Hall of Fame - Best of New Jersey

The organizers of the New Jersey Hall of Fame have an annual challenge: How do you build excitement into an induction ceremony when most of the honorees are dead?

You could call it a fatal flaw. Fortunately, the honorees Sunday night at NJPAC were interesting enough, and the presenters and accepters passionate enough, that the induction ceremony turned out to be consistently engaging and at times moving.

Two living inductees did attend – Jon Bon Jovi and Bill Bradley (a member of last year’s inaugural class of honorees). Bon Jovi – the evening’s final honoree – was enthusiastic in his praise for his native state, even mocking its neighbors. “I can’t imagine anybody saying ‘rock out New Hampshire’!” he declared.

For most of the inductees it was up to surrogates to express thanks. Paul Robeson Jr. described his father’s induction as “a setting of history right.” Astronaut Buzz Aldrin remembered that honoree Carl Sagan opposed the first moonwalk because, “he thought we should be doing more science.” And Yogi Berra butchered no words when he said of his late teammate Phil Rizzuto, “He made you laugh, now he’s making me cry.” Berra, who, like Aldrin, was inducted into the Hall last year, did manage to describe Rizzuto as a brother and an uncle in the same sentence.

Abbott and Costello’s daughters spoke on behalf of their comic dads, Althea Gibson’s brother accepted for the tennis great from East Orange, and granddaughters stood in for literary giants F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Carlos Williams. Also honored were Walt Whitman and Guglielmo Marconi. The presentations for living honorees Shaquille O’Neal and Jerry Lewis were deferred until next year – presumably in the hope that they might attend the 2010 ceremony.

The evening’s emotional high point came with the surprise introduction of General David Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, who spoke poignantly of the achievements of 1st Lieutenant Brian Brennan, a Howell native who was severely injured exactly one year ago in an IED attack in Afghanistan. Brennan lost both legs and suffered acute brain injury, among other traumas. But Brennan has fought his way back and to the amazement of an appreciative audience, walked on his own across the stage on his prosthetic legs to receive the Hall’s first Unsung Hero Award. Many in the audience were brought to tears; all stood for a lengthy ovation.

The night’s music was ably supplied by La Bamba & the Hubcaps, who served as house band and backed up guest singers Gary U.S. Bonds, Cat De Luna, and Southside Johnny. Borrowing a page from the annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction extravaganza, all the presenters and honorees were invited onstage for a closing jam session. Alas musical talent was in short supply and only Bon Jovi joined Southside Johnny at the microphone. Southside tried to get Yogi to chug up to the microphone, but Berra wasn’t buying.

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Hall of Fame Breathes Life into Ceremony