Oct. 21, 1999
Maybe it was the cloudless azure skies. Maybe it was something in the water. Or perhaps it was the fact that it was homecoming, and several hundred victory-starved fans wouldn’t accept anything other than a decisive win.
Whichever factor was at work, a certitude emerged after two and a half hours of play: The East Hampton High School football team battered and bruised the Miller Place Panthers 45-29.
. . . The Bonackers . . . pounded runner after runner with a devastating series of hits that would make even Lawrence Taylor wince.
. . . While East Hampton’s entire squad should be commended for its efforts, there were several standout players, including the usual suspects: Jesse Shapiro, Kyle Russell, Steve Finazzo, Phil Cangiolosi, and Nick Dombkowski.
. . . Speaking of the unstoppable Shapiro, Jesse turned in an outstanding performance with five touchdowns, a season high for him and possibly a team record.
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The East Hampton RECenter, a $4.1 million private-public project untiringly promoted for the past six years by the East Hampton Youth Alliance, opened with a splash Sunday, as a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the seven-lane pool marked the transfer of the 27,000-square-foot building from the Youth Alliance to East Hampton Town.
After the speeches by town and village and Youth Alliance officials had been made and the ribbon was cut, “loads of kids — and adults — jumped in,” said the center’s executive director, Dennis Schleider, who estimated that about 1,000 people availed themselves of the center’s offerings — “especially the pool and the computer center” — during the course of the first day.
. . . “You’re doing a phenomenal job — you’ve answered my prayers,” a new member, Karen Fredericks, told Schleider on emerging from the lap pool Monday morning. “I can’t believe it. I was in the pool for an hour and I wasn’t kicked out. Where I belonged in the city they were always kicking lap swimmers out.”
. . . An estimated 250 memberships had been processed as of Tuesday morning, apparently putting Schleider’s goal of “around 500” well within reach.
. . . Those who join now will be able to sample more than 60 fee-based programs for a four-week period.
. . . The Youth Alliance still must raise about $500,000 to finish paying off the project, whose general contractor was Victor Canseco of Sandpebble Builders. The building has been named for the late Evan M. Frankel. The Frankel Foundation, overseen by Andrew Sabin, a prime mover in realizing the dream of a recreation center here, got the ball rolling early on with a $500,000 challenge grant.
