Bugle Newspapers 6-10-21

JU ne 9 , 202 1 Vol . 6 5 i ssU e 33

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news from plainfield Joliet shorewood lockport crest hill bolingbrook romeoville downers grove Westmont Woodridge lisle niles morton grove park ridge & more

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coVer story

Local collector sells rare item on A&E show by marK gregory editorial director

@Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com

Collectors of memorabilia not only collect in hopes that their items will increase in value and eventually be sold for a profit, but they also collect for sentimental reasons.

Their collections reflect a time period, person or moment in pop culture that the collector is passionate about.

For Plainfield resident Vito Thomaselli, that passion is professional wrestling.

His love for wrestling and passion for collecting came together last August when two-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T, former NFL player turned WWE superstar in training AJ Francis and a full A&E film crew came to his house in search of a rare piece of WWE past.

The crew came as part of a show that is currently airing on A&E on Sunday nights called “WWE’s Most Wanted Treasures.”

In the show, Francis, the host, is accompanied by a WWE superstar and is tasked by Paul Levesque, aka Triple H, and his real-life wife Stephanie McMahon, who are both WWE executives, to find and acquire iconic WWE memorabilia that had long thought to be lost in hopes of preserving it in a future WWE museum.

In the case of Thomaselli, what he had was not a piece belonging to Booker T, but the iconic ringworn collar from the Junkyard Dog.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

plainfield resident Vito thomaselli (center) with host and WWe superstar in training aJ Francis (left) and WWe hall of Famer booker t.

Junkyard Dog, or JYD as he was known, was born Sylvester Ritter and wrestled from 1977–93.

He was in WWE from 1984-88 and defeated Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine at Wrestlemania I .

JYD was elected to the WWE Hall

of Fame in 2004 — the first class to go in under the name WWE. His induction came six years after JYD died at the age of 45 in a single car accident.

While wrestling, the story goes that Junkyard Dog met Thoma-

selli’s grandfather in a diner after a wrestling show, the two struck up a conversation and JYD gave Thomaselli’s grandfather his iconic collar that he wore to the ring.

Thomaselli said when he got into wrestling, his grandmother

gave him the collar and he kept it in his wrestling bag his whole career.

On an October day in 2020, the collar was reunited with the WWE. After negotiations between the

see collector page 9

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A ‘Grate’ Life: Joliet sign fabricator dies at 97 by marK gregory editorial director

@Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com As the Rialto Rialto Square Theater sits in downtown Joliet as one of the city’s most treasured landmarks, the marquee that adorns the front of the theater is a memorial in its own way to the Michalak family.

Longtime Joliet resident, Steve Michalak, who grew up on the east side of Joliet, was instrumental in building the current marquee sign for the Rialto Square Theater in 1980.

The sign is a replica of the original from 1926.“They wanted me to copy from the original, and what was achieved is very close,” Michalak said during an interview two years ago.

“It was the biggest sign I ever made.

I had made signs that were in pieces and you put them together, but this was all one piece, other than the top section. We had about 150 bulbs on one circuit and they used to chase, making it appear that the lights were chasing around the whole sign.”

An employee of Grate Sign Company for nearly 23 years, Michalak died May 24, 2021 at Lightways Hospice in Joliet. He was 97 years old.

In 2014, there was an attempt to replace Joiet’s iconic sign with a new, modern sign that had the ability to play video, but public outcry won and the classic marquee celebrated its 40th year on the building in 2020.

For years, many of the signs that attracted Joliet patrons to local businesses were made by Michalak.

“I made over 300 Burger Chef signs along with Dairy Castle, Taco Bell, and Rax Roast Beef,” he said. There used to be several Burger Chef signs in and around Joliet, but only those folks with close to as many birthdays as Michalak will remember them.

Two other famous Joliet signs that Michalak made, and that many locals and visitors remember, are the Al’s Steakhouse sign on Jefferson, and the giant Paintbrush sign of the Joliet Paint Company on Republic Avenue.

His career as a sheet metal worker

FILE PHOTOS

steve michalak, (top) holds bowling shirts from northwest recreation club. (bottom) michalak is at grate signs during the construction of the rialto sign. saw him do more work than just creating iconic signage.

“I worked many other jobs in Joliet since I was a teenager, and had to leave Joliet Central High School to help out the family. It was at the end of my career that I worked for Grate Signs,” he said Michalak said he really enjoyed making signs, and that included creating the design; the numerous steps to build the sign; neon tubing; transporting the new sign to its location; and the technical electrical work to install the sign.

Michalak’s wife Delores, or Sissy as everyone knew her, joined him working at the sign company, and worked on menu boards. A hearing issue prohibited Michalak from serving his country in World War II, so he took a job as a supervisor at the Navy yards in Rockdale.

He was assigned seven German POWs and a translator to oversee that the work that was required was getting done in a timely and orderly fashion.

It was at the Navy yards that Steve met his wife, to whom he was married to for 73 years.

As a longtime resident of Joliet, Michalak was one of the founding members to several Joliet organizations that include the Northwest Recreation Club, the Moran Athletic Club, and the Rivals Club.

Steve was very active in the clubs’ bowling teams and their tournaments, and bowled into his 90s.

He attended Club functions well into his mid-90s and enjoyed his senior status and telling members about what the clubs were like back in his time.

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state

COVID-19 positivity rate, hospitalizations push new lows ahead of Friday reopening

by Jerry noWicKi capitol news illinois

The state’s COVID-19 metrics continued to improve Monday ahead of Friday’s planned statewide reopening.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s office confirmed last week that Phase 5 will begin Friday, essentially lifting all of the COVID-19 capacity restrictions that have been in place for over one year. That means businesses, large-scale events, conventions, amusement parks and seated-spectator venues can all return to full capacity beginning Friday.

That announcement came as the state’s COVID-19 case positivity rate – a disease spread indicator that has been widely used to determine what level of restrictions would be in place throughout the pandemic – continued to plummet, hitting a new low of 1.1

percent Monday.

That’s far from the recent 4.4 percent peak from April 12 and well below its 13.2 percent height since June 2020, when testing became more widespread.

“After a tremendously challenging year, Illinois has now reached a defining moment in our efforts to defeat COVID-19,” Pritzker said in a news release Friday. “Thanks to the hard work of residents across the state, Illinois will soon resume life as we knew it before – returning to events, gatherings, and a fully reopened economy, with some of the safety guidelines we’ve adopted still in place.”

While businesses will still be allowed to have stricter masking and social distancing policies than the state, the new guidance follows the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation that face coverings are not needed indoors for vacci-

nated individuals.

Masks are still “recommended” for unvaccinated individuals, according to the governor’s office.

Masks will still be required for people traveling on public transportation, in congregate settings, in health care settings, as well as in schools, day cares and educational institutions, according to the governor’s office.

“This pandemic has robbed us of many of our freedoms such as going to ball games and concerts, celebrating graduations, weddings, and birthdays, going to dinner with friends, and even sharing a hug with loved ones we don’t live with,” Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said in a news release. “The vaccine is giving us our freedoms back and allowing us to move to Phase 5. Let’s keep the vaccination momentum going so we can put this pandemic in the rearview

mirror and not look back.”

According to IDPH, more than 11.6 million vaccine doses have been administered in the state, with 50.3 percent of the state’s aged-12-and-older population having been fully vaccinated.

About 60 percent of those 12 and older have received at least one dose, while that number increases to 62.5 percent for those 18 and older and 82 percent for those 65 and over.

On a seven-day average, however, about 38,975 vaccines were administered as of Monday, meaning the pace of those being vaccinated has slowed substantially. That number was over 130,000 in midApril and over 86,000 in early May. But as the vaccination pace has slowed, so have the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded each day and the number of people hospitalized for the disease.

For 12 straight days, there have

been fewer than 1,000 new cases reported each day.

The death toll of the virus had reached 22,963 in Illinois as of Monday, with 14 deaths reported over the previous 24 hours. Thus far in June, the number of daily COVID-19-related deaths have hovered between six and 42 each day. At the pandemic’s height in December, 238 died in one day.

Hospitalizations continue to push past their lowest points in the pandemic as well, with 788 hospital beds in use by COVID-19 patients as of Sunday night, a decrease of more than 300 from a week ago. That number peaked at more than 6,000 in November.

On a weekly average, the period from Monday to Sunday was the lowest it has been throughout the pandemic with 915 beds in use on average daily over the seven-day period.

There were 217 intensive care unit beds and 116 ventilators in use as of Sunday night, with both numbers hovering near their pandemic lows as well. Those number peaked above 1,200 and 800, respectively, during the height of the pandemic.

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Student headed to Space Camp thanks to Amazon scholarship Timber Ridge Middle School sixth-grader Madison Roberts is one of five Amazon scholarship winners who will attend Space Camp in Alabama this August.

She will attend the camp in Huntsville, Alabama, from August 15-20, 2021.

Five people out of 1,200 applicants won the scholarship that pays for the entire camp.

Roberts wrote an essay outlining why she wanted to go to camp, what she thought she might learn, and how she might use what she learns at camp when she comes home.

“I’ve always wanted to go to Space Camp and become an astronaut or an engineer,” Madison Roberts said.

Roberts’ dad, Nathan, works for Amazon and encouraged his daughter to apply for the internal scholarship.

“Madison has always been interested in space,” Nathan said. “This is a great opportunity for her.”

Roberts’ mom, Gennie, said Amazon supports students in Science, Technology, Engi-

neering, Arts and Math or STEAM classes.

The company wants to see the next group of young people learn and enjoy STEAM, Gennie said.

Madison said she hopes to learn about the astronaut who have been to space, how to build parts of a rocket, and maybe build a rocket with the team that works there.

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Will coUnty

Joliet Fire Chief Blaskey and Deputy Chief Carey receive medallion for West COVID Clinic Joliet Fire Chief Greg Blaskey and Deputy Chief Jeff Carey received the 2021 Joliet Township High School Superintendent Medallion at the May Board of Education meeting for their leadership in implementing the COVID vaccine clinic at Joliet West High School.

The award, presented by Superintendent Dr. Karla Guseman, was especially meaningful because both Chief Blaskey and Deputy Chief Carey are proud alumni of the high school district, with Blaskey graduating from Joliet West High School in 1981 and Carey graduating from Joliet Central High School in 1993.

The history of the clinic’s establishment at West is one of a community coming together in a time of need. Will County was hit especially hard by the pandemic with more than 1,000 deaths. With high case counts in the community, the impact on education has been hard families with the last “regular” school day in March of 2020 and the majority of learning taking place online since then. So when access to the vaccine became available to educators on January 6, distribution was anxiously awaited, particularly for teachers and school staff returning to the classroom.

It only took one day to mobilize a community effort to get vaccines to educators under the leadership of Chief Blaskey and Deputy Chief Carey. On January 7, Dr. Guseman received her first email from Carey letting her know that the Joliet Fire Department was teaming up with Amita St. Joe’s Hospital and the Will County Health Department to try and get the vaccines out faster.

“Within that email, Deputy Chief Carey shared that the fire department unions were volunteering to have their paramedics help with the process,” said Guseman. “He shared that they wanted to start with the school districts that serve the City of Joliet. We immediately jumped on board and offered West as a vaccination site.”

To get the clinic up and running, it was a team effort with many moving parts. With the Joliet Fire Department leading the way, the collaboration included Will County Executive Dr. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, Amita St. Joseph Medical Center, Joliet Township High School, and numerous volunteer nurses and firefighters who dedicated over 13,000 hours of service. The efforts resulted in the administration of over 60,000 vaccines and because of Blaskey and Carey’s leadership, additional mass vaccination sites were cre-

ated and everyone who wants a vaccine now has access to it.

“Access to the vaccine in a swift fashion at the beginning of February lessened the anxiety and allowed things to start moving in a good direction,” said Dr. Guseman. “Staff and kids began coming back to school, and sports and activities resumed in-person.

As both a superintendent and a mother of an 8th grader and a senior, I cannot thank Chief Blaskey

and Deputy Chief Carey enough for their leadership and shared responsibility in helping our community in solving our COVID-19 vaccination problem.

In fact, when the Joliet West Clinic opened slots for anyone 12 and older, I am proud to say that I brought my 13-year-old daughter through.

Chief Blaskey, Deputy Chief Carey, and the entire Joliet Fire Department, who volunteered their time for almost three months, have

demonstrated the shared responsibility of community leadership.”

The Superintendent’s medallion was established in 2006 and is presented by the Joliet Township High School Superintendent on behalf of the Board of Education. It is given to individuals or groups that have distinguished themselves as going above and beyond in service and supports of our students, staff and district 204 stakeholders.

collector From page 3

Austin’s ranch to hang out. I was throwing out some of the most outlandish things.”

When the two sides reached a number, Thomaselli said he was happy with the deal.

“I don’t have the same sentimental value as his family and the WWE Universe and people going there and taking pictures with his image stand next to it. I can see the cut out of JYD there with that next to it, and for me, that is cooler,” he said. “I wanted to make it in wrestling and I didn’t, but in a way nowm I just tagged my name into the realm of things and that is cool.

“My real bottom number was three grand. I flip a lot of memorabilia and I have a feelings number, which is high and that is because I really like the item and then there is that ‘you better sell it’ number.

And at $7,500, I doubled that num-

ber.

“I hit my number times two, they got the item, it was a win for everyone. The whole experience was really cool. They had nothing of JYD in the soon-to-be museum, at least that was what the producer told me.”

Thomaselli said the producers found out he had the collar from another collector and while he agreed to do the show, the negotiation was done on the spot.

“A friend knew that I had the collar and I had some talks with the production team last April, right when COVID was starting and we weren’t sure what was going to be what, but within a couple days, paperwork was sent over and I signed up for the show. It was supposed to happen in June, but they didn’t come until October,” Thomaselli said. “Once they got here, it was

on. Booker T and AJ were here and I didn’t want to be in the way, I stayed in the house until they needed me. I just let them do their thing.”

Thomaselli said the production took over his street for hours.

“Where I live, there is a main look that goes around and there are cul-de-sacs off that. My whole cul-de-sac was filled with black SUVs. It looked like the FBI was here and I was getting taken down.

I have been a part of different productions, I even did Monday Night RAW and this is the high end of high end productions. It was really cool. They were here for six hours filming.”

Not only did Thomaselli get cash — he got an experience.

“I had time with Booker when AJ went out to make the phone call and 13-year-old Vito got to ask a

bunch of 1993-94 WCW questions that I am sure he has never been asked before. He was a very open dude and very cool dude and I think he will have a job with WWE for life,” Thomaselli said. “I did the business to a pretty high level and then toured the country with the Insane Clown Posse for five years and then got out of the business and now, I still do a few things here and there when there is opportunity.

“At 40 years old and being around this my whole life, it is cool. I was at Wrestlemania II and XIII and I worked Monday Night Raw and now I got to do the A&E special. I wrestled all over the country for 13 years — at this point, wrestling has been so good to me. It has a really cool reflective time since the show because I haven’t been around wrestling in a number of years.”

team of Booker T and Francis and Thomaselli, he let the item go for $7,500 “It was my grandfather’s and it was in the family for a long time, but now, (JYD’s) family gets it back.

Does it belong in my hands or does it belong in a museum? And to hear that there is nothing of (JYD’s) makes it even more important,” Thomaselli said. “To see me start at $20,000 and in 15 seconds be at $7,500 — that was not how that went. It was a dogfight. We went for 45 minutes and at one point AJ had to go outside and make a phone call and get approval.

“I asked for Wrestlemania tickets for life and they laughed at me. I asked for Booker T to come to my house for a Pay-Per-View with all my buddies, I asked to go to Steve

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13 Wednesday,JUNE 9, 2021 | buglenewspapers.com

Phone: 815.4246.24241 >> Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. FAX: 815.4249.2415 email: classifieds@enterprisepublications.com IN PERSON: Enterprise Publications >> 2241556 Andrew Rd. >> Plainfield, IL

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