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7/20/22, 11:36 AM The Party – Shoe Leather
Shoe Leather
The Party
00:00 00:00
Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 44:06 | Recorded on May 11, 2022
On the morning of September 11, 2001, news trucks lined the driveway of Horace Greeley High
School in Chappaqua, N.Y. Reporters were on campus covering one of the biggest stories of
the day. A group of football players had thrown a party that triggered a national media storm.
The story launched the suburban high school into center stage of the American Culture Wars.
It would disappear hours later in the wake of 9/11, but not before the Clintons, an adult
entertainment service owner, Bill O’Reilly, Jeanine Pirro, and Conan O’Brien got involved.
Transcript
MASON LEIB
It’s 2001. A Sunday. Late afternoon. Bill Tribou is at home prepping film for practice the next
day.
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That’s when his phone rings. It’s the Newcastle Police Department.
Music in: Borough, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
They’re calling about the Quakers – the Horace Greeley High School football team. Bill’s the
head coach.
BILL TRIBOU
He said, There was a huge party, there was alcohol involved.
MASON
And marijuana.
BILL T.
And then he dropped the bomb on me the stripper was involved.
Music out: Borough, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
Allegedly, the performance involved whipped cream.
Music in: Borough, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
Bill didn’t know it at the time, but members of his high school football team had thrown the
most infamous party in Horace Greeley High School history. A party – which triggered a
media storm that reached far beyond the New York City suburb where it took place.
Music in: ABC 7 Eyewitness News
NEWSCASTER
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Tonight. Concern and outrage from parents about a party where a stripper performed for
high school football players.
LAUREN SAGNELLA
The events that followed consumed the hamlet of Chappaqua, New York in a national
controversy and launched a morality debate across the nation.
BILL O’REILLY
Thank you for watching us tonight. Holding people accountable for their actions is the
subject of this evening’s talking points memo…
LAUREN
Even some well-connected neighbors got involved…
CONAN O’BRIEN
Speaking of politics, yesterday, Hillary Clinton criticized a neighbor in Chappaqua because
the neighbor’s son threw a party for his high school football team.
LAUREN
And then a little more than a week after the party, September 10, 2001, parents and school
administrators attended a meeting – which made the nightly news.
NEWSCASTER
Our other big story tonight: Westchester parents packed a high school meeting this evening
voicing shock and outrage about a private-party for high school football players.
LAUREN
The next morning, barely anyone would remember the party.
Music out: Borough, Blue Dot Sessions
CNN NEWSCASTER
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And there as you could see, perhaps the second tower, the front tower, the top portion of
which, is collapsing. Good Lord.
LAUREN
Suddenly, what seemed like a crisis, felt trivial.
Music in: Borough, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
How did a high school party become national news? Did the media blow it out of proportion?
Or was the world so different then – pre 9/11 – that too much booze and a naked woman were
seen as the biggest threats to the safety of the next generation?
Music out: Borough, Blue Dot Sessions
Music in: Squeegee (Shoe Leather theme)
MASON
September 10, 2001 is a big day in New York City.
It’s Fashion Week.
NEWSCASTER
Leather, Lace and everything in-between. It is all moving down the catwalk at Fashion Week
in New York.
MASON
There’s a mayoral election with a progressive democrat poised to win.
MARK GREENE
I think I’ll win unless there’s a big external event that disrupts everything. Close quote.
LAUREN
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Not everyone has a cell phone but most people have beepers.
Beeper Sound
MASON
And a suburban High School Party is being covered on national nightly news.
LAUREN
This is Shoe Leather, an investigative podcast that digs up stories from New York City’s past to
find out how yesterday’s news affects us today.
This season we look at what was making news the day before 9/11.
MASON
I’m Mason Leib.
LAUREN
And I’m Lauren Sagnella.
This is Shoe Leather season three, The Day Before.
You’re listening to The Party.
Music out: Squeegee (Shoe Leather theme)
Pre-Training (August 2001)
BILL T.
On the other side of that set of lights over there that’s the school campus.
MASON
Okay.
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LAUREN
Yeah.
MASON
Do you want to head that way? Or do you want to stay at the crossing?
BILL T.
I think we should stay over here.
MASON
Sure.
MASON
We met Bill Tribou on a blustery February day, across the street from his former job. “I have a
large gray beard,” he texts me before we meet him. He’s not lying. His beard is biblical. It
covers the majority of his face and hangs down to his collarbone.
BILL T.
As I told you, they would probably not want – you know, if it came out we were walking
around that campus, the potential for opening up an old wound.
MASON
That old wound Bill’s talking about – the party.
Bill is 67 years old. He’s been a football coach in New York for all of his adult life.
BILL T.
The local high school football coach came to speak at the school, of course recruiting
players, and after I heard that guy talk, I said that’s what I want to be.
MASON
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We’re standing in Chappaqua Crossing about 40 miles outside of New York City. Chappaqua
is a hamlet – a small chunk of the larger town of Newcastle. The area is one of the wealthiest
communities in New York state – maybe even America.
BILL T.
And, as you can see, it’s a pretty well off community. The school is one of the best there is…
The way the school is run is why it has the reputation that it does.
MASON
Ironically, Chappaqua is no stranger to the news – the town has a deep-seated history in mass
media. In fact, we’re standing talking to Bill in what used to be the headquarters for “Reader’s
Digest”, a New York-based magazine.
Horace Greeley statue in Chappaqua, N.Y. (Lauren Sagnella)
MASON
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Ironically, Chappaqua is no stranger to the news – the town has a deep-seated history in mass
media. In fact, we’re standing talking to Bill in what used to be the headquarters for “Reader’s
Digest”, a New York-based magazine.
And that’s not the only media connection. Horace Greeley, a founding father of American
Journalism, bought land here in the 1850’s and the town never forgot. He was the founder of
the New-York Tribune. His name is plastered everywhere. From statues, to street signs, to the
high school.
The 2001 Horace Greeley Quakers football team was primed to make headlines.
BILL T.
We knew that we had a, we had a great group coming in, and our expectations were high.
MASON
They were on their way to Massachusetts for summer training camp. It was late August. And
it was hot.
The camp was brutal. Almost like basic training.
MAC BOWEN
And camp – it was that intense kind of training atmosphere that I imagine is part of military
training. And it always kind of got mythologized, for good reason, but you know, it’s definitely
the hardest physical exertion that I had ever been through, probably to this day.
LAUREN
That’s Mac Bowen. Back in 2001, he was a team captain of the Quakers – Horace Greeley’s
high school football team.
MAC
It’s one of those things I joke about – you never – a beautiful experience you never want to go
through again. You know, I think there’s a lot of a lot of like military allegory when you’re
talking about football teams and like the kind of machismo of it and going into battle and
all that kind of stuff.
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Mac Bowen – Captain of the 2001 Horace Greeley High School football team.
(Zoom)
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LAUREN
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Mac is a doctor now in New Mexico. That’s where we reach him. He’s wearing a
bowtie in one interview with a checkered shirt. There is a #1 Dad foam finger
featured prominently in his background.
That’s the kind of guy he is – and it seems was.
Coach Bill remembers Mac very well.
BILL T.
But on top of that just the salt of the earth and extremely intelligent. And
when he went he was a captain on the team. And when he talked, people
listened. And in no way a, you know, a rugged maniac or anything like that.
When you played against him, he was a rugged maniac. But I mean he was
just a great, great guy.
LAUREN
In the 2001 Horace Greeley High School yearbook, Mac thanks his mom, dad,
and brother Ned.
“Mom and Dad”, he writes, “words can’t express how much you mean to me. I
love you so much. Ned – You’re the best role model I could have had. Thanks
for being there to guide me. I love you, man.”
Not a big surprise, Mac was a team captain.
Music in: Nelly, “Country Grammar”
LAUREN
Mac remembers long summer days in Massachusetts. Sometimes four practices a day.
“Country Grammar” by Nelly on repeat.
MAC
Doing nothing but play football, eating, sleeping, and a little bit of bunk wars, and kind of
messing around and having fun.
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Music out: Nelly, “Country Grammar”
LAUREN
By the end of the week, it seems like everyone had a blast.
MAC
You kind of have this euphoria, right, like just accomplished training camp is done in the rear
view, like, you know, still got summer I think it’s the week before school or something like
that. Right. So you’re kind of excited to go back and, you know, see all your friends.
MASON
The players party planned on the bus back from camp.
MAC
On the bus ride back is when, you know, kind of had this like culmination of all this work and
energy and want to blow off a little bit of steam.
BILL T.
One of the players had this idea to put this party together. And they actually made the call
from the bus to do this.
Music in: Longtime Rye, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
That call was to Louis Anthony Agnello –
A quick talking, actor in-training, turned exotic dancer, turned owner of adult entertainment
service, self-proclaimed “stripper king of New York,” who went only by “Cousin Vinny.”
LOUIS “COUSIN VINNY” ANTHONY AGNELLO
I was one of the top strippers in the country at one time. I’ve been featured in Super Teen
Magazine’s “Heavenly Hunks Poem.”
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MASON
Super Teen Magazine was a popular teen lifestyle magazine.
At the time, Vinny owned Gorgeous Strippers Plus, an adult entertainment
service.
Vinny said someone called, asked for a stripper and said they would pay in
h $ di
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cash. Over $300, according to news reports.
Music out: Longtime Rye, Blue Dot Sessions
Gorgeous Strippers Plus Ad. (News 12 Westchester)
MASON
A quick note: A lot’s changed since 2001 – today we might refer to people who do this kind of
work as a stripper, an exotic dancer, a sex worker, or a performer. In this episode, you’ll hear
“stripper” in the tape and interviews. The performer’s name was Nicole.
VINNY
She was like around 30 I think at the time which in the stripping business at that time was
kind of long in the tooth – that’s one of the reasons she was staying home and all the young
ones we’re on our way to New Jersey.
MASON
Word began to spread onboard the southbound bus.
MAC
There began to be rumors of including that sort of entertainment and that was always you
know, I guess I was just maybe a little bit more hesitant and shy.
MASON
Mac decided he would not be attending the party. He went home and thinks he watched a
movie.
MAC
I kind of left the the gentlemen off the bus. Just kind of went about my business.
MASON
And the rest is history, at least in the small town of Chappaqua…
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The Party (September 1, 2001)
LAUREN
The party was hosted by the backup quarterback at his home in the neighborhood. It’s a
quiet part of town away from main streets.
We visited the Chappaqua library and used high school yearbooks to guide us in our search
for students and football players. We reached out to those who seemed like they might have
been at the party. But, they didn’t want to speak to us. We also reached out to the host – the
backup quarterback – and he said he didn’t want to be interviewed and neither did his
parents.
Music in: Grumpalo, Blue Dot Sessions
The 2001 Horace Greeley High School yearbook.
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LAUREN
From what we gather, this party sounds like an urban legend in Chappaqua.
Everyone from the clerk at the courthouse to a cop at the police station, to a lawyer we spoke
with, knew about the party. A high school party that happened more than 20 years ago…
From what we can piece together from news coverage and interviews, this party seems like it
could have been a scene in one of those epic teen movies.
These films shaped our American teenage cultural identity, sparking inspiration for parties in
suburbs like Chappaqua.
In August 2001, American Pie 2 was released. It, of course, is about a party to close out
summer.
Music out: Grumpalo, Blue Dot Sessions
AMERICAN PIE 2
Guys – this is what our party’s got to be – something we’ll always remember, you know?
LAUREN
The Westchester District Attorney at the time, Jeanine Pirro, appeared on a local news show
to report on the party.
Yes – that Jeanine Pirro – conservative politician and the former host of “Justice with Judge
Jeanine,” and current co-host of “The Five” on Fox News.
JEANINE PIRRO
This country is going to hell in a handbasket and you know it.
LAUREN
With a little help from an unlikely duo – Coach Bill and Jeanine Pirro – here’s what we know
about the party:
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Music in: Grumpalo, Blue Dot Sessions
LAUREN
On Saturday September 1, 2001, there was a high school house party with some players from
the football team and their friends. They ranged in age from freshmen to seniors.
BILL T.
He said, there was a huge party, there was alcohol involved.
JEANINE
Drinking. Smoking pot.
BILL T.
And then he dropped the bomb on me the stripper was involved.
LAUREN
The woman who performed – Nicole.
Music out: Grumpalo, Blue Dot Sessions
JEANINE
What happened was, neighbors called because there was a, you know, a noise complaint,
second time around, the police respond and this time they go into the backyard and they
see a group of 30 to 40 young students, highschoolers, who are surrounding a stripper as
she is engaging in sexual activity.
LAUREN
To quote the Gorgeous Strippers Plus ad, her routine fit into the category, “too risque to say.”
Here’s how Vinny explained it to us:
VINNY
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The only problem, of course, was that I guess the kids were making a whole bunch of noise.
And neighbors called and complained, police came in, police see stripper butt naked on the
deck and kids playing around with her… and suddenly, you know, I think a molehill got turned
into a mountain.
LAUREN
We tried to get the police report from that time, but it’s sealed. Probably because minors
were involved.
Then the night after the party, Coach Bill got that call from a police friend.
BILL T.
And that’s when I knew that, that this was not going to be a good situation, mainly because
of the things that I talked about before the, the community doesn’t want those kind of
things, you know, to be to be advertised all over the, the news and bad press and, and things
of that nature.
LAUREN
But the community didn’t have much choice…
In the following days, this party was not just the talk of the town…it was the talk of the nation.
Music in: La Naranja Borriana, Blue Dot Sessions
The Media Storm (September 2 – 10, 2001)
MONTAGE OF NEWS CLIPS
When police responded to noise complaints at this home Saturday night in upscale
Newcastle, they were stunned at what they found. A naked stripper who was ordered by
students from the yellow pages, performing sex acts at a party for members of the Horace
Greeley High School Varsity Football Team…
a teenager’s party included a stripper….
A high school football team party…
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booze and pot football party…
party turns into trouble…
the teen party….
Not far from the home of the former President Bill Clinton….
the Horace Greeley football quarterback hosted a party…
this shocking case has people in the community talking, that’s for sure…
$325 cash to perform at the party….
Booze and pot party…
Tracy the community there hasn’t seen this kind of attention since the Clintons moved in.
Lotta talk going on…..
MASON
The story ran on the front page of the NY Post, in the NY Times, and even Conan O’Brien
joked about it…
Music out: La Naranja Borriana, Blue Dot Sessions
CONAN
Speaking of politics, yesterday, Hillary Clinton criticized a neighbor in Chappaqua because
the neighbor’s son threw a party for his high school football team and hired a stripper to put
on a nude sex show. So Hillary Clinton’s mad. Mrs. Clinton very mad, yeah. And president
Clinton criticized the parents too but only cause he wasn’t invited. (Audience laughs and
claps.)
MASON
The Clintons lived about 10 minutes from where the party took place. They purchased their
Chappaqua home in 1999 – right after President Clinton’s impeachment, and before Hillary
Clinton became a NY Senator in 2001.
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Another TV personality spoke about the Clinton connection, and devoted an entire segment
of his show to the party…
BILL O.
(Intro Music) Hi I’m Bill O’Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight. Holding people
accountable for their actions is the subject of this evening’s talking points.
LAUREN
Bill O’Reilly’s Fox news show, “The O’Reilly Factor”, was huge at the time. According to his
publisher, it was the “highest-rated cable news broadcast in the nation for 16 consecutive
years.”
O’Reilly brought up a previous incident at Horace Greeley High School – one that happened
the spring before. Male students posted personal and sexual information about their female
classmates on the internet.
And O’Reilly argued that the party displayed a pattern of inappropriate behavior in
Chappaqua.
O’REILLY
Now, we can’t blame this on the Clintons, who live nearby, but you can blame it on school
authorities who are now running away from the press.
LAUREN
The producers from the O’Reilly Factor reached out to the school administrators, politicians
and other officials including Coach Bill.
BILL T.
They wanted me to come down there and he wanted to interview me, he was incensed. He
was just, you know, he was having a tough time with it.
LAUREN
Coach Bill did not participate in the O’Reilly show. Neither did the other administrators.
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But the producers were persistent in their search for Chappaqua residents.
Over 800 miles away from Chappaqua, Bob Eber was on vacation with his family in South
Carolina.
BOB EBER
And we turn on the news one night and I don’t remember what channel, and we heard on
the national news about this party … I don’t know why it was a national story, but it was.
LAUREN
Bob did not have a direct affiliation with the party, or those involved. But it didn’t matter.
Even he got a call from a producer on the “O’Reilly Factor.” They seemed a bit desperate since
they got Bob’s number from the phonebook.
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BOB
So they started looking for attorneys in yellow pages and since my last name begins with an
E, I came up fairly prominently.
LAUREN
The producers did a pre-screening phone call that took at least an hour. They determined he
was good enough.
And on Monday, September 10, 2001, they sent a car to pick him up from Chappaqua to take
him to the studio in New York City.
BOB
I had done a lot of preparation for that interview. I knew immediately, not that he was a bull,
that he was going to attack me, but I knew it was a sham issue.
LAUREN
Bob wore a dark suit and tie and wire-rimmed glasses for the interview. He was mostly
poised, but they got into it…
BOB
If this case came out of Bensonhurst.
BILL O.
Yeah?
BOB (Overlapping)
If this case came out of Brooklyn…
BILL O. (Overlapping)
If this came out of anywhere, I would be on it.
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BOB (Overlapping)
and this case came out, would you be on it? Or is it because you have a nice leafy Tony’s cul
de sac…
BILL O. (Overlapping)
Oh No! I’m prejudiced against rich people up in Chappaqua now? Come on!
BOB (Overlapping)
And because the Clintons are up there.
Bill O.
Bologna.
LAUREN
Joining Bob on the show was Phil Reisman who at the time was a local reporter for The
Journal News. Like Bob, Phil had no direct connection to the party or those involved with it.
Throughout the segment, Phil sided with Bob…
PHIL REISMAN
I think it’s, I think it’s dangerous to make a blanket assumption that Chappaqua has got
some kind of systemic problem. I think that this is something that probably is seen in a lot of
different places and maybe, maybe, something that you see often in wealthier communities.
LAUREN
And, of course, O’Reilly pushes back.
Bill O.
You guys are making the same argument that Democrats made to me about President
Clinton’s conduct. Everybody does. It happens all the time. But let me tell you what you’re
wrong. Both of you. Let me be the usual obnoxious guy that I am…
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LAUREN
That’s Phil chuckling in the background. He was wearing a white button down with a tie, not
a full suit. He was a bit more relaxed than Bob and chuckled again when O’Reilly
mispronounced his name. Here’s Phil today:
PHIL
The show was really weird because O’Reilly kept trying to, it seemed to me, he kept trying to
get us to say this, this, this debauchery, this you know this, you know this decadent party was
an outcome of somehow connecting it with the lack of moral centeredness of the Clintons.
And it was just like, yeah, it just seemed like a real reach.
Music in: La Naranja Borriana, Blue Dot Sessions
LAUREN
At about this point, it seemed to us that this segment was not about a highschool party. This
was about the Culture Wars in the early 2000s.
A battle of beliefs and politics, moral and immoral, left and right, right and wrong.
And if our American Culture was at war, then Bill O’Reilly was a general. On his side, morality
was the guiding compass.
Bill O.
And you know, the stripper guy who rented the stripper, he told me that he sent a lot of
strippers over there. This isn’t the first time this happened.
MASON
“The stipper guy” O’Reilly is referring to, is, of course, Cousin Vinny.
VINNY
And, you know, this wasn’t the first time that I had I guess, accidentally sent strippers to
Horace Greeley High School students. It was the only time we ever got caught doing it.
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Music out: La Naranja Borriana, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
As far as we could tell, Vinny is the only person who welcomed the media attention.
VINNY
So they left me basically carrying a bag and I’m pretty good at carrying a bag you know,
publicity and public relations is something that I score high marks in.
Music in: Calisson, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
In the span of ten days, he appeared on a different segment of the “O’Reilly Factor,”
VINNY
And a lot of crazy stuff goes on…
BILL O.
And I don’t feel sorry for you if you get busted.
MASON
“Hannity & Colmes” on Fox News,
SEAN HANNITY
This is not the first time that this has probably happened.
VINNY
No – It’s the first time we’ve ever been on national TV over it.
HANNITY
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Right.
MASON
News 12 Westchester,
VINNY
Jeanine, go lock up a real criminal.
MASON
CNN,
VINNY
The only reason we got any news here is because it’s Chappaqua, home of Bill Clinton…
MASON
WB 11,
VINNY
Some girls are born with silver spoons in their mouth and get college educations and law
schools paid for. Okay? Other people gotta… don’t have it so easy.
MASON
And “Judith Regan Tonight.”
VINNY
This happens in private parties all over this great nation of ours.
Music out: Calisson, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
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We know Vinny appeared on these shows because he has the videos compiled on his
YouTube page.
The news segments are pretty much the same. There’s footage of the house where the party
took place. High School yearbook photos of the party host, and the HS football team. There’s
the ad in the phone book – the supposed one that the boys called from the bus.
And there are photos of Nicole – the woman who performed at the party.
According to Vinny, Nicole didn’t like being in the spotlight. Because of the media attention,
he says Nicole was asked to appear in “Playboy”. Vinny says she turned it down.
In all these TV segments, Vinny wears a sports jersey or a T-shirt. He always has on a silver
chain.
Mostly, he defends his business. And himself…
HANNITY (overlapping):
But But But But you’re not taking your clothes off – you’re hiring someone else to take their
clothes off.
VINNY (overlapping):
Oh but I did take my clothes off for thirteen years.
HANNITY
You did!?
VINNY
Absolutely.
HANNITY
You just shocked Alan Colmes.
VINNY
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Okay? I was the top male stripper in the country in the 80s. I was in “Super Teen Magazine.”
HANNITY
Would you want your son to do that?
VINNY
Would I? Yes!
MASON
From all the stories we read and TV segments we watched, it seems like the nation was most
shocked because of Nicole’s risque performance.
That was the thing that separated it from other high school parties.
But there was something else that ignited the media firestorm – the kid that hosted the party
–
well his parents were home.
The parents were arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and
unlawfully dealing with a child. That’s why Jeanine Pirro, the Westchester District Attorney at
the time, got involved.
JEANINE
Here parents were supervising. But the reality is that not only did they use poor judgment,
they violated the criminal law of the state of New York.
BILL T.
Oh, it was a big deal. I don’t I don’t think that it was not a big deal. It was a big deal. I think it
was a big deal for the those parents who, who made this mistake. They were really good
people. I don’t know what they were thinking at the time. Hopefully, it was something that
was positive. As I said before, they wanted to look out for the kids or whatever.
MASON
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Coach Bill, and most of the people we spoke to, were confused by the parents being at the
party. But he puts his finger on something – did the parents believe they were keeping their
kids safe by being there?
Here’s Phil – the reporter:
PHIL
I’ll just put myself. let me just say, I’m not necessarily, I don’t necessarily believe this, but I’ll
play the other side. How about that? So the other side could say this harmed no one, that
this was just kids having fun and it was in a controlled environment, And if I was, you know,
and no one was gonna go home driving drunk cause we’re gonna be there to make sure
they got home safely.
Music in: Calisson, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
The parents never spoke publicly about their role in the party.
As far as we know, there were no injuries the night of the party, no drunken car accidents
involving the students, no one taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning or an overdose…
But It didn’t seem to matter.
The country waited to see how the school would respond.
And so a little more than a week after the party, on September 10, 2001, while Bob, Phil, and
Bill O’Reilly were hashing it on FOX News, and “World Famous Cousin Vinny” was carrying the
publicity bag on local TV, parents and school administrators attended a meeting – which
made the nightly news.
WABC TV
We’ve got to instill in them, not a morals, uh, curriculum. A basic moral compass is the word I
used, about what is decent, and what is not.
MASON
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But just what the moral compass would look like and how the school would go about
instilling it – there would be no follow up to that story.
Just when the kids at Horace Greeley High School thought they were in the worst trouble of
their lives – the thing that no one could have imagined happened.
In a second, the controversy went from a national fascination to exactly what it was: A high
school party.
Music out: Calisson, Blue Dot Sessions
The Next Day (September 11, 2001)
LAUREN
OK this looks more like a campus.
MASON
Yes. Here we go. There you go – Horace Greeley High School.
LAUREN
To get to Horace Greeley High School, you turn off a main road to a mostly secluded campus.
MASON
So beyond the school is kind of this wide open clearing where it just looks like brush and a
few hills but no developments.
LAUREN
There’s a long winding street to get to the main building, and on the way you pass sporting
fields.
LAUREN
I will say on these little banners that they have, they have key words, like this says trust. This
other one here says balance. Oh Discipline.
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MASON
Discipline.
LAUREN
Along the drive are banners in the school’s colors: orange and blue. They have the initials on
them – HG – and words like “Courage” and “Commitment.”
MASON
Caring. And Dedication. Community. Courage.
Horace Greeley High School (Lauren Sagnella)
LAUREN
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Along the side of the road are backyards of a few houses, but other than that, there are no
other buildings.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, TV trucks lined this winding road with the hopes of
getting footage for news segments about the party.
Coach Bill had just come back from visiting his sick father in Massachusetts. He had a lot on
his mind. He was thinking about his family. And the next move for his football team – they
had just lost a game.
And they were still in hot water over the party.
BILL T.
So I had gone for a walk on the campus, I was in the backfields 100 yards from where we are
right now. And two reporters popped out of the bushes. And they were photographing me.
They had one of those, you know, they had an electric shutter on their camera and it was
going off like great, I could still hear the sound of the of the, you know, they must have taken
100 pictures of me and they’re just looking for, for anything. They were actually
photographing my tattoos, I have some tattoos on my arms. And they were photographing
them up close. And the thing is, you know, just guys just leave me alone. I mean, I don’t have
anything to say, I love my players. I love what I’m doing. I want to do what I do best. Just give
me a break. I need, I need a little time to think. And they still were harassing me. In the
middle of that. One of them had either a beeper or something in his ear. And they took off
like a bat out of hell they had to run. There were seven, or six or seven satellite trucks right
across the street here, where we’re from where we’re sitting. And all of those trucks took off
within a half an hour.
LAUREN
Suddenly, the party was old news.
MAC
I first found out about it in homeroom.
LAUREN
That’s Mac again – the team captain – the player who did not go to the party.
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MAC
So we were we had a homeroom period after two classes. So you started to hear rumors of
this and then we actually turned on the TV and were able to watch the the towers burning
and it was terrifying. I mean, we watched people jump out of that building real time. And my
dad worked six blocks away. And my uncle’s best friend was in the building. So it was just,
sorry, I don’t know, I haven’t really talked about it much. But obviously still emotional.
Music in: Four Count, Blue Dot Sessions
LAUREN
Mac lived in one of the houses along the winding road that leads to Horace Greeley High
School. Students congregated there, mostly the football team, glued to the television like the
rest of the world.
Chappaqua is a commuter town nearly 40 miles away from downtown Manhattan. For
people in these suburban communities, the smoke from Ground Zero was tangible.
Music out: Four Count, Blue Dot Sessions
MAC
It was just, it was really very, very, very scary and traumatizing. And I don’t think people
realize what it was like to be in New York at that time. Like it was just really, really scary. And
you didn’t know, you didn’t know if you were safe. And you didn’t know if the people that you
loved were safe.
LAUREN
It was 5 or 6 hours before Mac’s father was able to call his family and tell them he was safe. He
didn’t get home until around 8pm that evening.
Mac and one of his best friends drove to a street in Chappaqua where the skyline was visible.
From his friend’s mountaineer truck, Mac watched the smoke.
MASON
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Dr. Robin Gurwitch, is a researcher at Duke University. She is a child psychologist who
specializes in terror and trauma.
ROBIN GURWITCH
When we think about the impact of traumatic events, initially and still I think for the most
part, think about it as a pebble in a pond. And the closer you are to that to the pebble the
higher the risk for you to have reactions.
There was a time that watching it on News didn’t really have any kind of impact. Now that’s
not true. The science is telling us no, you can be anywhere if you’re watching this, you can
certainly have reactions that are significant.
MASON
Safety. Family. Fear. Terror. These are the words that we hear when we speak about 9/11.
It seems like the party was the furthest thing from everyone’s minds. Well mostly everyone…
VINNY
In fact, I’ll tell you the saddest part for me. The saddest part about those stinking terrorists
hitting the World Trade Center from my personal perspective. Okay. Was that they knocked
me out of a feature in Rolling Stone magazine.
LAUREN
In the days, months and years following the media storm surrounding the party and 9/11
there was only one thing for the students of Horace Greeley, and the rest of the world to do:
rebuild.
The Aftermath (September 12, 2001 – June 2002)
MASON
The world was never the same after 9/11. And almost every American can give you concrete
examples of how their lives changed on that day.
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But for a small group in Chappaqua, NY, the attack on American soil just 40 miles away, may
have actually brought back to their lives something they’d longed for a day earlier.
MASON
Did you get the sense that you or any of your players, strictly from a media perspective, like,
felt a sense of relief for a second?
BILL T.
Oh, I do. I know, it would be only natural to, you know, I’m sure that some of these parents
are saying, ‘Oh, my God, it finally got us off the front page,’ you know, I mean, that’s natural.
It just, you can’t you can’t hide from those kinds of things. And, anybody who says that they
they – that didn’t happen is not telling the truth.
MASON
More than just relief, Mac says the tragedy gave everyone perspective.
MAC
The scandal was just like, put in just this incredible contrast right to such an important
historically important event.
MASON
There was a team meeting to discuss how they were going to move forward.
MAC
It was at my house. And I don’t know if Bill described this. But like I said, we live right next to
the high school, everybody came over. And we have 50 meathead dudes in my living room
just all over the place. Some parents were there. But not many. Bill was there.
MASON
The scene he describes is straight out of Friday Night Lights:
MAC
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It was just a like – everyone messed up, this is an embarrassment to the whole team, the
whole town, everybody involved. You know, again, we’re not pointing fingers, we’re not, you
know, we’re not making anybody feel bad for their choices, but how do we? How do we show
the town, our parents, our community? Everybody’s watching how we respond to this. How
are we going to kind of set the tone as a team?
Music in: Valantis, Blue Dot Sessions
BILL T.
They started to make their act of contrition. They collected money, they collected water, they
collected everything that they possibly could, that they could go down and, and help out at
the at the crash site. And, you know, it was it was important to them. I think that some of it
was intrinsic, but I think some of it was extrinsic.
MASON
The redemption tour didn’t stop with gaining back the community trust. There was still work
to do on the football field.
BILL T.
I mean, it was like coaching college kids again, because I had seen that, that kind of focus.
And they came in we, they, they just want us to coach tell me show me what what I need to
do. And I’m going to get it done.
MASON
With a newfound purpose, the Quakers won their next game…
and then the next one…
…. and the one after that too.
They ended up winning the next 10 straight games…
Mac remembers the moment the team won their 10th game. It was a big deal. It meant that
they were going to advance to the state championship for the first time in school history.
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(New York Times)
MAC
I literally, I could not stop crying for like 40 minutes, it was just like insane amount of emotion
just pouring out. And here we are, like tough, you know, tough football players – not
supposed to cry – and it was so a beautiful human experience in terms of that sense of
achievement and victory.
MASON
The championship was in Syracuse at the Carrier Dome – where the Syracuse College football
team plays. To get there, the team boarded a bus from Chappaqua.
MAC
A lot of parents were lining the entrance of Greeley. And they had, you know, huge signs. A
lot of my buddies were there that weren’t on the team like signs that say, “bring it home
from the dome.” Made us feel really special.
Music out: Valantis, Blue Dot Sessions
MASON
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They lost the championship that day but it didn’t matter.
The town that they had let down –
The community who had been embarrassed on a national scale –
The people who the team took it upon themselves to redeem their reputation with –
Still had their back.
Where are they now? (2002 – Today)
LAUREN
As the fall faded, so did the memory of the party. 9/11 was the nation’s focus now, and with the
football season over, the Horace Greeley students moved on to other things:
Prom. Graduation. College.
Police records and court records about the party are sealed. According to the New York
Times, in May 2002 the parents pled guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and
disorderly conduct. One hundred hours community service, and probation.
Phil Reisman’s article in Westchester Magazine. (Westchester Magazine)
MASON
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We reached out to Bill O’Reilly to hear whether his thoughts about the party had changed, 20
years later. And despite an initial response from his publisher, we weren’t able to set up an
interview.
When O’Reilly’s book “Old School” was published among his sexual harassment allegations in
2017, Phil – the reporter – wrote a piece about his experience on “The O’Reilly Factor” – it’s in
Westchester Magazine.
This is, as far as we could tell, the last piece of media coverage about the party. Here are the
last lines:
“Somehow, I can see O’Reilly in his youth. He’s at the party. His hormones are raging. He’s
laughing along with the rest of the red-blooded American boys.
And he’s shaking a can of Reddi-wip.”
VINNY
That whole thing was so contrived you know, it was – in the scale of importance in life, it was
like nothing. And on September 11, the next day, on the scale of importance, that was 100
okay – our story was a five. Their – the next day – the story was 100 Okay?
LAUREN
Vinny’s fame faded.
Things went south for him in New York, and he got involved in legal battles and shady
business dealings. He moved out of state to get his life back on track.
And he did.
In 2013 he published a book, “The Devil’s Glove.”
Music In: The Lambs, “Time Bridge”
It’s message seems fitting:
VINNY
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You know, just because someone brands you as one thing doesn’t mean you always got to
be that thing. Okay? And that’s kind of what the book’s about, it’s a book about, you know,
evolving.
LAUREN
These days, World Famous Cousin Vinny, Stripper King of NY, has a new nickname: Tony
Lamb of the Christian rock band, The Lambs. On his YouTube page, there’s a video from April
2020 of Vinny singing a song. His wife wrote it. It’s called “Time Bridge” and it’s about the
prodigal son.
Music out: The Lambs, “Time Bridge”
LAUREN
We wanted to talk to Nicole – the woman who performed – about her experience – what the
media coverage must have felt like – her thoughts about what happened that night at the
party –
But we couldn’t.
She died in 2014 and is buried next to her mother and grandmother.
Music in: A Pleasant Strike, Blue Dot Sessions
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Bill Tribou in Chappaqua Crossing where we interviewed him. (Mason Leib)
LAUREN
When the football season was over, Coach Bill grieved with his family. His father passed away
over a week before the championship game.
In the past 20 years, Coach Bill has survived cancer twice. He and his wife take in rescue dogs.
He’s still a high school football coach – and he guides his players in the choices they make on
and off the field.
When we met Coach Bill in person, he was wearing a baseball hat with the words, “Embrace
the Suck.”
BILL T.
So we would always say embrace the suck in the Marine Corps. It was the Marine Corps
sucks you in and then sucks the life out of you. So it was it was it’s tough. You know, it’s a
tough, tough world. So that’s where that came from.
Make the best of every possible situation. And then keep moving forward.
Music out: A Pleasant Strike, Blue Dot Sessions
LAUREN
Mac thanks someone else in the high school yearbook – Coach Bill. “Tribou” he writes – “You
taught me what it means to be a man, thanks.”
Today, Mac reflects on the lessons learned from September 2001. About the party, and 9/11.
MAC
You know, how do you begin to kind of walk through that and show people that you’re about
more. That’s what I learned.
LAUREN
The “embrace the suck” mentality.
https://shoeleather.podcasts.library.columbia.edu/podcast/the-party/ 42/467/20/22, 11:36 AM The Party – Shoe Leather
MASON
An adult entertainment company, a football coach, a group of teenagers and a raging culture
war, took center stage on September 10, 2001. It was a simpler time, when a high school party
was national news.
And then the next day, it wasn’t.
Music in: Squeegee (Shoe Leather theme)
CREDITS
LAUREN
Shoe Leather is a production of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. This episode
was reported, written and produced by Mason Leib and Lauren Sagnella.
MASON
Joanne Faryon is our executive producer and professor. Rachel Quester and Peter Leonard
are our co-professors. Special thanks to Columbia Digital Librarian Michelle Wilson and
Professor Dale Maharidge.
LAUREN
Shoe Leather’s theme music – ‘Squeegees’ – is by Ben Lewis, Doron Zounes (zoo nez) and
Camille Miller, remixed by Peter Leonard.
MASON
Other Music by Blue dot sessions. Our Season three graphic was created by Maria Fernanda
Erives.
LAUREN
To learn more about Shoe Leather, and this episode, go to our website shoeleather.org.
Music out: Squeegee (Shoe Leather theme)
https://shoeleather.podcasts.library.columbia.edu/podcast/the-party/ 43/467/20/22, 11:36 AM The Party – Shoe Leather
Lauren Sagnella is a part-time Master’s of Science student at Columbia
University Journalism School and will graduate in 2023. Lauren is an event
director at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. At the
outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she helped create, produce and edit the
Columbia Public Health Now podcast. She received her B.A. from Rutgers
University where she majored in American Studies and English with a
concentration in creative writing. Connect with her on Twitter and Instagram
@laurensagnella and LinkedIn. E-mail her at las2336@columbia.edu.
https://shoeleather.podcasts.library.columbia.edu/podcast/the-party/ 44/467/20/22, 11:36 AM The Party – Shoe Leather
Mason Leib is completing his Master’s in Journalism from Columbia
University. He originally comes from a sports background, with a two-year stint
at the NBA in digital and social media production. He received his bachelor’s
in Journalism from the University of Southern California in 2019. He is a
follower of all things news, sports and culture. Follow him on Twitter
@masonleibjour and on LinkedIn. E-mail him at ml4693@columbia.edu
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