Here is just a small glimpse into why Cincy found him fascinating:
His Naval duties at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands, Guam, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Borneo, among others: "I was a Fire Controlman. My job was to (work) with another fellow and control all the guns, torpedoes and radar, which was in its infancy at that time."
The most memorable thing he saw during the war: "I was off an island called Espiritu Santo. We could hear the gunfire of the Marines. We were relaxing at sea (at night) and we had to go to our battle stations because we saw a light. Then we were told, 'at ease' and as that light came closer and closer, it was a hospital ship picking up all the wounded and dead. And while I was there, I was looking up in the sky and I saw the Southern Cross, and that really hit me emotionally."
Attending the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor: "There was a (former) Japanese marine. His children spoke good English. The first thing, he came to me, he embraced me, and I was shocked. His daughter told me, 'It is his way to tell you he was sorry that it happened.' I don't tear much at all, but that shook me up."
Encouraging two servicemen headed to Iraq: "I was proud of them. They said they were ready to do their thing, and if I did it, why shouldn't they."
Getting over his sea legs after leaving the Navy (he once spent a year at sea without setting foot on land): "I used to love to ballroom dance. I did it at my granddaughter's wedding."
Speaking to kids at schools, a passion since he was a school administrator in Monroe, N.J., for 30 years: "This is what I like more than anything," pointing to a few keepsakes, letters written by children addressing him as "grandpa."
Cincinnati, where he moved to with his wife, Mary, in 1985 (they've been married 62 years): "Cincinnati is a great city for veterans. Fantastic. And we as veterans appreciate it. I wouldn't trade the people of Cincinnati for anybody, by far."
ROCKY BOIMAN
STILL TACKLING
Former football linebacker Rocky Boiman won a Super Bowl with the Colts in 2007 but his drive isn't limited to the field.
Boiman trains young athletes, champions leadership as founder of a political action committee, and is working to distribute a renowned top-shelf tequila in the Midwest.
At the Rocky Boiman Football Academy in Cleves, he runs the entire show, from coaching to answering the phones. "This way, I can stay close to the game and still be around," Boiman says. "Mentoring these people is more than just a job. I get to make a difference."
Beyond football, Boiman is founder and chairman of LEAD PAC, a political action committee championing leadership, excellence, action, and dedication in government. Though the committee typically focuses on individual rights and fiscal conservatism, Boiman says the R or D behind a candidate's name does not matter.
"We support the candidates who are leaders, not run-of-the-mill politicians. Leadership is what our city and our country needs," Boiman says, adding that he might one day soon throw his hat into the ring.
He gained appreciation for leadership playing under coaches like Steve Specht of St. Xavier High School, where Boiman was captain his senior year before starring at Notre Dame.
Boiman's also trying his hand as an entrepreneur. He recently partnered with Gregory Meyer and Anthony Bowne to create Arco Ventures, a fledgling distribution company positioned to bring El Arco Tequila to the Midwest. Tequila has become less a hangover-inducing margarita mixer and more a sipping drink enjoyed by connoisseurs who "appreciate the aroma and the complexity of the flavors," he says. El Arco is one of the world's top five tequilas as ranked by editors at tequila.net, and will be marketed to top Cincinnati area restaurants and bars.
He strives to always do more. "I don't want to, when I die, just be remembered with my football jersey on," Boiman says. "I want to make a difference and continue to do more."
MOLLY WELLMANN
SAVORING THE CLASSICS
It's not just a cocktail for mixologist Molly Wellmann of Bellevue.
She'll regale you with stories of your drink's historic roots, educate you on the origins of gin, and transport you back to a time when drinking was more than just "slobbering on your friends."
For one, there's her Velveteen Rabbit Cocktail, made with homemade celery syrup, gin, pear, and lemon. "It's sooooo good!" Wellmann exclaims.
At clubs and private events across the Tristate, Wellmann specializes in re-creations of classic cocktails from the 1700s to the 1950s, and also dabbles in inventions, most recently making her own tobacco-flavored bitters. "Bringing back something that's so classic and so beautiful, with such history, is just so interesting," she gushes. "It's more of an experience than just having a cocktail. There's some love put into it."
Wellmann is self-taught, driven by a fascination with history and a penchant for creativity, which also inspires her to make her own jewelry and her own clothes.
Though most of her regular customers trust her explicitly, getting people to try classic, de novo drinks can be a challenge, especially when gin is involved. "You might have had a bad experience in high school, but it's okay to retry gin," Wellmann laughs. "It's brand new."
Wellmann continues to make the old new again, and will be partnering with the owners of Neons Unplugged to reopen Japps on Main Street in downtown Cincinnati. "I'm really excited to be a part of the community of Over-the-Rhine," she says. "That's huge, because talk about historic."
There, she will enjoy a home base for practicing her craft, as well as the opportunity to re-educate people on how to drink. "Setting a new standard of drinking, understanding how to drink properly again, is really important," Wellmann says. "Not just doing shots until you fall off the stool."
JEFFREY TOPPING
"WILD" SCOTCH-MAKER
In a black kilt and boots, and with his wild curly dark hair and beard, Jeffrey Topping lives up to the image of a Wild Scotsman. Perfect, since that's the name of his Scotch whisky blending and bottling company.
"For me, Wild Scotsman is about sharing my passion, my craft with the general public," Topping says. "I don't bottle or produce Scotch whisky that I think people will like, I produce Scotch whisky that I enjoy."
As an independent bottler, Topping acquires casks from different distilleries and blends various single malts to produce a traditional "vatted" malt whiskey, also called blended malt or pure malt. No artificial colors or fillers. He turns away more than 95 percent of the whiskey samples he tries because they don't meet his personal standards.
"I pick those based on my own personal nose, taste, and finish profiles," Topping explains. "It's my enjoyment that I want to share. Without me it's just a widget; it's a nameless, faceless product."
In 2002, Topping traveled to the Bladnoch Distillery in Scotland, and his experience inspired him to become a bottler and master blender under the tutelage of John McDougall. Now, he creates traditional malt whiskey, operating primarily out of his home in Kenwood. "Everything I do has to be old world tradition production quality," he insists.
C.F. PAYNE
PASSION FOR DRAWING
Christopher Fox Payne didn't make excellent grades in school: He was too busy drawing. Incessantly. "Something in my wiring • made me want to draw," he says.
Better known as C.F. Payne, he is a nationally renowned illustrator whose artwork has appeared on the cover of Time magazine and Sports Illustrated and who has illustrated almost a dozen children's books. "The basic thing that makes illustrating unique, is the variety of assignments you get," he says, "so that type of thing is what I really enjoy."
Payne, of Blue Ash, has taught for more than 20 years, and currently teaches at the Columbus College of Art and Design, where he is also co-chair of the Illustration Department. He teaches a class called "Style and Concepts" to junior undergraduate students, which will prepare them for executing a diversity of art projects from start to finish.
"Over time, we're constantly trying to figure out how to make this more relevant to the needs of what the students are going to have to face," he says.
The greatest obstacle facing young artists is the computer, according to Payne. Digitization has created a host of difficulties for artists, such as compressed deadlines and devaluation of their artwork. Companies can buy artwork from online stock houses for a fraction of the price it would cost to hire an artist.
"You have to become more efficient," Payne says. "The most valuable thing that you're giving to your client is your time." When he's not teaching and drawing, Payne donates his time and artwork to charity, recently painting a rocking chair for Pro Seniors to be sold at their Rocking Chair Auction in August.
Payne also has a passion for baseball and the Cincinnati Reds, who recently hired him to produce an illustration celebrating their win in last year's Central Division. Limited edition prints of the illustration, titled "Reds Clinch Central-2010," were sold at the Cincinnati Art Museum on May 4, and proceeds will benefit the museum and the Reds Community Fund.
Self-portrait created for Cincy Magazine.
While many college students make ends meet by flipping burgers, Ericka Nicole Malone paid her undergraduate tuition by writing and producing theatrical plays. She sold $3 tickets to her shows to the tune of hundreds of students. By the time she left Western Kentucky University, she was already a seasoned actress, director, producer and playwright.
Not surprisingly, Malone of Burlington, Ky. has always wanted to "do big things."
"One of the things I saw were a lot of directors that were men and writers that were men, but not a lot that were women," Malone recalls. "I guess that kind of compelled me to want to represent women in that way in theater, and also in urban theater." Compared to a period or historic play, urban theater is all about modern life and everyday people.
"(Urban theater) is very current, very alive, and almost like a snapshot of what is going on in some peoples' daily life," Malone says. "What's most challenging is making sure that I'm being authentic. Not just writing with my biased opinion of what 'Erica thinks,' but really talking to people and really representing what the people want on stage."
During the day, Malone works as a director of marketing for Reimbursement Consultants, working with chief financial officers from hospitals around the U.S. to help recover money from financial intermediaries and insurance companies.
This fall, her current play, "In Love with Tyrone," begins a seven-city tour, with two performances on Oct. 14 and 15 at the Aronoff Center. She wants to tour nationally, eventually producing screenplays for movie and TV.
"I think people who don't give up are interesting," Malone says. "I want to create a world where I show those interesting people who ... persevered on stage."
As nursing team leader at Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health, Dean Visk of Mount Lookout is responsible for three teams of nurses and the management of an entire clinic. His alter ego, Dean "The Dream" Jablonski, is a professional wrestler who performed regularly on the WWE Smackdown program in 2005 and 2006.
"Basically, I worked part-time as a nurse while I was training at night to be a pro wrestler," Visk recalls. "I always had the passion for nursing and kept my foot in the door."
During the day, Visk worked as an adolescent psychiatric nurse at the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Pennsylvania. After his shift, he would dash off to the gym and Les Thatcher's Main Event Pro Wrestling Camp for training. "Nothing compared to the training that I went through to prepare for professional wrestling," Visk says. "It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, but also the most rewarding thing I've ever done."
Visk was a member of the Heartland Wrestling Association. "The showmanship and flashiness from my professional wrestling side of my personality aside, when it comes to nursing, I'm very by the book," Visk insists.
Currently, Visk is enrolled at Xavier's master of science in nursing program, training to be a nurse practitioner. "I really enjoy (it) when we actually have a client who gets better and says, •Thank you.' It doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's like wrestling in front of 30,000 people," Visk says. "You made a difference."
When 7-year-old Kennedy Daigle asked Jonny Gomes of the Cincinnati Reds which superhero he wanted to be, Gomes replied: "I'd be you."
Sporting bright red hair, a painted red mask, a shiny red cape and a giant Reds "C" on his bare chest, Kennedy certainly looks the part.
Not content with a baseball cap and shirt, the Ludlow youngster started dressing like a superhero last year, called "Super Red." "We just wanted to do something different instead of just plain clothes," Kennedy says. His mom Tiffany helps.
Kennedy has been attending games since he was three years old. His favorite part? "When the Reds win," he says. He goes to every Reds event possible, as long as it doesn't interfere with his perfect attendance at school.
His appearance at games is striking, and he often draws the attention of players and media.
"He has sorta become a staple to the players," says Patrick McGrath, promotional events organizer for the Reds.
His "Super Red" ensemble inspired a Superhero Weekend on July 15-17, hosted by the Reds Heads Kids Club, an organization that offers Reds fans ages 14 and younger a chance to participate in special events and promotions.
There's more than one side to the youngster. Kennedy, who hasn't missed a day of school since kindergarten, is taking advanced math and accelerated reading at school.
When he grows up Kennedy wants to play for the Reds, and he's starting baseball this season. He bounces up and down in his chair as he talks about hitting home runs and insists, "I'd probably steal, like, 14 bases because I'm really fast."
Superhero Weekend will start with a postgame Super Duper Fireworks Show on Friday, featuring superhero-themed tunes, followed by an Aroldis Chapman action figure giveaway on Saturday for the first 30,000 fans, and ending with a Kids Super Hero Cape giveaway on Sunday for the first 10,000 fans 14 and younger.
WCPO I-Team reporter Hagit Limor of Mount Washington says journalism is alive and well, despite newspaper layoffs and seismic changes in online media.
"So many people think journalism is endangered now • but it's just shifting," Limor asserts. "We're just in the middle of a transition, and that change can be scary and that can be foreboding, and for some people it feels like an end, but it's just the middle."
Limor can speak with authority about her profession. Her investigative reporting has earned numerous awards, including three national Sigma Delta Chi Awards from the Society of Progessional Journalists, a National Headliner Award, and nine Emmy Awards.
Now, president of SPJ, the largest professional journalism organization in the country, her duties have already taken her from Japan to every corner of the U.S. "I have been so blessed and lucky to work in the journalism industry for several decades," Limor says. "It's meant so much to me, so I wanted to give a year back, so this is my year of craziness where I am gone all the time."
She champions the "promise of the future," interacting with industry gurus, as well as aspiring young journalists. "The important thing is that the new journalists still keep the basics in mind as to our ethical considerations," she says. "These are time-honored journalist traditions that started with the printing press, and they will continue, no matter the medium."
The challenge, Limor says, is maintaining ethical standards while incorporating new technology, such as mobile and handheld devices, into reporting practices. "More than ever we need to make sure there's a watchdog," she says.
"That's what journalism is, we're the watchdog for the citizens. We stand for the rights of everyone. When we ask questions, we represent the public and what they would want to know."
As a child in her native Israel, she lived through the Six Days War. Now, she calls Cincinnati home. "I care about this community," Limor says. "I don't just look at an issue that's here today gone tomorrow. I try to look at issues that will shape where we are going, and that is a real gift."
What do mixed martial arts, the internet and a Ph.D. have in common? Jim Nilson for one. Nilson, director of web communications at Northern Kentucky University, trains in mixed martial arts with his eye on his first amateur fight next January and boasts a 4.0 grade point average in his doctorate studies at University of Louisville.
"I grew up a big Kung Fu movie fan," says Nilson, who lives in Burlington.
He trains at Son of Siam in Wilder. With no background training in the martial arts, he was mostly looking to lose weight, but he fell in love with the discipline and respect that he cultivated at the gym. "There's like a brotherhood, and there's males and females that go there, it's just like a little community," Nilson says. "It's hard to explain until you do it."
The tough workouts and dedication are just what he expected. "I didn't go into it thinking it was going to be a piece of cake."
His tenacity is clear in every aspect of his life. He makes time to be a husband and father to two children, study for a Ph.D. in higher education administration, and teach several courses at NKU. He has designed a social networking site for MMA fighters, promoters and fans in his "spare time."
At NKU, Nilson is responsible for online marketing, multimedia, graphic design and social media. "All the fun stuff," he says. With five employees and 20 interns, he spearheaded a two-year project to redesign the website, which includes about 200 departments and thousands of pages of content.
Nilson had once dropped out of college. However, at the encouragement of a friend at NKU and his girlfriend, now his wife, he returned to school.
"That's why I teach University 101 (an orientation course for freshmen)," Nilson says. "Because someone made a difference in my life, and if I can do that for just one other student it would be kind of kick (butt)."
