I always find these hall-of-fame things a bit subjective and not very relevant, aside from those focusing on sports. Sports like baseball and basketball have statistics that allow for measurement of impact, though there are significant variables that have to be considered.
New Jersey kicked off its Hall of Fame last year with an interesting class that included Bruce Springsteen and Toni Morrison. This year’s class includes Walt Whitman, Paul Robeson, F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Carlos Williams.
The Fitzgerald induction seems odd, given his short tenure in the state — and given that Philip Roth who, in the end, may be the more important writer and who certainly is a Jersey boy.
My own list of great New Jersey writers would include Whitman, Williams, Stephen Crane, Roth, Robert Pinsky, Amiri Baraka, C.K. Williams and Gerald Stern and Allen Ginsberg. Fitzgerald, Morrison and Yusel Komanyakaa, who spent time in Princeton, all deserve mention, as well, as do Tom Perotta and Junot Diaz.
Sports figures must start with Yogi and the Scooter, but also include Al Leiter, Rick Barry, Shaq, Deron Cherry, Eddie Jordan, Pete Carrill, Kelly Tripucka, Mike O’Koren, the Hurley family, Eric Young, Roy Hinson, Jason Kidd — and there are a number of others. I don’t have the hockey background, so I know I’m missing Devils players. And Althea Gibson and Carl Lewis, of course.
This list could go on — Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Jack Nicholson, John Travolta, Danny DeVito, Bruce and the E Street Band, Bon Jovi, the Smithereens, the Feelies, Debbie Harry, Southside Johnny, Patti Smith, Frankie Valli — the list seems endless.
Hank Kalet 