago, Bristol and Forestville streets were sometimes named the same. With this, the post office sought to have Bristol roadways and those of Forestville with the same names differentiated from one another by using the words, “street” and “road” to identify them separately; Kozani Street, according to Bob Adamczyk of the Bristol Historical Society, is named after a town in Greece. I’m thinking this roadway and housing development built in 1958 was the birthplace of the builder, whoever that might have been.
Bristol’s late Bill Ghio was a UConn men’s basketball fan and he once told me that former coach Jim Calhoun was his best friend in spending time with him; I ran into Dan Sutula the other day, a member of the Class of ‘57 at the former Bristol High; I’m recalling Laura Lishness of Bristol being on the 1991 UConn women’s basketball team, the first to reach the Final Four from the school; I parked in the lower lot of Prospect Methodist and noted the number of black versus white vehicles passing by me. There were 23 black compared to 27 white.
Shout outs
To Marty Hurwitz, who is recovering from meniscus (knee) surgery and is on the mend while temporarily stepping away from pickleball. Joel Pelletier, a fellow with a smile on his face at all times. It’s been a while, Joel.
Contact Bob Montgomery at BobMontgomeryNews@BristolEdition.org, or by calling 860-583-5132
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