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What national high school champion has been working out with his high school coach on Aquidneck Island these pas fwe summers? Hint: His sport is track and field ... and his specialty is a field event.
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If it wasn’t for (Ira) Wolfe, (Manny) Silverio might never have come to Newport … this or any summer. And if it wasn’t for “Biggie” Korn, Wolfe might still think of Newport as a name of a cigarette.
As Wolfe tells it Korn and he were cronies back in their North Bergen childhood before going separate way. Wolfe went to Montclair State, spent a decade as a pro football trainer and the past 11 years at North Bergen High School. Korn moved around show biz circles before hitting the bigtime … as road manager of Newport’s very own, The Cowsills. In 1966, with the rock group moving up, up, up, Korn purchased Dorian’s nightspot on Thames Street. What better man to server as summer bouncer than his old friend (and weightlifting nut), Ira Wolfe?
Wolfe was able to spend his days working out at the Navy Base and the old YMCA maintaining that formidable physique all ID checkers need. One of his companions at the Y was a 14yeaold kid who’s become a well-known athlete (and bouncer) in these parts … Mark Cameron. Wolfe still laughs at those early memories.
"That first year I lived in The Cowsills' 28 room mansion," reminisced Wolfe. "I had it all to myself, eight bathrooms, too! Ah, that wasn’t including electricity and water. It was shut off. Still I had a good time.
As The Cowsills went down, down, down during the next few years, so did Wolfe’s living quarters. Estate stables with Cameron to rooms atop bars to seven in an apartment, Wolfe had bedded down in them all. “I’ve slowly moved from Ocean Drive to outer Broadway,” he quipped. . . .
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