After Nardie and Sally Stein send a thank-you note to Josh Levy (Cleveland/Washington, DC 85-87, 89, 92) for his contribution to the Camp Nebagamon Scholarship Fund, Josh sent back a reply that includes a summary of the interesting work he’s been doing:
“I welled up seeing this note from you. The 15-year old boy in me leapt from my chest. Like most of us in the camp family, I cherish the memories of that time in life. It’s just wonderful hearing from you. An update on my life? True, I’m no longer 15. I live in Bethesda with my wife, Liz, and kids, Eva (16), Max (13), and Georgia (10). Liz and I have been living in DC for nearly 20 years.
I’m a lawyer, but a happy one. About six years ago, I co-founded a law firm that would allow us to do good and do well. After practicing law at a big firm in DC and then serving as counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer and, after that, the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (investigating the government’s foul ups responding to Hurricane Katrina), I joined another firm as a partner and developed a practice representing clients in investigations and litigation. At that time, I also started teaching courses on “Congressional Investigations” and “Health Care Fraud” at Georgetown Law, and I haven’t stopped.
At our firm — Levy Firestone Muse — we have been investigating, on behalf of the Government of Rwanda, the role of senior French government officials in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. We have another office in Kigali, Rwanda, and I’ve been there every quarter for the last few years. In the middle of that, I’ve also been representing Glenn Simpson, Peter Fritsch, and Fusion GPS who contracted with Christopher Steele to write the memos now known as the “Trump Dossier,” in response to Republican congressional investigations and lawsuits filed against them by Russian oligarchs.
The president and his allies on the Hill & in the news media (and the oligarchs) have been at war with my clients for the last few years. You should know that camp is a big reason why we’ve been able to protect them from this brutal course of retaliation. First, I’ve been co-counsel with fellow Nebaga-alum Steve Salky (and other fabulous lawyers), and Steve and I have had a ball reminiscing and bonding on our shared camp memories, even though we are a generation apart. Steve’s fast become one of my best friends and professional heroes in DC. Second, Nardie is the first person in my life to tell me it was ok to push a bully — the advice came as an enormous shock on many levels, but he was right. Really what you were saying, Nardie, was “stand up for yourself,” and I needed to hear that. Now, that’s basically my job — standing up for others. I love being the shepherd for those caught in the middle of Washington inquiries. It’s given me a front row seat to history, and it’s allowed me to help good people who have found themselves in some real binds.
Little did more for my character and self-confidence as a teenager than camp. I credit it with so much. Others need to have that experience, and it’s my absolute pleasure to contribute to the fund. Thank you for keeping the fund going, and for absolutely everything you’ve done for thousands of us. We are all in your debt.”
Roger Wallenstein sent in a write-up from the Chicago Sun-Times last November. In it, Kenna Turner, who went on to win four Super Bowls in the 1980s as a linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers, recalled his days playing high school football at Chicago Vocational. Turner, a member of the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, attended the school a generation after Chicago Vocational’s most famous linebacker-alumnus – NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus. You can read the article here, but what caught Roger’s eye was the glowing mention of the longtime Chicago Vocational head coach – none other than Bernie “Obie” O’Brien, who was a vital member of the Camp Nebagamon staff from 1943 through 1960:
“Butkus might have been an inspiration, but it would be late Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame coach Bernie O’Brien who helped advance Turner’s football career, his zest for winning trickling down to his team. “O’Brien was your typical scrappy Irish coach – a little man with a drive to win who inspired his players to want to win,” Turner said. “And, keep in mind, O’Brien went from coaching predominantly white teams to an all-black team and remained the same. He was all about football, not the color of his players’ skin. That said a lot about not only his love and integrity for the game but his character as a coach.”
Before his Nebagamon years, “Obie” O’Brien played halfback at Notre Dame, graduating in 1935. In 1941, he began his high school coaching career, eventually becoming Chicago Vocational’s head varsity coach in 1957, the same year Dick Butkus arrived. The coach led the school to seven Public League championships and earned Chicago Sports Hall of Fame honors in 1996, four years before he passed away. In a Chicago Tribune obituary, Butkus said “To me, he portrayed what a real high school coach should be. He had the ability to deal with all kinds of kids from different backgrounds… We’ve had a number of reunions, and I never heard a single person–not even an equipment kid–say a bad word about him.”
Roger included the following picture from his files, showing the coach and the Butkus family.
Last November, Mike Samuels (Youngstown, OH/Washington, D.C. 50-58) was remarried at the age of 80 to Lena Auerbach in a small ceremony in the chambers of the Honorable David Tatel, a well-known judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit. After two stints as a U.S. ambassador and positions as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and president of an international business consulting firm, Mike knows a bit about leadership and the challenges of balancing priorities. So it was nice that, after seeing Adam Kaplan at the Washington, D.C. camp reunion, he wrote the following note as a grateful alumnus: “I meant to tell you this after the 90th, but never did — I am thrilled at your guidance and leadership that has both kept the Nebagamon that made such a positive difference in my life and modernized it. I am sure it hasn’t been easy doing both simultaneously, so I am doubly appreciative.”