Pernetti takes the field
Sports is often an analogy for life, there are triumphs and defeats – there are good breaks, and bad breaks.
Oakland Recreation Commissioner Tim Pernetti has seen them both, and today on the Oakland Rec fields he got a good one as Oakland softball players teamed up to show their support for the Oakland Rec Commissioner and the former Athletic Director of Rutgers University. ( See video below with Rec Commissioners Dan Logatto and Tim Pernetti)
The Oakland Rec softball players were not the first in Oakland to publicly voice their support for Pernetti, they were inspired by the Indian Hills High School lacrosse players who offered a similar display of support.
Oakland Softball Players
Pernetti had resigned his position from Rutgers in the wake of the Mike Rice coaching video with the intent to help Rutgers move forward, but that may not be the case as the university flounders with disclosures that raise concerns over the honesty of the university president and its board.
Seeking a replacement for Pernetti at Rutgers will obviously not be easy, which is apparently why a 26 member panel has been compiled to conduct a search for a new athletic director.
Oakland, NJ, has an experienced candidate for the job – Tim Pernetti.
Pernetti has been a major and passionate supporter of Oakland Recreation – even more so after having assumed a seat on the Oakland Rec Commission – but support for Pernetti is not local to Oakland as a grassroots effort to have him reinstated continues to grow online.
The Internet is the poor person’s platform, for those people who can’t afford a politician’s ear, and that soap box is getting crowded with over 5,000 “likes” on the I Support Tim Pernetti Facebook page, and over 2,500 signatures on the petition to reinstate Tim Pernetti.
Tim Pernetti has had a lot of good breaks, and a few bad – and in the scheme of life being forced to resign from Rutgers is small. Pernetti knows bad breaks; he knows Eric LeGrand, the former Rutgers University football player who was paralyzed from the neck down, and he’s been at LeGrand’s side in the tough times – and LeGrand has been there for Pernetti.
In sports, and life, some bad breaks just can’t be fixed – but some can.
It’s time for Rutgers University president Robert Barchi and the Rutgers University Board of Trustees to put the Mike Rice video behind them… and review their own pernicious actions regarding Pernetti.
It’s time to reverse the call on the forced resignation of Tim Pernetti, and return some honesty to Rutgers University.
Submitted by Charlie McCormick
Photographs & video by Caron McCormick
https://www.change.org/petitions/new-jersey-governors-office-reinstate-tim-pernetti
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ISupportTimPernetti/
Click Here To watch Video on Youtube
Links:
Rutgers appoints panel to find replacement for athletic director Tim Pernetti
I am President & CEO of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. Congratulations on a great article and I love your sports metaphor. To use another, life is a marathon and not a sprint. I know something about the character of Tim Pernetti– when Eric LeGrand had his spinal cord injury, Tim was the second person that he saw. In SCI that’s the easy part– Tim masterfully handled the press, the details and the families desire for privacy. One could argue that that was part of his job. But the measure of the man is how he has responded throughout the marathon– Tim stayed with Eric and will stay with Eric at every turn of the corner. He gave that family hope, counsel and unconditional and continuous love. I rarely see this in my position and really feel he was an incredible Athletic Director. He admitted a mistake, but knowing the man know that he tried to make it work and what is really wrong about giving someone a shot at redemption.
If I am in a foxhole, if my children are facing a crisis, if life takes a bite of me, there are few people I’d want fighting for me– Tim Pernetti is one. Congratulations to the athletes of Oakland for recognizing that
I am second generation RU grad, my Dad, Arthur Richmond is a Loyal Son. I am sickened and disheartened by the Barchi and Christie debacle. My father who was head of financial aide, must be rolling over in his grave. I am as my father would have been, fighting the politics that hurt the students of this University. God help us.
Thank you Peter, perhaps more people in the know will come out and support, Tim Eric and Christopher. Maybe you could send this to Gov Christie
and Pres. Barchi .