Kid from Atlantic City recalls Top's Tenure

Despite an ongoing eight-year history on radio and television, my passion was in the arena of scripting copy for feature stories from the wide world of sports.

I welcomed the invitation to write for Top’s and present my views of the sports world to another segment of the area population.

I would deliver my handwritten copy to a staff member at Top’s who would type and format my column, titled “As I See It.” The Top’s office was located up one flight of stairs on a small side street just east of Fremont on Sunshine – now Kaleidoscope.

Although I was the staff’s only sports columnist, I had neither an office nor a title; I didn’t even have a desk. Yet it was with enthusiasm and conviction that I wrote about the heroes of the sports world: Ali, Cosell, Magic, Sweetness, Sugar Ray, etc.

Top’s did provide me with the editorial freedom to explore the controversies of sport, and my style required freedom.

This was a time when the mythical Muhammad Ali no longer could float like a butterfly or sting like a bee; in 1980 Ali left the comfort of retirement to be punished and KO’ed by Larry Holmes.

I was not an Ali fan during those controversial years of the late sixties and early seventies, but I grew to recognize the beauty of “The Greatest.”

I gravitated toward individuals such as Ali and the equally controversial voice of the sports world, Howard Cosell. A News-Leader columnist once said that I followed Cosell more closely than my conscience.

Top’s gave to me the format in which I could discuss the psychology of sport and romantically look beyond the scorecard.

The voice given to me through Top’s introduced me to another demographic, and from that exposure I gathered invitations to address university and secondary education classes, along with speaking engagements at various civic group meetings.

I had always wanted to live the life I was living. I recognized these moments for the special flavor they presented. I grew up in a beach town during the ‘50s and was in Catholic grade school while Kennedy was shaping Camelot.

My view of the sports world was founded on the belief that baseball would always be the Great American Pastime. I read only the sports sections and an occasional entertainment section of the Atlantic City Press and The Philadelphia Daily News, and now I was writing sports features for a business-based tabloid.

I never felt displaced or alien. The kid from Atlantic City’s north side who had learned the game of stickball in the shadow of Skinny DiMato’s 500 Club was a tramp – shining press credentials and all.

I interviewed Wilt “the Stilt” and Edwin Moses, dined with “the Oz,” Hal McRae, Denny Leo and a Cy Young Award winner I called “Sabs.” It was fun that was never characterized as work.

I never thought long enough to critique the artistry of my efforts; I was spontaneous, and the audience listened. Those were the days when the Springfield Business Journal was a dream called the Top’s Executive Journal.

I never asked whose idea it was to involve a quirky sports columnist during those early years, but they gave to me a chance to belong to the history.

Happy 25th. I remain grateful for the opportunities of those days. And I still believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Muhammad Ali.

Nick Russo arrived in Springfield in the fall of ‘65 via Greyhound from Philly. He’s hosted sports-format shows on radio and television for 17 years and has been a restaurant owner/operator for 31 years. He is married to Jenny Russo and has four children, Alexis, Joseph, Austin and Michael. He and Jenny own St. Michael’s, an Educational Sports Bar and Grill, downtown. Nick teaches English and journalism at Springfield Catholic High School and coaches cross-county with his friend, Tom Gray. Nick hopes to complete his collection of essays and poetry, “Something From a Boardwalk Philosopher,” later this summer.