Hicksville High School Experience
We asked Hal about his experiences at HHS. His favorite class was Chemistry with Mr. Paisner. I remember being in that class with Hal. Hal always had a smile on his face, and he liked to make people laugh and feel comfortable. Mr. Paisner, I think, enjoyed his energy until "the magnesium incident". Hal remembers it pretty much the way I do. If you don’t know, Magnesium reacts vigorously when it contacts air. Well, Hal took the magnesium out of the solution and put it into a beaker. You guessed it, it exploded. I do remember someone by the end of class having holes in their jeans because a piece of magnesium landed on them. They were okay, just startled.
Another favorite class of Hal’s was Math. His least favorite was Spanish. He had Mr. Marrocco. As an aside, I wasn’t a fan of that Spanish class either. Unfortunately, Hal could not grasp the language, and Mr. Marrocco sent him to the principal’s office several times for laughing in class. He is now married to, in his words, "a Mexican American gal".
Hal really loved Track and Field when he was in high school. He played football for a season and wrestled for all 3 years. His passion though, was pole vaulting. He held the school record for 11th and 12th grade at 14.6"and was second in New York state. Hal owes his success to Mr. Grantham, who he said was a great coach, as well as Coach Jaworski. Newsday did a great article on him, which he still has.
