22nd Annual Special Olympics
Plane Pull
Stories and photos by Amber Ramundo and Mitchell Krugel
No team finer than Fairfield’s Finest
Exertion, energy, exhilaration and ex-
uberance exuded from the expression
on Blake Zampino’s face. With his fa-
ther, West Essex Local 81 member Chuck
Zampino, covering Blake’s back, Blake
led Fairfield’s Finest into the 2018 Special
Olympics Plane Pull on Sept. 29 at Newark
Liberty Airport.
The essence of the event flowed
through Blake to Fairfield’s Finest. Par-
ticipating for the 17th time, Fairfield has
put together a blueprint to maximize all
aspects of the competition.
The Plane Pull consists of three phases.
The first compels teams to pull a plane at-
tached to a rope 12 feet as fast as possible.
The second phase is a second pass that
measures the lowest amount of combined
body weight needed to pull the plane 12
feet. And the third is the most important:
how much money a team can raise for
Special Olympics New Jersey.
Behind Detective Robert Sanger, who
has been leading this team for all 17 years
it has participated, Fairfield collected
$14,000 this year to top the $100,000 to-
tal of money raised. That’s $100,000 in 17
years with no corporate sponsors; just
members going door-to-door and busi-
ness-to-business to ask for donations.
“I’ll be honest with you, when we first
started doing it, it was, ‘Let’s go pull the
plane.’ Just testosterone,” Sanger ex-
plained. “But the more we got into it, we
see the Special Olympians here every
year, and they’re just so grateful you’re
doing this for them. I don’t know if there’s
a better cause.”
Although Sanger is due the credit – and
the other Local 81 members are quick to
give it to him – he puts it back on them
just as quickly. Watching Fairfield’s Finest
do its thing on the rope, it’s almost like
seeing that rope turn into a thin blue line.
“Yes, it is,” Sanger continued. “A lot of
our members have been doing this for
many years. And we have new members
coming up to me asking, ‘When’s the
Plane Pull?’ I’m grateful to them every
year. I make them wake up on a Satur-
day morning and we’re not going out for
breakfast. I’ll say, ‘Hey, I’ll give you a ba-
gel. Can you come pull a plane with me?’
Members of the Fairfi eld’s Finest team which
included members of West Essex Local 81, cele-
brate after seeing their total in the lowest com-
bined weight phase of the Special Olympics
Plane Pull.
Now, every year, everybody just can’t wait
to do it.”
Fairfield’s Finest has become known for
pulling out all the stops in the Plane Pull.
This year, the team found added incentive
by dedicating its efforts to Willie Torres, a
longtime Special Olympian from Newark.
Despite Willie’s passing, he had a big
hand in Fairfield producing its best effort
ever on the rope.
“I think he was out there with us today,”
Sanger cherished. “He is every year.”
When the team stepped up for its at-
tempt at the fastest pull, it lasted slight-
ly longer than a blink of an eye. Behind
Blake and Chuck Zampino stood Jimmy
Ciampi, a rock ‘em, sock ‘em robot with
law enforcement laser-focus and a can’t-
miss approach to getting his pull on.
“Rob actually told us to always keep
your feet moving,” assessed Ciampi, who
participates in some competition body-
building in his off time. “Shoulders back,
look up and always keep pushing your
Blake Zampino, son of Local 81 member Chuck
Zampino, leads Fairfi eld’s Finest in the fastest
pull phase.
legs.”
For all the leg work, Ciampi had arms
big enough to move the plane by himself.
And the Local 81 group had too much pull
for this day. Its 6.96 time handily won the
fastest pull phase. With just a short break,
six team members stepped up for the
next phase, and their combined weight of
1,292 pounds was low enough to win the
combined weight phase.
And although official records aren’t
kept, Fairfield’s Finest appeared to cap-
ture the first Triple Crown in Plane Pull
history by winning all three phases: fast-
est pull, lowest combined weight and to-
tal money raised. Sanger said that if his
group did pull off the rare triple, he might
have to retire from Plane Pull duties.
But there is one aspect of this event
that will probably keep him coming back
long after he retires from the job.
“It’s all teamwork. That fastest pull, the
lightest weight, raising the money — it’s
all teamwork,” he rejoiced. “That’s what
this job is about. That’s what this event is
about.”
www.njcopsmagazine.com
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