Reviews

A Father Brags on His Family

6/20/2021

Painting by Marianne Vecsey; updated by David Vecsey

Happy Father’s Day…Best Wishes at Juneteenth….and hopes for a good and healthy summer for all.

My first present – there are others – was a lovely essay in The New York Times written by one David Vecsey. The essay proved (once again, to me) that it is hard for me, being the least talented and versatile among the five members of our family.

Marianne is an artist (more on that momentarily) and has a dozen other skills.
Laura was a poet first and then a really good news reporter and sports columnist at four major papers around the country, and is now a real-estate maven upstate.
Corinna worked in journalism (in Paris, later in New York) and is now a lawyer and consultant to feelgood projects in Pennsylvania.
David could have (should have) been a sports columnist but after some time in the Web world, he learned newspaper editing from some good teachers at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and passed the editing test and tryout at the Times a decade ago, to our delighted surprise.

So….a father and husband can brag on Father’s Day.

My wife did it all. As David attests in his story, I was at the ballpark or typing in my room, putting in an appearance for meals or a catch or hoops or maybe a drive to Jones Beach or the city. I did take each of them with me on road trips to deepest America, not for games but for real life.

Marianne did the hard work, the parenting. And it shows.
They are all good parents.
They all can cook.
They all have spouses, Diane and Peter and Joelle, who match them, skill for skill, energy for energy, will for will, value for value. How blessed we are.
David is usually busy putting the last bit of polish on articles for the Print Hub (that is to say, “the paper.”) He’s been working at home the past year, and instead of riding the railroad he has been able to develop other corners of his brain.

In his younger days, he watched his mother cook, and sometimes went to the New York Philharmonic with her when I was away. He also watched her paint, in her “spare time,” late at night, her newest work materializing when we woke up in the morning.

Over the years, she won prizes, appeared in nice shows and galleries, sold around 300 paintings, some of them now around the world.

Recently, David asked if she had slides of her work, and yes, she had some tucked here and there. So he commandeered the slides, put them through the magic visual part of his computer, and turned some of them into posters and greeting cards, with themes and connections only his active mind could make.

He has put them online, displayed them at crafts shows on Long Island, placed them in some nice shops, mailed the work to Berlin, to England, and corners of the U.S. It’s all on a very modest scale, and by Dave’s decree, some of the money is going to charity. The point was never money, it was the art, the work, the product, the result.
I sit back and enjoy the smartphone pings from our scattered family.
They are the best gift, on Father’s Day.
* * *
You should be able to open David’s story online today:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/19/insider/george-vecsey-fathers-day.html?searchResultPosition=1

For information on David’s project, Marianne’s work:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/vecseyprinthub/

Ernie Accorsi

6/20/2021 10:23:33 am

Two wonderful pieces by you and David.
Thank you for including me

George

6/20/2021 01:53:14 pm

Ernie, nice to hear from you -- a good friend since we were sharing quotes at a Colts-Packers game back in the day. Look forward to catching up if "normal" stays around a while. Best, GV

Thomas Schwarz link

6/20/2021 10:42:43 am

Beautiful!

George

6/20/2021 01:54:04 pm

Tom, thanks, man. Happy Father's Day and good travels.
Best, GV

Paul Schwartz link

6/20/2021 11:14:46 am

It appears I am going to be moved and delighted by all sorts of writings by Vecseys forever.
Beautiful tribute.

George

6/20/2021 01:59:07 pm

Paul: What an honor to hear from you....you read David and you used to read me. Well, I read you, and your colleagues, now more than ever, so I can keep up on all the sports news of NYC. Thanks for keeping me "in the game." George

Alan Rubin link

6/20/2021 11:48:22 am

One of the greatest gifts a child can have is the unconditional love of a parent. Often, it is evident through actions and the unspoken.

I followed George’s NY Times columns for years and had an email dialog with him during the 1999 USWNT World Cup We have been friends ever since.

David’s fond memories of being at George’s feet, and probably under them at times, reminds me of my father.

Leon was a Russian emigrant who came to the U.S. through Canada in 1921 at age 12. My fondest memories are when I worked in his Manhattan retail store weekends and summers when in high school.

The half hour commutes each way from Teaneck, NJ to 83rd Street and Broadway was both an education in the human aspect of running a retail store and how to treat and respect people.

The stories are too numerous to go into here, but the one that still resonates with me today is a classic lesson in salesmanship.

It was common many years ago for drug stores to have a soda fountain. My dad was working as a young soda jerk when the pharmacist wanted to earn more money by adding eggs to malteds.

When the pharmacist noticed that Leon was the only one selling eggs, he wanted to know this secret.

It’s simple, my dad explained. The others always received a no when they asked the customer if they wanted an egg. My dad asked if they wanted one or two and almost always sold an egg.

I went into my father retail appliance store after ten years in engineering and no formal business training.

My secret to success was those half hour commutes and the one or two eggs story.

David—thanks for your moving tribute to George.

George

6/21/2021 08:15:59 am

Dear Alan: Thank you and a belated happy father's day to you. Your dad was portrayed so vividly in the book your daughter Jen Rubin wrote about your decision to keep your radio store open on Broadway after the 1977 blackout -- "We Are Staying"...etc
https://www.georgevecsey.com/home/new-book-the-man-who-kept-his-store-open-after-the-blackout
Your dad was a strong person, emigre from Russia, who built the business and taught you so much. Father's Day is the perfect time for many of us, male and female, who were taught by their parents.
My brother Peter and I both worked alongside our editor-father as he heped us get into the business....I thought about Pop yesterday. Good that you thought about your dad. Best to you and Sandi, GV

Gene Palumbo

6/20/2021 02:07:01 pm

Just in case some of you don't subscribe to the NYTimes, and therefore the piece about George is behind a paywall for you, I'll post it here;

Times Insider
A Dad and an Audience of One
I had to share my father with millions of readers, but they never got to hear the back stories over a Wendy’s hamburger coming home from Shea Stadium in the middle of the night.
By David Vecsey
June 19, 2021
Our house often mimicked the sounds of a newsroom: the rustling of the paper over morning coffee; the ringing of phones; the pounding of a heavy black Royal typewriter, each volley of keystrokes followed by a ding and the slap of the carriage return; and then the dictation of that day’s copy.
In a deep, slow, clear voice, my father, George Vecsey, would read his freshly written Sports of the Times column — one of thousands he wrote over some 30 years — to a machine somewhere inside The New York Times Building. Every word, every comma, every quote mark, every proper name spelled out. Everything in its place.
He’d read into the phone, “NEW PARAGRAPH The frustration was on the Rangers’ faces EM-DASH a few of them filled with tears EM-DASH as the players clumped off the ice a few minutes later COMMA and it was in the words of CAPITAL H-e-r-b SPACE CAPITAL B-r-o-o-k-s as he talked about OPEN QUOTES LOWERCASE C closing the gap PERIOD CLOSE QUOTES NEW PARAGRAPH.”
And the next morning, this would appear in The New York Times:
The frustration was on the Rangers’ faces — a few of them filled with tears — as the players clumped off the ice a few minutes later, and it was in the words of Herb Brooks as he talked about “closing the gap.”
For an 11-year-old sitting in the hallway, baseball glove in hand, waiting to play catch, this was pure magic.
There was my father describing conversations he had had with Herb Brooks, or Mike Bossy, or Chris Evert, or Alexis Argüello … a fantasy world for any kid who grew up on “Wide World of Sports.”
More important, I had simultaneous front-row and backstage views of how a story gets written. It wasn’t just that every word was in its proper place; it was that every idea was in its proper place. It was a private course in journalism from one of the great masters, and those hours listening to his dictation would come to inform my career as a copy editor. Not only do I know how a New York Times story should read, but I also know how it should sound, how the cadence should ebb and flow. Sadly, that experience was lost with the advent of portable computers, when the sound of my father’s voice was replaced by the screech of his Kaypro’s modem.
I spent a lot of time in stadiums as a kid. I’d be there early enough to watch crew members water and line the field, and late enough to watch them sweep popcorn from the aisles. Sometimes I could talk my way into the media room, where I’d fall asleep waiting for my dad to file. We’d drive home in the middle of the night, and over a Wendy’s burger, he’d tell me what he had mined out of Keith Hernandez that night. A few hours later, a “Keith Speaks” column would land with a thud in the driveway.
In the pre-cellphone world of the early ’80s, my dad might have done a few things that today would raise a few red flags, but in truth cultivated a sense of independence. “I’m headed to the ballpark,” he’d say, dropping $20 on the desk in a Chicago hotel room. “Take the El to Addison, your ticket should be at Will Call. Try to find the media room after the game or just hang around outside the gate or just meet me back here.”
People would often tell me how lucky I was. And they were right. But not because I got to “go to all the games.” And not because I’d occasionally get to have lunch with Lucky Pierre Larouche or shoot hoops with Bob Welch.
I was lucky because I had a father who shared his world and his craft, who taught me the same lessons any father, of any profession, should teach his son about navigating life, love, work, play and the human condition, not to mention that backup catchers and boxers are the best quotes.
They gave me 700 words for this essay, but I could write 700 words every day from this Father’s Day to next and still not say all that could, and should, be said. But that’s another lesson learned: They ask for 700, you file 700 (OK, 750) and put the rest in your notebook for later.
Thanks, Pop. Period. Close quote. End it.
David Vecsey is an editor for The Times’s Print Hub.

Michael

6/20/2021 02:08:44 pm

This post and David’s NY Times column, were both beautiful! Thanks and happy Father’s Day George.

Janet Vecsey

6/20/2021 03:40:04 pm

What a family! Happy to be part of it.
Much love, and Happy Father's Day, dear brother. (I did already email David!)
Jane

ahron horowitz

6/20/2021 04:48:48 pm

happy fathers day george.thanks for shareing your family with us.ahron

George

6/20/2021 05:02:07 pm

Ahron: happy Father’s Day to you.
I’m so glad to know your family —and I hope you can see them soon. Best, George

Ed Martin

6/20/2021 04:59:14 pm

No words, just feelings. Be well, all!

Altenir Silva

6/20/2021 06:52:16 pm

Dear George,
I read the essay by David. It's great! I agree with what Ed said, no words, just feelings.
Stay well/Altenir

Jim Henneman

6/20/2021 09:32:12 pm

Didn't think there was anybody left who remembered dictation machines, the next step after Western Union. Loved the tribute. Takes a good writer to be a good editor!

Alan Rubin link

6/20/2021 10:14:24 pm

Hi Jim,

I remember wires in spools were used for recording. They were fairly delicate and often broke. These were an improvement over cutting a record and tape finally adding some reliability.

George

6/21/2021 08:20:27 am

Jim, You and I both got into the business in another time. I carried around an Olivetti Lettera 32, like part of my body. Would keep the odd press guide and notepad and yellow Western Union paper in it. In your town, Baltimore, there was a Western Union downtown, a block or three from the Lord Baltimore Hotel, as I recall....I'd take the team bus down from the ball park and, on Newsday afternoon-paper 4 AM deadlines, I would trek off to Western Union in the midnight hours and deliver my precious copy, and somehow it got through to the paper. Later, Newsday hired two very nice women to take dictation late at night. Then came electronics...Ancient history. Be well. GV

Mendel link

6/21/2021 02:27:16 am

This one got to me, George. Happy Father's Day. Period.

George

6/21/2021 08:21:26 am

Mendel, been thinking of you and your family. This makes it a two-Horowitz day. Be well. GV

Justine Peshette

6/21/2021 02:53:46 am

Hi, I read your son's article and was struck by the trust and independence he was so happy to get from you. When he described you allowing him to do things like ride the train alone and manage his day at the park until your work was finished he implied that these things might be looked down upon now. I can attest that they are- I parent my own daughter this way and it gets a lot a raised brows! However, I can also say that my kiddo keeps a cool head when she needs to think independently in a pinch, unlike many of her friends who panic or are paralyzed by indecision. And it's oddly those same frowning parents who seem to admire how outgoing and confident my girl is, even among adults!

Of course I have all the little fears of any parent about all the big and small choices I make everyday for my tiny human, so it's heartening and reassuring to hear such lovely things about you and your style of parenting from a grow child. That he valued the time you gave him "out of pocket" as one of my friends calls it, gives me hope that enduring the sideways looks and not-so-subtle disapproval from more "hands on" parents will pay off in the end for both of us. Hope you had a great Father's Day and please tell your son that he made a mother's day today as well!

George

6/21/2021 08:30:19 am

Dear Ms. Peshette: Thank you for your lovely (first) essay on this site Please be back. I appreciate your kind words about our giving freedom to our three children....Laura flew by herself to Florida when she was 6 and hung out with me for a week at the Yankee hotel, getting to know great people like Bill Robinson and Steve Hamilton and Ruben Amaro, hanging out at the ball park and getting autographs while I did my interviews. Corinna flew to France by herself, just about 17, to work as an au pair for a young American family. They all went with me to the farms and cities and mining towns when I was a news reporter. Their mother is hardier than any of us -- been to India 14 times, seeing all the layers of life there, fearless. productive. They had a great role model in her. So, thank you for seeing the link between independence as a child and independence as an adult. Best to you and your daughter...and please be back...GV

jon cohen

6/22/2021 08:24:09 am

I am 58 years old and a huge fan of yours. My dad introduced me to the New York Times ....and the most important "Sports Section" when I was a teenager and I always looked forward to your column. I read your son's tribute to you today and then googled you and found this webpage. Many thanks for all of the amazing stories and I wish you much health and happiness going forward. Take care.

George

6/22/2021 02:55:32 pm

Dear Jon Cohen: Nice to see your name on my little therapy website.
Welcome. I appreciate you remember what I -- we -- did back in those days -- a little knot of columnists doing our thing, out at events. May I suggest you read Kurt Streeter when he appears -- he is "one of us."
A lot of knowledgeable people are "regulars" on this site, and it would be an honor if you visited, contributed. best, GV

Brian Savin

6/22/2021 08:20:38 pm

Bravo! No Braggadocio, just the facts as Old Geezers know them to be true. Still, after acknowledging their accomplishments, we must teach - kindly, gently, humbly and in ways that communicate common sense and hopefully not our, too well known anyway, opinions. Then let them fend and find for themselves their own answers. Meanwhile we can Rest In Peace.
Best
Brian Savin

Alan Rubin link

6/24/2021 03:47:29 pm

Bruce. Good to hear from you.

If it was not for us old Geezers, who would save the world.

Mike from NW Queens

6/24/2021 06:15:56 pm

Meglio tardi che mai....belated Happy Father's Day GV, Dave and all!
Loved Daves piece last week....and while busy on the print side of the world, just catching up here G.

You deserve the praise and acknowledgement!!

Your 'family' in NW Queens looks forward to seeing you.
Be well, one day at a time! (Thank you Bill W and Bob Welch among many)

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A Father Brags on His Family

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