Today’s Project 100 entry comes from Joseph Abate.  He was born in Philadelphia, and he lived there for the first ten years of his life.  In 1956, he and his family moved to Elk Township.  His mother was part of the janitorial staff of an Elk Township school. His father was a tailor who worked in a factory in South Philadelphia.  He has two brothers, both of whom are younger.  In 1964, he graduated from Delsea Regional High School.   Four years later, in 1968, he graduated from Glassboro State College (GSC) with a degree in junior high education.  Upon graduating, he became a 9^th grade social studies in Dr. J. P. Cleary Junior High, now J.P. Cleary Middle School.  He soon returned to GSC to take night classes and earned a certificate in secondary social studies education.  In 2003, after thirty-five years of teaching, he retired from working at Cleary Middle School.  He now lives in Clayton, where he does much volunteer work, and is the chairperson of the Environmental Commission and the chairperson of the Planning and Zoning Board.

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During my senior year of high school, I had been accepted at several colleges, but I could not afford to go to them.  I applied to Glassboro State on the very last day they were accepting applications.  My guidance counselor had suggested that I do so in order to give myself more options.  It turned out to be excellent advice, as I did not get enough scholarship money to attend some of the other places that I might have preferred, such as Temple University.

I wanted to go to Temple because I wanted to be an architect.  That program was not available at Glassboro State, which was strictly a place that trained teachers when I began.  Although I did not begin my college years excited about teaching, I had a transformative experience when one of my education courses led me to observe a 5^th grade class taught by a woman named Ida Hull.  She was truly a terrific teacher, and her class was enthralling for both me and her students.  That observation led me to change my attitude toward teaching.  One of the other things about this experience that was very remarkable to me was that Ms. Hull was an African American woman and her class was integrated.  Prior to this class, I had been uncertain of the potential for meaningful progress on race relations.  After I saw how the young students of both races interacted with her, I began to have hope for the future.  I began to think that, like Ms. Hull, I could make a difference in the lives of students.

Junior high education majors had to take a wide variety of classes in all subject areas.  I took an art class with Patti Smith, who later became a famous musician.  I also remember Patti outside of class.  Like almost all GSC students at the time, she spent time at the Co-Op, a place on campus across from Bunce Hall where students could hang out, eat, and listen to music on a juke box.  I remember Patti singing and dancing next to the juke box.  When I later saw Patti performing before large audiences, she sang and danced just the same way that I saw her dancing at the Co-Op!

Even more memorable than Patti Smith’s dance moves, however, was the Summit that took place at Glassboro in June 1967.  That summer, I was working part-time in the Clayton ACME Market.  After I finished work, I went over to the Glassboro campus. I had heard a rumor that President Lyndon Johnson and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin were coming to Glassboro for a meeting.  I thought this was a joke. When I got to campus, I was surprised to see lots of work going on. So, I began to think there might some truth to the rumor.

Soon, I knew it was true when I saw one of my favorite writers, Jimmy Breslin, the New York-based journalist who wrote columns for a variety of newspapers and often provided the perspective of working-class people.  One of his most famous columns was one that he wrote after the funeral of John F. Kennedy that described the man who had dug the grave.  In any event, Jimmy Breslin was in Glassboro!  Breslin walked over to a bank of phone booths that they were constructing for the many journalists who were already arriving in large numbers.  I drew close enough to hear Breslin’s phone conversation with his editor.  He made me laugh with his colorful language, especially his description of Glassboro.  In the next booth over, a man in a suit walked out.  It turned out that he was an executive producer for ABC News, and he hired me on the spot to be a gopher, as he wanted someone who knew Glassboro and the campus. 

After I explained the layout of the campus and the town to him, I had to get credentials so that I would be allowed in by the Secret Service.  Over the next four days, I remember many conversations with both the television folks and the members of the Secret Service.  I remember that absolutely everyone smoked cigarettes, including myself. 

Working for ABC, it became clear was CBS was the top network.  They had the best equipment.  At the bottom of the networks was PBS.  They were there, but they had only old, leftover equipment that had been donated to them because the major networks had moved on to better stuff.   One interesting moment that illustrates the difference between CBS and the other networks involved an actual fist fight that broke out between NBC and ABC News over the position of a stand both were trying to build for their cameras.  CBS was not involved in this fight for two reasons.  First, they had the latest and best technology, a hand-held camera that allowed them to do things the others could not do.  Second, they also had an even better spot for their camera stand as they had the money to pay a woman who lived next to Hollybush to erect their stand on her property.  They paid her $1,000, which was impossible for the other networks.  They got the best shot as a result.

One of my jobs was to get food for the ABC staff, and I remember having to pick up 50 sandwiches from Joe’s Sub Shop, which was owned by Joe Burgandi.  He made me pay him in advance before he made the sandwiches, but it otherwise went smoothly.  I ended up getting 50 subs from him every day.

I met many famous people in my role as an assistant.  One of them was John Scali, a correspondent for ABC News.  One of his important acts had been carrying a critical message from the Soviets to American officials during the Cuban Missile Crisis.  He later became an ambassador to the United Nations.   

I remember that I helped a couple of ABC reporters do a live report from Glassboro.  Even with the phone banks, there weren’t enough phones.  I remember randomly knocking on the door of a Glassboro resident and asking if we could use her phone.  The reporting that followed was a strange experience.  The woman had a television in the living room, but the phone was in the kitchen, and the reporter could not see the television from the phone.  So, I had to describe what was happening on the television so that the reporter could describe it on the phone for the radio audience.  It was a convoluted process, but it worked.  When everything was done at the Summit, I actually got offered a job to work for ABC News, but I had to turn it down because it did not come with a deferment for the draft. Like all my friends, I did not want to go to Vietnam.  The job would have paid triple what I ended up getting paid as a teacher.  I similarly turned down a much better paying managerial job at the ACME because it also did not come with a deferment.

At the end of these long days, at 1am or so, I ended up being a chauffeur for the two lead ABC producers, taking them to their Marriot hotel in Philadelphia.  They only got four or five hours of sleep, as they were back in the morning to run everything.  Most of those working on the story from ABC slept on the ground on campus and got probably even less sleep.

I remember running into one of my high school teachers from Delsea Regional named Sal Marchese.  He was working for an air-conditioning company, as teachers had to work during the summer.  He was rapidly installing air conditioners in Hollybush.

Another memorable moment that involved me was the staging of a photograph for the New York Post.  The photographer had me hold up a small American flag and had my girlfriend in the background of the shot.  This photograph, with my fingers visible on the flag and my girlfriend, ended up on page one of the New York Post. The caption claimed that we were part of a “parade.”  This led me to reevaluate how I read newspapers in the future. 

One of the moments that I am sure many people who were present will remember involved the New Jersey State police. They had erected barricades and were locked arm-in-arm protecting Hollybush.  There were a lot of people on campus.  Some of these individuals were Polish protesters. They were criticizing the Soviet Union’s policies toward their country.  They were allowed to hold up their signs, but they were not treated gently by the troopers when a couple of them broke through the barricade.

I could go on and on I think with memories from the Summit, but these are my primary memories.  In the Fall, I began my senior year.  I had Marius Livingston and Richard Porterfield, but the most influential professor that I had was Maurice Blanken.  I liked his classes because he allowed debate.  I had been on the debate team in high school, and I incorporating debating in my classes when I began teaching myself.  In addition to his class, I volunteered to work with him on the Eugene McCarthy campaign in 1968.  Blanken was the head of Gloucester County efforts on behalf of McCarthy, and I joined his team.  Later, after I graduated, I came back to help him again, this time with the George McGovern campaign in 1972.  I was a poll watcher among other things.  I also remember counting paper ballots.

Early on in my days as a teacher at Cleary Junior High, I learned that they were going to build Buena Regional High School.  So, I went back to Glassboro State to get certified to teach social studies at the high school level. When I tried to transfer to Buena when it opened in 1973, however, I was denied because I was a union organizer.   My friend and fellow history alum from Glassboro State, Roger Baker, and I had organized a union at Cleary, and the high school leadership did not want us bringing our ideas there.  They told me this straight up.  It was a different era.

Glassboro State set me on my life’s path. I am not a rich man, but I can’t complain about my life.  I think I have influenced a lot of young people.  I was not paid well financially, but I was very well compensated in that I felt very good about what I did for a living.  Many of my former students are still in contact with me. You can’t put a price on helping shape a young person’s life for the positive.  It is priceless when adults come up to me and tell me that I changed their life or that I was their favorite teacher.

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100,” the collection and sharing of one hundred memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff.  One memory will be released per day in the 100 days leading up to October 20, 2023, the date of a reunion celebrating the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  The reunion will take place at 7pm at the Summit City Farm and Winery in Glassboro, New Jersey.  Registration for the reunion will be open from July 11^th and will remain open until the venue reaches its 100-person capacity (or October 13^th if capacity never reached).  We do anticipate that the reunion will sell out, so please register as soon as possible by visiting the Alumni Office’s registration page here:  alumni.rowan.edu/historyreunion2023.

You can also find the up-to-date set of Project 100 memories on the Department of History’s webpage.  William Carrigan arranged, interviewed, transcribed and/or edited these memories.  Laurie Lahey proofread and helped edit the final versions.  If you wish to share your own memories, please email Dr. Carrigan at carrigan@rowan.edu.  Alumni with Facebook accounts are encouraged to join the RU/GSC History Alumni group here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/251485937221524.