MEN’S CLUB Resident Dennis
Rappaport Zooms In
BY HOWARD ARKIN
The North Shore Towers Men’s Club recently
featured resident Dennis Rappaport as
the guest speaker on Zoom. The choice
must have been a good one because when Toby
Horowitz began the session, there was barely an
empty box for me to get into on my laptop. We
must have set a record with 60 Zoom attendees.
Dennis, a professional boxing promoter and
manager, has lived at North Shore Towers with
his wife Linda for 28 years. He began his lecture
by telling us about the origins of boxing,
which dates back to 3000 BC in Egypt. Boxing
continued into the Roman Empire, where the
gladiators fought to the finish. And I do mean
finish! The sport found its way to eighteenth
century England where the combatants fought
with bare knuckles. The Marquis of Queensbury
Rules, as well as the use of boxing gloves, were
introduced a century later. Dennis then went on
to discuss boxing in the United States, highlighting
the famous John L. Sullivan vs. Jim Corbett
fight in 1892.
Dennis’s introduction to boxing occurred
when he was a youngster in Brooklyn and his
father took him to a gym where he met Sugar
Ray Robinson. He still considers him to be the
greatest boxer of all time. Dennis reminisced
about 1982 being one of the most fruitful years of
his entire life. He not only married his beautiful
wife Linda, but along with co-manager Mike
Jones handled Gerry Cooney in his heavyweight
title fight against Larry Holmes. Five years later
he again managed Cooney in his championship
battle against Leon Spinks.
Both Dennis and Mike had reputations for
the many creative and crazy ways they promoted
their fighters, earning the title “the wacko
twins.” Some of their more notable antics were
having fighter Ronnie Harris wear a yarmulke
while fighting or getting a gorilla to come into
the ring. Dennis mentioned another funny
story when Hector Camacho wanted to skip
training and jumped out of a
second-floor window. When Dennis confronted
him, Camacho claimed it was martial artist
Bruce Lee who had jumped. This was unlikely
as he had been dead for about 10 years. I’m still
wondering how Hector survived the fall! Dennis
also discussed a long list of boxing movies, going
all the way back to the 1930’s. Raging Bull, a
more current day movie starring Robert DeNiro,
was noted to be more realistic than many of the
older boxing films.
Other notable fighters besides Cooney that
Dennis either managed or promoted are Trevor
Burbick, Tony Tucker and the Russian champ
Oleg Maskaev. Dennis was inducted to the
New York State Boxing Hall of Fame in 2016.
There are not many people in their lifetimes that
have met as many people in the entertainment
and sports world as Dennis has, among them
Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope,
Eddie Murphy and George Steinbrenner. He
was also part of a group that had made a bid to
purchase the Yankees from Steinbrenner.
On another note, a new face appeared on the
screen this evening, and we were introduced
to a new member. Welcome to the club, Joe
Rosenberg! For information about the Men’s
Club or to join, please contact Toby Horowitz
at tmhmgt@yahoo.com.
Dennis and Muhammad Ali take a break
Photo courtesy of Linda Rappaport
Men’s Club Zoom Meeting Recap
BY HOWARD ARKIN
On February 18, the Men’s
Club continued its lecture
series with another informative
and interesting Zoom session on
the topic of cybersecurity, moderated
by Scott Shinberg. Mr. Shinberg is
an award-winning author with an
impressive resume spanning over
30 years, having obtained degrees in
electrical engineering from the Air
Force Academy and Virginia Tech.
He has served in leadership positions
with the Department of Homeland
Security, the FBI as well as serving as
an Air Force intelligence operations
officer.
Much of Mr. Sheinberg’s presentation
pertained to the computer
security and telephone and bank
card fraud scams. We all were able
to come away from his presentation
with a better grasp on how to
protect ourselves from hackers and
scammers online. For instance, the
technical support scam is one which
many of us fall prey to. This scam
has someone purporting to be from
Apple or Microsoft calling to warn
you that your computer has been
infected with a virus but that they
can fix it for a fee.
Mr. Shinberg also discussed a scam
known as the “grandparent scam.”
This one has a grandparent receiving
an email or telephone call supposedly
from your grandchild. The grandchild
might say they are in a foreign country
and need money for bail to get
out of jail, going on to say they were
robbed and their passport was stolen
as well. May the day never arrive that
we fall for that one.
Another scam that is currently
in vogue is “the work from home
scam.” In this scam you sign on
to work for an employer where
you will be ordering merchandise
online and sending it to an overseas
address once you receive it. Your
“employer” will ask for your social
security number and other banking
information so he can send out your
paycheck, which you will never
receive (surprise, surprise).
One scam that Mr. Shinberg did
not mention is what I refer to as
“the spam scam.” On the left-hand
side of your computer screen where
your emails are located is the word
“spam.” Beware, clicking on “spam”
will not get you a little tin can of
jellied pork, but will instead possibly
entangle you in a scammer’s web.
In the 30 years that I have owned a
computer I have religiously deleted
every spam message as soon as I’ve
gotten it.
Mr. Shinberg then went on to
warn us of the gas pump skimmer.
These are crooks who put their
own credit card reader over the gas
pump’s legitimate card reader. The
pump will work fine and you will be
totally unaware that your credit card
information has been stolen until
unfamiliar charges start appearing
on your statements. If you see something
suspicious at the pump, report
it to the attendant.
As we advance further into the
world of cyberspace, scammers
and hackers will continue to find
new ways to commit crime at our
expense. However, if we remain
alert and informed, we will surely
be able to stay a few steps ahead of
them and minimize potential losses.
The following dates are upcoming
Men’s Club zoom events:
April 15, Ann Margaret Carrozza
(Attorney) discussing Eldercare,
protection of assets, long term
health care and other financial
decisions.
May 13, James Coll (Professor)
understanding how the Supreme
Court works.
For information contact Jerry
Siegel at 347 235 4513 or jerrysiegel1185@
gmail.com or
Toby Horowitz at 718 279 0082
or tmhmgt@yahoo.com
April 2021 ¢ NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER 25
link
link
link
link
/gmail.com
link
link
