Saturday, 24 October 2026, 11:00 am James Madison High School 3787 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11229
Homecoming game Sat Oct. 24th @11:00 AM
Join us at Madison for Homecoming
Ceremony honoring LEGENDARY SOFTBALL COACH GIL FERSHTMAN starts at 11:30 AM
Madison Baseball ‘67, Hal penned this article waiting for the Madison Ballgame to begin, straight from the seats to his iPhone. Hall went to watch a Madison Baseball game to mark the 52nd anniversary of his Madison team winning a city championship.
Madison, BaseBall & Me
So here I sit. In the stands aside my 1st base position, separated by a fence , experiencing my first JMHS game in 52 years! As a spectator no less!
I always thought that baseball represented life in such a potent way. Touching all senses, feelings, desires and yet at its core is that every batter, player upon entering the game has one fundamental desire to get home.
Clearly romancing the past can be fun and I would imagine dangerous for some but for me, dispelling “ you can’t go home” seems so real. Now I’m not living in 1967, but sitting here, looking across the field, hearing and breathing the sounds of the game are real. It’s my past and prepared me for my future.
Yes, these boys, young men of Madison have their future ahead of them but when they take the field this is truly a special time. Friends, teammates, colleagues, Boys of Summer these are precious experiences.
For me, our team was family. Some of us played ball together when we were 7/8 years old to our senior year. From Fillmore Gardens, the Highway and neighboring communities we were united under the guidance of Arnie Pinsky.
As we entered our senior year, we were confident of an outstanding season. Not with arrogance but expectations of knowing how good we were. There never was a game we couldn’t win… Never! Perhaps no greater sign would be our City Championship game . Being down 7-1 with 6 outs to play against the men of Columbus HS from Washington Heights. Succeeding with scoring 7 runs against the early favorite to win it all and Winning and becoming reigning City Champions of NYC and the last one from Madison for the past 52 years .
So moving , so powerful and while I haven’t been in touch with the entire team, sitting here in the stands, I still hear Jack behind the plate encouraging Steve to bear down, Eliot in the hot corner, Steve still making short look easy and turning double plays with Donnie at second. Barry, Kirby, Artie patrolling the outfield and Ronnie gliding athletically in center . I’m manning first sitting 15 feet now from a place I called home. There’s Tony, Barry, Jim and Larry. Basically my family.
Yes maybe I went home for 9 innings or so and while the game was great and I was proud of our current Team, I also had the time to see my guys running the field, playing their positions, hitting the ball and winning. For in 1967 these Band of Players, my lifetime friends were City Champions, and it felt good and real for this time to imagine them all in the perfect place and in the perfect time.
Hal Trencher ’67
Lynn Herman Syms evolved from a Brooklyn native and interior designer—who designed Helmsley hotels and geriatric facilities—into an accomplished bronze sculptor and philanthropist. Married to retailer Sy Syms, she led the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra board and now funds global women's empowerment.
Lynn Herman Syms’ high school girlfriends remember when their loyal Adelphis sorority sister moved in her sophomore year to Manhattan Beach and still crossed the Sheepshead Bay pedestrian bridge every morning to catch a bus to Madison. “We were six inseparable friends,” Lynn said in an interview with the Alumni News in the paneled sitting room of her Upper East Side apartment. She recalled their pact to be neighbors when they grew up and “make a tunnel through our attached houses.”
The former Adelphis president admits that her early life was “lived in a bell jar from my father’s house to my husband’s house.” Homemaking, however, was not her forte. “If I walk into the kitchen, I bum myself,” she quipped. But as an artist, a businesswoman, and a philanthropist, Lynn has always been ready for a challenge. An art major at Syracuse University and NYU, Lynn married young and raised two children. At age 40, she said, “I decided to strike out.” Moving to Manhattan, she began work as an interior designer and started a firm with a partner in Brooklyn Heights. Soon she was designing guest rooms and public spaces in Leona and Harry Helmsley’s hotels. Despite a falling out with the Helmsleys, the experience “led to a lot of growth,” Lynn said. “None of that was wasted.” She went on to develop a specialty in geriatric facilities, “creating spaces [for Alzheimer’s patients] that might speak to memory.”
Then, in her fifties, when the emotional toll of her work became too great, Lynn made an about-face career change and became a sculptor. “From the first day,” she said, “I loved it with such a passion.” She set up a studio in the National Academy Museum and School, a 190-year-old institution on E. 89 St. Lynn sculpts in clay and, using the lost wax method, casts her pieces in bronze.
The figures displayed throughout her apartment range from rough and elongated forms to more classical representations of the human body. Emotions are laid bare and run the gamut from joy to heartache. Although Lynn sculpts using nude models, she likes to then drape her figures, adding detailed folds for greater interest. Many of her pieces have personal origins. “Ode to Ms. Leslie” — a woman proudly thrusting forth her newly rounded belly — was inspired by Lynn’s daughter’s first pregnancy. “My New Life” is a cluster of seven babies that Lynn created when her first two grandchildren were born a few months apart. Lynn’s work, represented by Madison Avenue galleries, can be found in the permanent collection of the Yeshiva University Museum and in private collections.
But sculpting was only one of Lynn’s activities. In 1984 she married clothing retailer and philanthropist Sy Syms, setting her on her own course of philanthropic work as well as on joint ventures with her husband. Sy, a Midwood HS graduate for whom Yeshiva University’s School of Business was named, was also chairman of Israel Bonds. The two traveled frequently to Israel and socialized in Israeli cultural and political circles. In the mid ’80s, violinist and conductor Itzhak Perlman asked Lynn to join the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra’s international board, which promotes and supports the orchestra. In 2001, when board president Herman Sandler was killed in the 9/11 attack, Lynn took over his position and served a four-year term. She is still an active member there and on boards of other charitable foundations. “I was so lucky,” Lynn said, reminiscing about her late husband. “He was so down to earth.” In the late ’90s, Lynn convinced Sy, who had once been a radio sportscaster, to join her in hosting a weekly radio show focused on interesting New Yorkers and city life. Waxing nostalgic about the “at-home” morning talk shows she listened to years earlier, Lynn said, “The second the microphone went on I felt like I knew how to do it.” The show lasted three years, and among the guests were Mayor Ed Koch, Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, and TV-news anchor Jim Jensen.
Sy Syms passed away in 2009 and since then Lynn has plunged into new waters. Partnering with World Pulse, an online global community of women empowering each other to create grassroots change, she has funded the $20,000 Lynn Syms Prize, the first one awarded in 2014. The winner was a Pakistani woman, Zephania, whose school in rural Punjab is educating hundreds of girls in a society where 13-year-olds are forced into marriage and honor killings are not unusual. Strong women and raising women’s consciousness are “the theme of my life,” Lynn said. “It feels good if you can help one person.”
Always engaged in what she calls her “continuum,” Lynn will soon be returning to the National Academy to take up drawing and cartooning. Her website is lynnsyms.com.
The James Madison High School class of 1959 exemplifies lifelong friendships as they gather for their 65th reunion.
The friendships formed in high school hold a special place in our memories. Whether they were born out of necessity, or the continuation of friendships that began early in life, they provide grounding and support at a time when we mature into adulthood. The shared experiences become meaningful events in our formative years. The Madison alumni community is full of examples of friendships that stood the test of time. Few classes, though, have remained as deeply connected as the James Madison High School class of 1959. This year, they are getting together for their 65th anniversary reunion.
Listen to the JMAA Podcast. In this episode we talk about Madison Homecoming 2023 and Danny Suhr Field Naming.
James Madison High School in Brooklyn dedicated its new athletic field on October 21, 2023 to Danny Suhr, class of ’82. The annual Homecoming event drew hundreds of alumni and current students to honor the first New York City firefighter to die in the attacks of 9/11. Suhr was captain of his Madison Knights football and baseball teams. After joining the city’s fire department he became captain of the FDNY’s football team. Danny Suhr’s life was celebrated by members of his family, classmates and friends in a moving ceremony.
Saturday 25 – Sunday 26 October 2025
Join us for Madison’s Centennial celebration All tickets available in Alumni Shop Fri Oct 24th All Class Reunion at Clemente’sSat Oct.
Join us for Madison’s Centennial celebration All tickets available in Alumni Shop
Fri Oct 24th All Class Reunion at Clemente’s
Sat Oct. 25th Homecoming at Madison/After Party Clemente’s
Sun Oct. 26th Wall of Distinction Ceremony Doors open at 10 AM at Madison
Sun Oct. 26th Centennial Luncheon at Madison, immediately following Wall of Distinction Ceremony
Sunday, 5 June 2022, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm James Madison High School, 3787 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 11229
More information coming soon!
More information coming soon!
Wednesday, 13 April 2022, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm
You are invited to speak to the students of James Madison HS on March 26th for our 4th annual Career Fair.
You are invited to speak to the students of James Madison HS on March 26th for our 4th annual Career Fair. We will be setting up tables around GYM 2 and inviting approximately 150 students to attend during each period. Additionally, we are asking that some of our speakers do break- out sessions to individual classrooms, where they will present to a group of 30-34 students and run a Q & A segment.
Any Questions or to volunteer please contact:
Annette Pisano
School Counselor
718-758-7364
Nothing in this category yet.
