Even Jets alumni caught up in training camp action

FLORHAM PARK – Bill Robinson describes himself as “a dyed in the wool Jets fan.” But even he was a bit relieved the NFL team had relocated its preseason training camp to Florham Park, instead of upstate Cortland, N.Y.

He still made hotel reservations for the first weekend of camp, but only had to travel an hour up the Garden State Parkway instead of a four-hour drive each way. Robinson, an Eatontown resident, was at the front of the line well before the front gates opened in Florham Park on Sunday.

There was a crowd of Jets fans staying at the Wyndham Hamilton Park Hotel across Park Ave. from the training facility, talking and occasionally arguing in the lobby before and after practice. For Donna Storan, who grew up in Bergen County but now lives in Dover, Del., that gathering was one of the highlights of her camp experience.

“This is home. These are my stomping grounds,” said Storan, who got autographs on an oversized stuffed gorilla dressed in a No. 12 Namath jersey. “There’s nothing like Jersey Italian food and Jersey bagels. This is what I like to do. I look so forward to football. It’s my outlet. ... Meeting the (Jets) legends, this is my Super Bowl.”

Almost two dozen members of the Jets Legends Community signed autographs, posed for photos and chatted with fans on Sunday afternoon. Former tight end Rocky Klever admitted, “You had to be a really good fan back in the ‘80s to know me.” Fred Baxter, another former tight end, called himself “a role player (who) found a role on the team, and got good at it.”

Baxter learned from Emerson Boozer — a running back on the Jets’ Super Bowl III championship team who was seated to his right at the end of a long, green-covered table.

“You’ve got to respect your history,” said Baxter, who played in the NFL for 11 seasons and now lives in Moorestown.

“Our sweat and tears, we didn’t reap the benefits of, we get to see the effort.”

Former quarterback Glenn Foley reminisced with Klever about when the Jets used to be based at Hofstra University on Long Island, saying the team “finally put (the training facility) in the right spot. ... It’s fabulous.” Craig Charne and his brother Evan brought their kids to Florham Park on Sunday, a much smoother trip than the two-hour ride to Hofstra the “die-hard fans” remembered from childhood. Gabriella Charne, who turns 6 in November, and her younger sister Adrianna were more excited about the inflatable slides than the oversized NFL players.

“We were more into the actual sports, the players,” said Craig Charne, a Somerville resident. “They’re more into the experience. They’re happy because there’s everything for them to do. The players right there, they find it cool, but they don’t understand the game yet.”

Foley, who grew up in Cherry Hill and was on the Jets’ roster in the mid-1990s, seemed almost as excited to watch practice as some of the fans. Free tickets are still available for most of the Jets’ upcoming practice sessions via the team website.

“I want to get better at football,” said 7-year-old Noble Heron, who thought he’d pick up some pointers for his first season of tackle football with the North Edison Shamrocks. Watching the Jets’ running backs carry the ball around tackling dummies over and over, Heron added, “If you want to be good, you have to practice a lot.”

Stacey and Andrew Troia of Montville brought their three daughters, 11-year-old Alyssa, and 6-year-old twins Ava and Lia — all in matching Nick Mangold jerseys — to camp on Sunday, following up on the team’s movie night. Alyssa Troia attended the Jets’ Flight Crew cheerleading camp last summer, and performed a routine at halftime of the Jets’ season opener a year ago.

The Jets had held five of their past six preseason camps on the campus of the State University of New York at Cortland.

“Once I get here, I love it,” said Robinson, retired from the Deal Dept. of Public Works. “It doesn’t matter if they’re 0 and 16 or 16 and 0, I still root for them with the same passion. My love for them doesn’t diminish. You’ve got to take the good with the bad, keep rooting, hoping and praying.”

Staff Writer Jane Havsy: 973-428-6682; jhavsy@gannettnj.com; www.dailyrecord.com/writerjane/