Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" wouldn't come out for two more years, but it's still easy to hear that song in your head while reading these stories from 1980 about a rocking chair marathon in New Haven.
Started as a promotion for Canal Days in late June, merchants at Lincoln Park Plaza offered a $100 cash prize to the person who could rock the longest. Six people entered the contest, according to stories by Dell Ford in °®¶¹app. One entrant was disqualified during the five-day festival, but the rest were still there rocking rain or shine from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday with 10-minute breaks each hour.
They were given a choice: Participate in a blind draw for the winner, split the prize five ways or keep rocking. They kept rocking.
By July 7, there were only two rockers left: Paulette Gaffer, 34, and Kevin Irwin, 17.
Gaffer, a mother of six, had been laid off from General Electric and wanted the prize to help pay for school supplies. Irwin, a rising senior at Woodlan High School, would put the money toward a family trip to visit his brother in Tennessee.
To and fro they rocked, positioned on sidewalks within view of each other. Back and forth, day after day.
Then tragedy struck for Irwin. On the afternoon of July 15, he heard a crack -- one of the runners on his rocking chair had broken. After 168 hours of rocking, he was out of the competition. Gaffer had won.
The prize was awarded the next day. It figured out to a little less than 60 cents an hour for Gaffer's trouble.
"For diff'rent reasons, rockers keep rockin'," by Dell Ford (July 8, 1980)
A rocking chair serves many useful purposes.
John Kennedy used a rocker to ease his aching back.
Parents have discovered a crying infant - sometimes - can be coaxed back to sleep by the soothing motion of a rocker
The old rocking chair gets a lot of folks - it's a buttress against the blues.
For Paulette Gaffer, 34, and Kevin Irwin, 17, the rocking chair will lead to a $100 windfall. Not for both. Just one.
As a promotion for New Haven's Canal Days, June 24-28, merchants at Lincoln Park Plaza offered $100 to the person who could rock the longest. Six people enlisted in the endurance test. During the five-day celebration, one entrant was disqualified. But at the conclusion of Canal Days, five remained in contention for the $100 prize.
Three options were open to the rockers: A blind draw for a winner; split the $100 five ways; keep on rocking. The marathon rockers decided to rock on.
Monday, Gaffer and Irwin were the lone survivors of two weeks' worth of to and fro, back and forth, rock-rock-rock.
Gaffer, who maintains a slow rhythm in a chair given to her two Christmases ago by her six children, is working for the $100 on the sidewalk in front of True Value Hardware. Across a short expanse of asphalt, she can see her opponent, Irwin, beating out a faster rhythm in front of the entrance to Radio Shack.
Why is she rocking from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, in fair weather and foul?
"Welllll," Gaffer drawled, throwing in a broad grin and chuckle for emphasis, "I've been laid off from General Electric since October, and I have six kids."
So, the 100 bucks looked pretty good? "You ain't kidding - with school starting again." She said she'd "stretch the money as far as it will go. Mainly for school books."
While Mom is rocking, her husband, Bob (disabled following removal of a lung) has been taking care of the children. "He took care of them when I worked," Gaffer said, adding "he's super. Really super."
To pass the time, Gaffer can draw from one of several magazines on a table set up rockerside. She also works crossword puzzles and crocheted a scart for daughter Becky to wear to school this winter.
"You sure get to know the world out here," she said, looking out across the plaza parking lot.
Gaffer, who said she goes home and rocks ("I've rocked since I can remember - you can get me rockers or candles and l'd be satisfied") darn near forgot the contest Saturday.
"During the storm," she said, "I was up getting ready to go rocking, and I saw two of our trees go. I just plain forgot about the rocking chair contest - until my husband said 'Aren't you going to go?' He's pushing me now. He comes and visits, brings the kids. And he brings me my lunch and supper."
Across the way, Irwin, who will be a senior at Woodlan High School, announced that "after this is over, I don't want to see another rocking chair." He entered the contest, he said, after he "saw an ad in the paper. I thought I might as well do something."
Should he outlast Gaffer, he has the $100 earmarked for use on a family vacation to visit brother Steve in Henderson, Tenn. The vacation, already postponed one week, will wait until the rocking contest is over.
Irwin, who thinks he'll enlist in the Navy when his high school days are over, conceded that once in a while he has second thoughts about having entered the contest. "When I'm sitting here. But if I win - which I probably will, I'll feel good for doing it."
And what are his parents' thoughts on the matter?
"My dad," he said, °®¶¹appœis with me all the way. My mom brings me out here. She hasn't said much."
The rockers are given a 10-minute break each hour. Irwin walks around a bit; Gaffer either visits a True Value restroom or just sits.
Irwin's incentive, he said, is °®¶¹appœjust to prove that I can do it."
But it's Gaffer who has an ace in the hole. She figures she can outlast Irwin who, after all, must respond to the school bell the end of August.
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"After 168 hours, they're off their rockers," by Dell Ford (July 17, 1980)
It wasn't a loud "crack!" but a "crack!" nevertheless.
Kevin Irwin "felt something sink in. Like something inside me had snapped."
The "crack" and the "snap" occurred Tuesday afternoon at New Haven's Lincoln Park Plaza shopping mall. The following day, Irwin managed to muster a small smile as he returned to the same plaza to pick up a plaque naming him runner up in the "Rocking Chair Marathon" that had begun June 24 as part of a New Haven Canal Days promotion.
In actuality, the lettering on the little plaque read: Lincoln Park Plaza ... Rocking Chair Marathon ... 1980 ... Runnerup ... 168 hrs ... Kevin Irwin.
Paulette Gaffer's first prize didn't say nearly as much. But then, her prize wasn't a plaque. It was a check, and it merely stated, in effect: Pay to Paulette Gaffer $100 dollars.
Irwin, 17, who will be a senior at Woodlan High School, and Gaffer, a 34-year-old employee at General Electric who's been laid off since October, were among six people who thought they could win the $100 Lincoln Park Plaza Canal Days prize.
All they had to do was rock-rock-rock from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday (with a 10-minute break each hour).
When Canal Days ended June 28, however, five rockers remained in contention for the lone prize. Rather than split the prize money, the five opted to keep on rockin'.
By July 7, Gaffer and Irwin were the lone rockers. Gaffer chased the prize using a slow, easy, rhythmic rock from her assigned rocking station in front of True Value Hardware. Across the plaza parking lot, Irwin's cadence in front of Radio Shack was more frenzied.
What happened was: He wore his rocker out.
Tuesday afternoon, about 3:30, is when Irwin heard the "crack." The left runner had, in fact, cracked.
"It was horrible - after all that rocking," he said.
Across the way, Gaffer "couldn't figure why he (Irwin) was up. I even hollered at him, 'It's not break time!' I don't know if he heard me."
It wasn't until Linda DeCamp of Just Sew shop came to tell me that I was the winner that I knew what had happened. Linda said Kevin's rocking chair broke. I went over to Kevin and °®¶¹app” what do you say? It's different than dropping out (of the contest). I told him I was sorry his chair broke. Whatever he said, I couldn't hear. He was quite hurt."
Gaffer, who plans to spend her winnings on school books for her six children, said now that rocking six days a week is over, she'll "go back to my routine of housework." And her husband, Bob, she said, "gets two days off for fishing."
Irwin, derailed by a broken rocker, will go on a delayed vacation with his family. They'll visit a brother in Tennessee.
If there's another rocking marathon contest next year, will Gaffer and Irwin enter?
Winner Gaffer said, "Yes."
Runnerup Irwin said the same. With qualifications,
"If," he said, "it's a 24-hour, straight rocking contest, I might. But just rocking, during the days - it takes more of your time. He figures 24-hour "straight" rocking "probably would only last about five days."
As it was, he rocked 168 hours over the course of 18 days.
As did Gaffer. For $100, which figures out to just a little less than 60 cents an hour. Nowhere near minimum wage, but when you're out of work, it was rocking well worth it.
