Mike is my oldest friend ever. We say we knew each other before we were born. Actually, our parents were good friends and from whatever age young kids become friends that’s where Mike and I were. I lived on Athena Avenue in Clifton and Mike was a few blocks away on Irvington Place.
I have so many memories I don’t know where to begin.
As a young kid, Mike took coronet lessons and I can remember first thing in the morning Mike would come out on his back porch and play reveille as loud as he could.
Or you probably remember the late Michael Pollard – the academy award nominated movie star from the original Bonnie & Clyde. He was the getaway driver. Well his real name is Mike Pollack and he lived on Irvington Place a few doors down from Mike Novack. Well Novack had this great idea that Mike, Mike and I would pool our train sets in the basement at Pollack’s house. We worked tirelessly on getting all our equipment into Pollack’s basement and then assembled a monstrous toy train extravaganza. It went well for a few days and then Pollack got mad at us (I don’t remember over what) and wouldn’t allow us into his house. It took us a month to recover our trains.
I have trouble remembering where I was yesterday so most of my memories of us at a young age are hard to recall but I have better recollections as we grew older.
We were fraternity brothers at Upsala College – The owls of Pi Delta Phi. We were in charge of the fraternity parties and I distinctly remember we rented a VFW hall for one of your beer parties. Mike had the great idea to serve peanuts so we bought hundreds of pounds of peanuts and as you can imagine the shells ended up on the floor 6 inches deep. I think the VFW people are still chasing us. Speaking of parties, Mike and I ran the Sunday night cocktail parties at the bar at the Gladiators Arena on route 3. They were really good for a while. We had live entertainment including the 5 Shades (a very popular group at the time – they challenged the Knockouts for famous NJ bands at the time). This all ended with the assassination of President Kennedy. Everyone laid low for a time.
Around then also were the Famous Joe’s Dance of which there we a few – named after Joe Fazio – I really don’t remember why.
During the Upsala years Mike and I drove to Fort Lauderdale 4 straight times for spring break. This is how the drive would go. Mike would start off driving and last for about an hour. He would say “take over Ted for a little” I would then drive the next 24 hours until we reached fort Lauderdale. I was not 21 before our first spring break trip. Mike obtained NJ drivers license blanks. In those days they were readily available. We had use of an electric typewriter and filled out the license showing the birth date I needed. We then took red and blue pencils and drew in the NJ State seal. It worked perfectly. I used that license as proof for a year. Mike had several different cars over those years I remember one year mike had his 1956 Oldsmobile convertible. It was cream colored with a continental kit on the back. We took 3 Upsala girls with us because they needed a ride. They bitched and moaned from the beginning so we put the top down and never heard another word. This was March and it was cold. One year we had I think a corvair. One the way back we stopped in Daytona Beach. Mike had to have the feeling of driving on the beach. One thing led to another and because it was low tide, we could drive in 3-4 inches of water. All went well until we stopped to take a leak. The car immediately sunk to the frame and the only thing that saved us was a bunch of college kids on the beach who ran down and lifted the car out. Speaking of Spring break in Fort Lauderdale Mike and I were there when they were shooting the movie “Where the Boys Are”. The Elbo Room was there and our fraternity brothers got in the film when they were lifting the Volkswagen bug up. At that time the elbo room had a 4 stool breakfast room attached to it. That’s where mike and I were first introduced to grits. I vaguely remember on our last fort Lauderdale trip Mike either met or renewed his relationship with Gail. She flew out to Denver (I think) and Mike followed along. That left me driving home by myself in Mike’s car. Anyone taking a long driving trip with Mike knows it was like driving alone anyway.
The Ultimate years were great, Mike handled all the travel for the company. For those of you that don’t know, in addition to all the normal business travel, Ultimate had two dealer meeting a year. The meetings were held at a different resort each time and were major affairs. The budget was about $1 million for each meeting and had 800-900 people in attendance. We always had major entertainment including John Denver, Paul Anka, the beach boys, etc. Mike played an important role in not only the travel but the meeting planning. The affair ran Friday thru Sunday with morning business meetings and then lots of fun. The dealers paid their way to the location and their rooms but ultimate paid for the monster dinners, cocktail parties, entertainment, etc. Mike helped organize the activities which depending were we were included beach Olympics, rodeos, casino gambling, boat races, and more. Whatever you are thinking – think bigger. Mike was involved. But there are some funny stories to go with this. One meeting was in Acapulco. Mexico. I got down there the day before and found that the 700 rooms mike had booked at the Princess hotel were nowhere to be found. Mike juggled things with the management, and all worked out. Another meeting was in the Scottsdale area of Arizona at one of the big resorts where the theme was a private rodeo. Mike of course was out there a week earlier to get things organized. Well anyway, he was out horseback riding instead of working and was thrown from the horse. He went to the hospital and ended up on crutches. The friday night cocktail party was outside and as I remember we had a very large fire going. Of course we were all drinking excessively and I grabbed mike’s crutches and burned them in the fire. Mike, not to be outdone, threw a big basketball hoop in the fire and then proceeded to dive threw it. Of course mikes pants got caught on the hoop and we had to pull him out before there was any major damage.
Then there was the over the hill gang. Dave Bosson, Bill Martini, Joe Martini, Roger Fardin, Dickie Moran, Chuck Ranges, Joe Fazio, Paul Stayskal, Mike and me. These were all friends from high school or earlier. Obviously within a year or two all the same age. Every 5-6 months we took a trip somewhere. A cruise, key west, bimini – anywhere we could hangout and enjoy each other’s company. The cruises were the most fun. Initially mike did the planning but after he tried to squeeze us into a tiny room I took over. We moved up to the best suite on the ship with a few adjoining rooms. We usually didn’t even get off the ship. We just sat out on our private deck, ate, drank and sang songs. Of course mike would bring his stereo and even song sheets to accompany our singing. How many people can boast this number of close friends for 70 or more years? Mike and I were just planning the next cruise only a month ago.
As I make these notes more and more times with Mike jump into my head. God, I could go on forever. I just now remembered playing basketball during the summer at the park in Manasquan. It was a regular thing and one of the regular players was Jack Nicholson. By the way in later years Mike would put on his big sunglasses and pass for Nicholson. I have to stop here otherwise we will be here forever.
Mike was a terrific person and a magnificent friend. He would do anything for you. The shirt off his back – anything. Over the years we did a million crazy things. Even when we pissed people off no one could ever get mad at Mike. That was the kind of personality he had. I will miss you Mike. You are my best friend and I love you.
Debbie Santomauro
The day that I met Mike Novack was life changing for me. I believe that things happen for a reason. It was 30 years ago that I went into a store that I never had been to before and bought a newspaper that I never had seen before. In that paper there was an ad for a corporate travel agent for Accent on Travel. I was going through a divorce and needed a full time job. Having no luck finding a full time travel job, I was going to start at Macy's the next week. I called the number in the ad and agreed to meet Mike the next day at the Ultimate Corp. He emphasized that I needed to get really dressed up. My daughter listened in on the conversation and begged me not to go because he sounded so strange. I told her I was going to a big company and not to worry. I put on my best white suite and went to Ultimate to meet Mike. If you knew him, he had a very funny sense of humor. Ultimate's dress code was jeans and tee shirts. My whole life changed that day! Mike was not only the best boss that I ever had, he was a true friend. He made everyone feel like a part of his family. Mike was the person who always kept in touch with all of us. He and his family were always great to me and my family. Thanks to Mike, I had the best times of my life and met people that I never would have met without him. I went to places that I never would have been able to go. My son said he would like to be like Mike. He lived Happy! I will always miss him!
Stan Jakubczyk
I'm from able hardware.I first met Mike when he opened his insurance agency and made his presence felt,to say the least,on Van Houten Ave in Athenia. Worked with him on the first city picnic,the first 5k run , The Athenia Business Association just to name a few. Always enjoyed being in his company and like many people had a few cocktails together. A true American original, I was lucky that our paths crossed in this journey we know as Life