For John Armato, Who Was Recognized for 50 Years as a PHS Wrestling Coach, 'Every Second Counts'

Photo by Emily Overdorf

John Armato, at center, was recognized Saturday for 50 years of coaching Pottstown High School's Trojan wrestling team. The crowd above swarmed onto the wrestling mat after Principal Danielle McCoy asked anyone whose life he had touched over those 50 years to come forward.

Photo by Austin Hertzog

The Pottstown High School wrestling room
will be dedicated in John Armato's honor.

Anyone who has ever had John Armato as a wrestling coach over the last 50 years knows his favorite saying: "Every second counts."

"It means never giving up, whether its on the wrestling mat, or at work. It means make the most of the time you have," he explained to this non-wrestler.

It would be hard to find anyone who has made better use of his seconds.

Since 1969, Armato has been guiding Trojan wrestlers both to victory and teaching them how to hold their heads up high even in defeat, knowing they have tried their best and never backed down from a challenge.

Photo by Emily Overdorf

Julianna Figueroa, Pottstown High School's first female
wrestler to earn a medal in a boys wrestling tournament,
gives her coach a hug.

Armato's service to this district, where he was hired almost right out of college, has been
extraordinary.

In addition to his coaching, he has been a public speaking teacher, a teachers union leader, an athletic director, a director of co-curricular activities, a director of community relations (a post he currently holds despite not being paid) and, most recently, as a school board member.

His presence is ubiquitous.

Rare is the community event in Pottstown that does not include a visit from Armato, who feels strongly that the school district should be represented in all aspects of life in Pottstown. And when he cannot be there, his absence is noticed.

Photo by Emily Overdorf

Former Pottstown High School wrestling coaches present 

John Armato with the new sign, built by the high school's engineering
and automotive students, dedicating the wrestling room to him.

So when he reached the 50-year milestone, Pottstown noticed and few were absent.

Eight of Pottstown's nine head wrestling coaches showed up to recognize Armato's decades of service as assistant coach.

There was even an appearance, via video, by legendary wrestler Dan Gable.

As Armato will eagerly tell you (and Wikipedia confirmed), Gable's college career record was 117-1, with his only loss being in the final match of his final season.

Photo by Evan Brandt

John Armato and Danielle McCoy watch a video message
wrestling legend Dan Gable, made just for Armato.

And at the 1972 Olympic Games Gable won all six of his matches without giving up a point.

There was Gable, on the wall of the Earl Strom Gymnasium, which is named after 1945 Pottstown High School alum Earl "Yogi" Strom, who went on to be known as one of the greatest referees in the history of the NBA (again, thanks Wikipedia), thanking Armato for his years of coaching.

"I've read his stuff and admired him for years. I say his name of think about him just about every day. For Dan Gable to know my name ... wow, that's really something," Armato said later.

Which is not to say that Armato has not had some success himself as a coach.

One of the many, many, many former wrestlers to return for the festivities was Paul Green.

Photo by Emily Overdorf

John Armato with Paul Green,
who was PIAA State Champion in 1984.

Green is the 1984 PIAA Wrestling State Champion.

Other former wrestlers formed a parade of well-wishers both during and after the ceremony.

I overheard one tell Armato "Congratulations coach. You deserve it. You made my life."

That says as much about the kind of mentor Armato has been over the years to so many people, as it does about his coaching ability.

That was a point made evident by Pottstown High School Principal Danielle McCoy, an alum of the school and it's first female principal.

Photo by Austin Hertzog

Pottstown High School Principal Danielle McCoy, giving
John Armato a taste "of what he hates -- attention."

But she didn't start out wanting to be an educator, that came later, thanks in part, to Armato.

"John Armato was my teacher. He was also the person who paved the way for me to become a substitute teacher, which set me on the path not just for my career, for my calling," McCoy told the crowd.

"He didn't do this when I was in high school. He did it when I was 35 years old. You see, that's what makes him so special. Once you're his student, you're always his student. He is always there for you, and I am not the only person in the room for whom this is true," she said.

But don't take my word for it, listen for yourself:

Photo by Emily Overdorf

Former student and current Alvernia wrestling coach Seth Ecker 

congratulates John Armato on 50 years as a wrestling coach.

McCoy knows what Armato does for his students from personal experience, and not just her own. Armato he also coached her sons.

One of  those sons, Seth Ecker, went on to become a wrestling coach himself, first at his alma mater, Ithaca College, and then a little closer to home, when he became Alvernia College's first-ever wrestling coach, building a program there from the ground up.

Ecker was on hand Saturday to say thank and congratulations.

He was one of a very large crowd.

"For a few minutes tonight, we're going to give John exactly what he hates -- attention," McCoy joked to that crowd.

And when McCoy asked anyone whose life Armato had touched over the last 50 years to come forward for a photo, it was like a stampede.

That was more than attention. It was love.

Photo by Austin Hertzog

John Armato lets his emotions leak out.

It was hard not to get choked up, seeing generations of an entire community express their appreciation, their admiration and their thanks for years of unwavering dedication.

And neither John, nor I, quite managed it.

I doubt we were the only ones.

And while he may not love being put in the spotlight, I suspect when John got back home Saturday night, "curled up on the floor" of his den after, snacking on some chocolate-covered raisins, he may have reflected on these being some of his favorite seconds out of those 50 years.

He might even say to himself: "not bad for the little Sicilian kid from Brooklyn."

Photo by Emily Overdorf

When a whole crowd of people whose lives you've touched come out to say 'thank you.' It looks like this.

Local News Drives Blog to Million Views Milestone

This blog crossed the million-views mark sometime on 

June 14 with a post about delays in the replacement of

the Keim Street Bridge.

When you've covered the Pottstown area for nearly 20 years, you get an idea for what interests readers here and what doesn't.

(20 years will be on Nov. 7 of this year)

So it came as no surprise to me that the posts that put this here Digital Notebook blog over one million views were two back-to-back posts about two of Pottstown's favorite subjects -- parking and the Keim Street bridge.

Or perhaps I should say subjects Pottstown loves to complain about.

Before I wrote them, I noticed I still needed about 10,000 views to reach the million mark, and figured it was a few weeks off at least.

But the parking post garnered almost 2,500 and the bridge post nearly 9,000, so there you are.

There is no better example I can think of to drive home the point that local news matters. No one in Arkansas cares about the long delays in replacing the Keim Street bridge.

But here in Pottstown, another delay was news enough to draw nearly 10,000 eyeballs.

I am mindful of this milestone in that its significance is only what we place on it. Any mathematician worth his or her salt will tell you the difference between 9,999,999 and one million is simply one more.

Nevertheless, humans have ever looked for ways to measure relative progress and the same mathematician would also have to concede that 1 million views is 999,999,999 more than the first view on the first post.

That was 1,842 posts and 67 months ago.

It was Nov. 9, 2011 when I launched this blog. To this day, that post, titled "Hello and Welcome," has received exactly 66 views. Not exactly a bold and exciting start.

But in looking back and reading it, I find the mission has remained largely the same -- local news.

The motto at the top "All the news that don't fit in print," applies as much today as it did then.

Space in the print newspaper is not infinite and some things just don't get in. In our heyday, local newspapers were pages thick and things like local school awards or special programs at the local arts center or historical society had their place.

The success of this blog (if one million views is to be interpreted as such) suggests that has not changed. Whatever else people may think or feel about The New York Times, The Washington Post or CNN for that matter, they still want to see pictures of their kids doing well.

What's more, they want other people, their neighbors preferably, to see it too.

And like the newspaper, that's what this blog provides, a platform and delivery method to get local news to your neighbors.

I was reminded of this important lesson early on.

The first couple posts were written pieces about land preservation, a local political endorsement in a national election. Important certainly, but not the sort of thing people turn to a local news blog for.

Yes, I indulge myself writing about those types of subjects when the spirit moves me. But when I saw that the fifth post received a whopping 329 views (respectable even by today's numbers) it was obvious I had to ask myself why.

The answer was just as obvious.

It was about local people, specifically an announcement of a performance of "Mother Goose," at Pottsgrove High School.

In 2014, when the company still cared about such things,

Digital First Media issued this Blogger of the Year award.

The chance that announcement would make it into The Mercury before the
show was slim. But when I posted it in this blog, it reached 329 people largely, I believe, because it included pictures of the student performers.

There's a reason that the joke about local newspapers is that the typical headline reads "Local boy makes good."

Because that's exactly what it should say.

As Tim Gallagher, Pulitzer Prize-winning editor wrote in a June 16 post in Editor and Publisher, local newspapers:

"are vital in their community because many are the only source of local news. While national media struggles with claims of bias and fake news, they are trusted by their local communities who rely on hard

copies of the print edition. Small market newspapers are a beast entirely different from their metro/national counterparts — in terms of their communities of readers, their advertisers, and their content. Local journalism is rooted in a specific community in the way that national journalism cannot be.”

He was citing soon-to-be-released studies by researchers at the University of Oregon and the University of Virginia who looked at local papers with circulation

under 50,000. By the way, they comprise 96 percent of America’s 7,071 daily and weekly newspapers.

A key finding of the studies, Gallagher reported, is the unique nature of local journalism:

“These papers understand that they are a part of and not separate from

their communities, and with that comes a level of responsibility to doing your part to help the community succeed (again, without compromising journalistic integrity). It’s a challenging balancing act and we do not give nearly enough credit to those reporters and editors whom perform it.”

For more than 30 years, I've worked at local newspapers and despite their eternally scarce resources; their small town entanglements, their often-underestimated value, I know the importance they have to their communities, even if the community doesn't always.

"The proof," as they say, "is in the printing," or, in this case, the blogging.

Local news matters to the people who live locally.

This old dog has learned a few new digital tricks.

And what matters is more than just Johnny starring in the school play, which, as the father of this year's salutatorian at Pottstown High School, is not something about which I am ever dismissive.

But local people also want to know what is going on with their local government.

This blog lumbered along under its own power, reporting select items from local meetings too small to garner a newspaper headline, along with the announcements and the goings on at local schools and community organizations.

But the boost in views it received from live-Tweeting meetings is undeniable.

After I adapted my reporting methods to live-blogging local government meetings (and just about everything else), I found a way to gather them the Tweets together and post them in the blog the next day.

Although we can't always get that night's news into the next morning's print newspaper, this was a way to do exactly that, as well as include things that would not normally receive a headline.

For example, I often Tweet out the amount of the month's bills for the various boards I cover when they are announced. That would never generate a news story unless something unusual was going on, but it is public information that, I have found, people are interested in knowing.

It also provided a level of reporting transparency to the community: These were the things that happened, but we will be writing about just a few of them in the newspaper.

I have met many people who get their local government news almost entirely from my Twitter feed and don't get The Mercury, something I need to convince them is in error.

But those who don't use Twitter can see it all gathered together in the next day's blog post.

This combination of ease (and the fact that its free) has driven views significantly like some sort of evil news scheme.

There are two other relevant factors in our success and both have to do with circulation.

The blog, sitting on its own in the World Wide Web generates few views. After all, the blog has only 32 direct followers and one of them is my dad, so that's not getting you to a million views in five years.

The two things are, Facebook and John Armato.

In The Mercury newsroom, we can see the views on our web site shoot up as

soon as we post something on the newspaper's Facebook page. For reasons people smarter than me will have to explain, it's the platform our readers prefer.

Twitter may have a wide reach geographically, but when we want to drive local traffic we just post it on Facebook. Needless to say, I try to make sure the day's Digital Notebook post is one of the first things our readers see there.

In 2012, John was named the Pottstown Rotary Club's

Citizen of the Year.

As for John Armato, as most of you already know, he is the Pottstown School District's director of community relations. He is also the ultimate community booster and, he likes to collaborate.

Over the years, he has sent me countless press releases with an accompanying photo and helped to fill the pages of this blog.

I make it a rule to always inform the reader that the post is taken, usually verbatim, from the release the district has sent out, everything from the local ROTC successes to the epic travels of Pottstown's ubiquitous Trojan Man mascot.

If he sent these press releases out as simple emails to his impressive email list of community and educational contacts, they might get read or they might not.

But one of the strange this about this business is when he sends the same information out as a link to a blog post, it gets people's attention.

As a separate engine of local information, run by a journalist, the information seems more authenticated to readers, one step removed from bragging and one step closer to reporting.

This email cycle was an early booster to this blog's and remains a key element to its success and I thank him and enjoy the partnership tremendously.

It's a win/win because my views go up and more people see the good news about Pottstown Schools he is forever working to promote.

One more thank you and I'll shut up.

Thanks Nancy.

Former Mercury Editor Nancy March encouraged me to start this blog and convinced me to use it to focus on local news and less on opinion, which was my first intention.

As always, this was good advice from someone else who has, for her entire professional life, understood the importance of local journalism.

She should feel free to take this one million views milestone as further evidence that she has always known what she's talking about.

A Half-Million the Hard Way

So I didn't win the Powerball, so I am not a millionaire, or even a billionaire.

Nor did the office pool tickets win anything either.

But this month, I did become a half-millionaire.

In hits that is.

I'm talking about The Digital Notebook which you are reading right now, and at some point in the last week, it passed an artificial milestone.

It passed 500,000 hits.

Given that half the time, this blog is quite obviously a cut-and-paste job of press releases and photos sent in from local organizations, that's something worth noting.

As I have been contemplating the significance of this, it is also worth noting that those cut and paste jobs, with a few exceptions, are not big drivers of the numbers we're discussing here.

The exception which proves the rule is John Armato, the irrepressible, ever-adaptable and UNPAID director of community relations for the Pottstown School District

His releases have everything you want -- photos, photos, photos -- IDs for photos and a short, pithy run down of the event in the schools he is promoting.

In the interests of total disclosure, one of the reasons they drive hit numbers up is he then shares the posts I have culled from his submissions with the entire school community in a mass e-mail.

Everyone wins.

The staff and parents see the school efforts being showcased, efforts for which there is not always room in the pages of The Mercury, and my hit numbers go up.

So thanks John.

Those who know him know that as a wrestling coach, he likes to push the envelope and he was hoping, as the
numbers got close, I would reach the half-million mark before the year was out, so I could crow about that.

But I was content to let it happen when it happened.

And it did happen sometime in the first week of January.

It didn't happen over night.

My first post was on Nov. 9, 2011 and I did not hit the 500,000 mark until about 1,400 posts and four years later. (This is post 1,415 for those of you who are counting.)

The significance of all this, to me at least, has been watching what posts attract eyeballs and which don't.

I singled out Armato's posts precisely because they go against the trend I otherwise see.

The posts which I have observed invariably attract the most eyeballs are the posts with, what my profession now calls "original content."

You would not think, particularly if you've sat through as many as I have, that school board meetings and council meetings, would attract that kind of interest.

But almost without fail, that is what is driving those numbers.

Most recently, the live Tweeting of meetings, combined with the collection of those Tweets in something called a "Storify," (which I will forever insist is some kind of a Harry Potter spell), seems to have caught the attention of a segment of readership.

What makes this observation so satisfying to someone in my business is that these hit numbers confirm exactly what we have said all along.

People say they want positive stories about their community, and this blog has provided them in spades, and we're happy to do so. But the numbers don't lie.

What attracts the most eyeballs are the goings on of local government, how tax dollars are spent, and the idea that someone is keeping an eye on these things.

Which works out for me, because that's what I do for a living.

So, thanks for the eyeballs, stay with us because that's what you'll keep seeing here.

Lincoln Elementary, Bigger and Better Than Ever

Photos by John J. Armato

Lincoln Principal Calista Boyer addresses the crowd.

Saturday was a busy day in Pottstown and one of the many things I would have liked to attend but did
not get to was the re-dedication of Lincoln Elementary School.

This is my neighborhood school (do we still say that in Pottstown?) and the school my son attended.

He was educated by many of the teachers in this the above photo and I will confess to having a soft spot for it.

But I was working the snack bar for the Pottstown Schools Music Association at the Pottstown/Boyertown football game and the one Mercury photographer working Saturday had about

The crowd listens to a speaker at the start of the re-dedication ceremony.

10 other places to be.

So I did what I always do when I can't get something covered, I go with Plan B and rely upon Public Relations Coordinator John Armato, who took photos and sent them to me despite the fact that I messed up his new iPhone trying to show him how to use Twitter.

Hey I didn't mean to do it, but, let's face it. I don't know as much as Twitter as I like to pretend I do.

Anyway, enjoy the pics and congratulations to Lincoln for opening on time.

Schools Superintendent

Jeff Sparagana

As many of you will remember, that was an open question earlier in the year when three elementary schools, Lincoln, Franklin and Rupert, were all supposed to be completed before the start of school.

Two of the schools made it, and work on Rupert continues while the students and staff stay in the former Edgewood building on Morris Street.

Hopefully, Rupert will be ready to open by the start of the next marking period, but only time and a late-running construction project will tell if that goal is attainable.

Third Grade Teacher Michael Koman, an excellent teacher of my son's, helps out with the fun and games.

More fun and games were set up up in the renovated school's all purpose room.

When You Wish Upon a Fundraising Dinner...

Chorale 33 performs at the second annual Fundraising Dinner for the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities.

Blogger's Note: The following was sent to us by the good people at the Pottstown Cluster.

The second annual Fundraising Dinner to benefit the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities was held October 4, 2013 at the Berean Bible Church on High Street in Sanatoga. 

This year’s event, titled "Wish Upon a Star," nearly doubled last year’s total: already raising over $39,000 with pledges still coming in.

To keep the night running smoothly, John Armato, Director of Community Relations for the Pottstown

There was more than just dinner going on at this year's Fundraising Dinner.

School District, emceed the program. Catering for this special event was provided by Pottstown favorite, Bause Catered Events.

A live auction, hosted by Paul Prince, of Prince and Kurtas Law Firm, awarded NASCAR Pit Passes, Blair Winery Tour and private dinner, a NYC Fashion tour and Flyers Lithograph to the highest bidders.

The highlight of the evening was an encore performance by local talent Maggie Riker -- this year being joined by her equally talented brother, Dave Heffner. 

Also returning to the stage was 12-year old Madison Kershner, who gave a touching performance of “When You Wish Upon A Star.” 

The evening’s entertainment was rounded out with performances by The Sounds of Sunnybrook Dance Band and Chorale 33.

The evening marked the debut of an 8-minute video highlighting the mission, services and great need for the services the outreach center provides.



The event was supported by many local sponsors, including Boscov’s, PMMC, Cody Systems, the Pottstown Area Health and Wellness Foundation and The Hill School.

{For a complete list of sponsors, click here: http://www.pottstowncluster.org/ }

The event committee

The event committee, chaired by Dr. Myra Forrest, is comprised of many talented women from the Greater Pottstown community: Terryl Andrews-Marsh, Sharon Basile, Victoria Bumstead, Sue Creswell, Doreen Duncan, Lesley Duall, Lois Georeno, Fran Heffner, Teri Hoffman, Lalena Kennedy, JoAnn McKiernan, Maggie Riker, Linda Voytilla and Carol Weitzenkorn.

All funds raised support the PCRC’s programs and services.

Through interfaith cooperation, the Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities addresses the basic human needs of persons within the Greater Pottstown community, while assisting with their spiritual and social needs.

Their programs and referrals are coordinated to help individuals make real progress in moving from dependence to productive self-sufficiency.

Rupert Students Take a Stand Against Drugs.

Blogger's Note: Maybe I should just start calling this John Armato's blog ...

Day 4, Rupert students "Teamed Up" against drugs

Recently, the students and staff of Rupert Elementary School participated in the annual Red Ribbon Week, which is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country.  

Red Ribbon Week serves as a vehicle for communities and individuals to take a stand for the hopes and dreams of our children through a commitment to drug prevention and education and a personal commitment to live drug free lives with the ultimate goal being the creation of a drug free America.

Red Accessory day was on Day 2

Rupert Principal Matt Moyer along with the teaching staff organized a week long series of events starting with Day 1 Red Ribbon Week Kickoff during which all students received a drug free sticker and were given time to sign the school’s pledge to be drug free.   

On Day 2, students participated in “Red Accessory Day” during which they had opportunity to wear red accessories such as jewelry, hats, scarves, ties, socks, etc. with their regular school uniform.  

On Day 3, students participated in “Scaring Drugs” by wearing their favorite scary costumes.   

Rupert students made anti-drug posters as well.

Day 4 saw the students and teachers “Team Up Against Drugs” by wearing their favorite sports teams’ tee-shirts or jerseys. 

            

The week long activities ended with “Put A Cap on Drugs” where students were allowed to wear their craziest hat along with their school uniforms. 

Mr. Moyer explained, “I am proud of our students and staff for making such a personal commitment to live a drug free life.”

Bringing Barth the Good News

From left, Phillip Shiffler, Jaelyn Kennedy, Emily Weber and Jorge Mundo.  They are all Barth fourth graders who applied for and were chosen to serve for one month as Barth Network Newscasters.

Well, as we here at The Mercury endeavor every day to get a handle on the new "digital age" of news, it seems that the kids over at Pottstown's Barth Elementary School may be ahead of us already.

Thanks once again to the efforts of Pottstown's most relentless cheerleader, John Armato, FOB, (Friend of this Blog), we have yet another example of the kind of things going in Pottstown Schools which do not always rise to the top of the local media's priority list.

In this case, John tells us about fourth grade Barth students Jorge Mundo and Jaelyn Kennedy who, he writes, are well on their way to starting a career as television news anchors.   

The fourth graders, under the sponsorship of Carol Fazioli and Hayley Quigley, produce the Barth News Network daily television program which is broadcast to all Barth classrooms.  

The students are learning valuable public speaking skills as well as performing a school community service, he says. (And they may also be training as my replacement.)

John tells us that students must apply to become members of the news team.   

The news anchor position is one of many business oriented responsibilities that Barth students take on as part of the community and business model program which has been a foundation for Barth student activities.  

Students are "paid" with “Barth Bucks” which then can be redeemed at the student store for school supplies.  

But remember kids, the news never sleeps. Also remember, that you may get paid more in "Barth Bucks" than you ever would in real dollars if you decided to become a newspaper reporter...