By Andy Loigu

One of my favorite summertime experiences has been feasting on pizza, sold at 1970 prices for a few days in August, at Mama’s Cafe Baci, which has been a successful business in Hackettstown for the last 50 years.

Co-owner Tom Schiano and his family have always had a huge heart for the community, generously doing whatever they can to help first responders, Veterans, schools, clubs, churches, charities, and sports teams.

I found out what kind of a sincere and devout Giants NFL fan he is, and a nice guy, when I showed up at Mama’s one day over a decade ago, wearing a Philadelphia Eagles cap.

He let me know, right away, that he’s a Giants fan, but he was not hostile or nasty about it. Even when I’ve stopped by wearing my bright red Phillies cap, orange Flyers cap, or star spangled 76ers cap, he’ll always call out, “it’s the Eagles fan” to acknowledge my visit.

We’ve engaged in the kind of friendly sports banter that makes me tell people that sports is the world’s biggest fraternity. When you involve yourself in the sports world, and keep everything in its proper perspective, you’ll always have something to talk about as you meet people and make new friendships.
Tom would enjoy the story I’m sharing from 45 years ago, below. I hope he gets a chance to see it.

From 1967 to 1977, the Philadelphia Eagles struggled through 11 consecutive losing seasons, so having press credentials to cover them for the now defunct Ocean County Daily Times was nice, but also somewhat depressing if you allowed yourself to actually care about the team’s place in the standings. Newly hired head coach Dick Vermeil talked about a five-year plan to build a champion but nobody in the fan base actually thought he would accomplish that ambitious goal.  

My favorite funny memory from hanging around that team for the sake of gathering material for columns (the AP was our source for game stories and stats) came one day when I overheard Ron Jaworski, John Spagnola, and Louie Giammona talking about golf, something to take their minds off the stress of playing football in front of crowds that booed them without mercy game after game. They were playing on the worst field surface in the NFL at  now defunct Veterans’ Stadium, in front of the league’s grumpiest fans.

A clubhouse debate ensued regarding the best way to hit a buried sand shot. “Jaws” and “Spags” said it was to close the club face and hit down on the ball. Giammona advocated opening the club face and hitting “under the ball.”

It just happened that team owner Leonard Tose suddenly walked in with none other than one of the most famous and popular golfers of all time, Arnold Palmer, who was doing business with him that day.

Upon being introduced to him, Jaworski asked Palmer to settle the argument. “You close the club face and hit down on it,” Palmer said. “Jaws” and “Spags” high-fived each other. Then, Giammona walked over to their celebrity visitor and said, “What do you know about golf, anyway?”

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.