Obama Stirred Excitement
On Visiting Hall Of Fame In ’14
By JIM KEVLIN
COOPERSTOWN - The Friday before Thursday, May 22, 2014, then-mayor Jeff Katz was hanging out in the kitchen of his Chestnut Street home with son Robbie, who had just gotten home from SUNY Oswego, when the phone rang.
It was Police Chief Mike Covert. With his son just having arrived, the mayor ignored it. The chief called “twice, three times… It had to be important for him to do that.” Covert didn’t want to talk on the phone. “You can meet me on the front porch,” said Katz, and it was there he got the news. “I just got word Obama’s coming,” said the breathless chief, as Katz described it. “Next Thursday. Here’s what we know. There will be more to come. As of now, it’s a secret.” The next night, Katz was at the Southside Cinemas in Oneonta, watching “Godzilla” with sons Robbie and Joey. “My phone started ringing,” people calling about the rumors he couldn’t talk about. “The next morning, Obama announced it on his Saturday address. So now everyone knew.” At 25 Main St., Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson was having a similar experience. The day before Covert called Katz, Idelson’s office phone likewise rang. It was Ken Meifert, VP for development, telling his boss he’d just gotten a call from the White House. “It was the White House’s idea; and I can’t think of a better one,” said Idelson at the time, which just happened to be the Hall of Fame’s 75th anniversary year.
