Kearny residents Abromaitis, Jones ranked among the nation’s best
By Jim Hague
What started out almost 40 years ago as simply a social outlet for friends and a way to get in better physical shape has turned into a competitive passion all these years later for two long-time friends from Kearny.
When Ed Abromaitis and Mike Jones were high school students, growing up in Kearny, they were both standout athletes at their respective schools, Abromaitis at Queen of Peace, Jones at Kearny High.
When Abromaitis was graduating from QP and heading off to play baseball at Kean, he started to get into weight lifting in order to get a little stronger and bigger.
“I was about 5-foot-8 and I weighed 140 pounds,” said Abromaitis, who was the long-time baseball coach and athletic director at his alma mater. “I saw my body growing and I noticed the strength I was gaining. I really liked it.”
So Abromaitis collected his weights and decided to put them in his friend’s Billy Hart’s garage in Kearny.
“It became our hangout,” Abromaitis said. “All we did was eat, hang out together and lift.”
Jones was quickly interested and intrigued with weightlifting as well.
To read the full story, see this week’s issue of The Observer.
