NJ Cops Oct18 | Page 62

22nd Annual Special Olympics Plane Pull Stories and photos by Amber Ramundo and Mitchell Krugel No team finer than Fairfield’s Finest Exertion, energy, exhilaration and ex- uberance exuded from the expression on Blake Zampino’s face. With his fa- ther, West Essex Local 81 member Chuck Zampino, covering Blake’s back, Blake led Fairfield’s Finest into the 2018 Special Olympics Plane Pull on Sept. 29 at Newark Liberty Airport. The essence of the event flowed through Blake to Fairfield’s Finest. Par- ticipating for the 17th time, Fairfield has put together a blueprint to maximize all aspects of the competition. The Plane Pull consists of three phases. The first compels teams to pull a plane at- tached to a rope 12 feet as fast as possible. The second phase is a second pass that measures the lowest amount of combined body weight needed to pull the plane 12 feet. And the third is the most important: how much money a team can raise for Special Olympics New Jersey. Behind Detective Robert Sanger, who has been leading this team for all 17 years it has participated, Fairfield collected $14,000 this year to top the $100,000 to- tal of money raised. That’s $100,000 in 17 years with no corporate sponsors; just members going door-to-door and busi- ness-to-business to ask for donations. “I’ll be honest with you, when we first started doing it, it was, ‘Let’s go pull the plane.’ Just testosterone,” Sanger ex- plained. “But the more we got into it, we see the Special Olympians here every year, and they’re just so grateful you’re doing this for them. I don’t know if there’s a better cause.” Although Sanger is due the credit – and the other Local 81 members are quick to give it to him – he puts it back on them just as quickly. Watching Fairfield’s Finest do its thing on the rope, it’s almost like seeing that rope turn into a thin blue line. “Yes, it is,” Sanger continued. “A lot of our members have been doing this for many years. And we have new members coming up to me asking, ‘When’s the Plane Pull?’ I’m grateful to them every year. I make them wake up on a Satur- day morning and we’re not going out for breakfast. I’ll say, ‘Hey, I’ll give you a ba- gel. Can you come pull a plane with me?’ Members of the Fairfi eld’s Finest team which included members of West Essex Local 81, cele- brate after seeing their total in the lowest com- bined weight phase of the Special Olympics Plane Pull. Now, every year, everybody just can’t wait to do it.” Fairfield’s Finest has become known for pulling out all the stops in the Plane Pull. This year, the team found added incentive by dedicating its efforts to Willie Torres, a longtime Special Olympian from Newark. Despite Willie’s passing, he had a big hand in Fairfield producing its best effort ever on the rope. “I think he was out there with us today,” Sanger cherished. “He is every year.” When the team stepped up for its at- tempt at the fastest pull, it lasted slight- ly longer than a blink of an eye. Behind Blake and Chuck Zampino stood Jimmy Ciampi, a rock ‘em, sock ‘em robot with law enforcement laser-focus and a can’t- miss approach to getting his pull on. “Rob actually told us to always keep your feet moving,” assessed Ciampi, who participates in some competition body- building in his off time. “Shoulders back, look up and always keep pushing your Blake Zampino, son of Local 81 member Chuck Zampino, leads Fairfi eld’s Finest in the fastest pull phase. legs.” For all the leg work, Ciampi had arms big enough to move the plane by himself. And the Local 81 group had too much pull for this day. Its 6.96 time handily won the fastest pull phase. With just a short break, six team members stepped up for the next phase, and their combined weight of 1,292 pounds was low enough to win the combined weight phase. And although official records aren’t kept, Fairfield’s Finest appeared to cap- ture the first Triple Crown in Plane Pull history by winning all three phases: fast- est pull, lowest combined weight and to- tal money raised. Sanger said that if his group did pull off the rare triple, he might have to retire from Plane Pull duties. But there is one aspect of this event that will probably keep him coming back long after he retires from the job. “It’s all teamwork. That fastest pull, the lightest weight, raising the money — it’s all teamwork,” he rejoiced. “That’s what this job is about. That’s what this event is about.”  www.njcopsmagazine.com ■ OCTOBER 2018 61