Flyers Friday Flashback -- Winter/Spring 1992

Blogmaster's Note:  This year is the Flyer's 25th Anniversary as a running club in NYC.  In honoring our long history, this is the first in a series of posts featuring excerpts from Flyers newsletters dating back to 1992.  Both the name (Flyers Flashback Friday) and the concept were suggested by long-time Flyer Scott C -- thanks Scott!

In the article below by Flyer Jonathan Buck from the oldest surviving Flyers newsletter -- Winter/Spring 1992 -- we can enjoy reading about the 2nd Annual Flyers Awards Dinner, which included a special guest appearance by NYC Marathon Founder Fred Lebow.  Fun that many of the traditions we see at more recent Flyers Awards Galas were evident back in 1992.  Interesting that despite our much larger current membership, the awards portion of the 1992 event (2 hours) was quite a bit longer than at recent galas. To read the entire newsletter from which this article appeared, you'll need your Flyers password when you click HERE.  -Dave K, NY Flyers Blogmaster

A Night to Remember

by Jonathan Buck

Jonathan Buck
(photo from 1991)

On February 21, 1992 sixty-five people gathered for the second annual New York Flyers awards dinner. The event was organized by Betsy Wissinger and Joanne Robinson and the master of ceremonies was Michael Mantel.  The dinner was held at the Gulf Coast restaurant in the West Village. This unique social spot has a very festive, Cajun flair.  From the initial cocktail hour the energy level quickly filled the room and members who had not seen each other for many months were hugging and exchanging their recent running experiences. We had the entire second floor, and the neon chalkboard had a "Welcome New York Flyers" message on it. Everyone was decked out in stylish fashion statements and looked their personal bests.

As we moved from the bar to the buffet line, Fred Lebow, president of the NYRRC arrived and made some wonderful remarks about the Flyers organization and its members. I thought it was great that Fred made the effort to come down and meet many of the Flyers on a personal level.

When Laura Leale and I asked Fred to join us, we knew he had a policy of not endorsing or favoring any particular running team. But we were glad when he decided to make an exception and pay us a visit this time. If anything, it was a tribute to the friendliness of all our members.

Another most welcome guest was Abdul El-Amin, who runs many of the volunteer activities at the NYRRC. Abdul is an "honorary" Flyer and has always thought highly of our team. He presented a number of his own "Special Volunteer" awards to Flyers for efforts during the last year.

After feasting on a variety of Southern Louisiana-style entrees, the MC, Michael Mantel, took the floor for the awards presentations. Michael can best be described as a cross between Woody Allen and Robin Williams: he is animated, humorous, and uniquely different with his "off the cuff" remarks. During the next two hours, over forty awards were presented by various members, to various members. The presentation speeches included everything from childhood stories, to poems of running bloopers, bleepers and blunders.  The acceptance speeches were used as encouragement and inspiration to each member to excel to higher levels of running, triathlon, and biathlon performances. It was indeed a remarkable year, during which many members significantly improved their speed and technique, which resulted in many outstanding performances.

After the awards presentations, the Flyers got ready to get crazy on the dance floor.  The tables were moved out of the way and the sound system started pumping out "Don't Rock the boat" by the Hues Corporation. I then proceeded to fill up the Flyers men's Class B first place award (from Tiffany's) with significant amounts of dark beer which was passed around in a big circle. Each Flyer then jumped into the middle of the circle to do their sample of 90s dancing. Madonna's "Like a Prayer" was cranked up and the Flyers just kept dancing and laughing until about 1:30 AM. At that point, a small group of Flyers decided to investigate the downstairs bar, which they ended up closing. Then it was off to breakfast at 3:00 AM to satisfy their dance-starved stomachs. It was a great ending for a beautiful night.

Once again, I would like to thank Betsy, Joanne, Michael and the Awards Dinner Committee for putting so much work into this event and making it a first class production. Yahoo! I can't wait till next year!