“They Who Transplanted Still Sustain”
“The brand’s beleaguered design team, accustomed to a spreadsheet mentality—churn out X chinos in Y colors, repeat—were suddenly given what felt like creative carte blanche. Drexler “put the product and the design before the business, in a way,” recalls a former employee. “He made the creative drive the business.”
Drexler once told a roomful of employees that he’d passed on a hire because the candidate didn’t know the meaning or origin of her high school’s name. How could you go someplace every day and not be curious enough to figure out where the name came from? Drexler stayed five steps ahead, and for those who could keep up, the sky was the limit: invent a new product, a new category, a new business within the business. And if you can’t keep up, get the hell out of the way.”
https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2019/6/j-who
“The original Fitch High School (now the former location of Fitch Middle School) was built in 1928 next to the Town Hall on Poquonnock Road, and was funded in part by the will of a local merchant, Charles Fitch, with the stipulation that it be named after his son, Robert E. Fitch. In the early 1950s, the district enrollment was larger than the school could handle. The school district decided to split to a junior high and senior high system. In 1954, the school district built a new school, the current Robert E. Fitch Senior High School, in its current location at the top of Fort Hill Road, and renamed the existing school Robert E. Fitch Junior High School.”
Notable alumni and faculty:
- Amby Burfoot, 1968 Boston Marathon winner
- Dave Campo, Dallas Cowboys Secondary Coach
- Jason Filardi, screenwriter: 17 Again, Bringing Down The House
- Jesse Hahn, Major League Baseball player
- John J. Kelley (1930–2011), winner of the 1957 Boston Marathon, member of two U.S. Olympic Marathon teams and a coach at the school
- Fran Mainella, National Park Service Director, 2001–2006
- Paul Menhart, former Major League Baseball pitcher
- Matt Harvey, 7th overall pick in 2010 MLB draft to New York Mets
- George Hall, Arena Football League linebacker
- Samantha Urbani (Singer/ Songwriter)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitch_High_School
If you have not checked out the music of Samantha Urbani, I urge you to do so forthwith: https://luckynumber.bandcamp.com/album/policies-of-power-ep
