'Wonder Years' Jets jacket donated to Smithsonian
The iconic Jets jacket worn by actor Fred Savage in the award-winning TV series: "The Wonder Years" is displayed during a ceremony to donate show memorabilia to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, Dec. 2, 2014. Credit: AP
Kevin Arnold was 12 when the Jets won their one and only Super Bowl, the perfect age to sport a jacket celebrating the team when he later became famous as the main character in the 1988-93 television series, "The Wonder Years."
Technically, young Kevin was fictional, but that did not keep his story from ringing true among those who grew up in the New York suburbs during the late baby boom era.
It helped that the series' co-creator, Neal Marlens -- son of former Newsday managing editor Al Marlens -- knew his subject well, having grown up in Huntington and attended Walt Whitman High School.
Anyway, all of this now is not only TV history but museum-worthy history. Tuesday, the famed Jets jacket and other memorabilia were donated to the Smithsonian Institution by cast members and their families, including Fred Savage, the actor who played Arnold.
Savage said at a news conference that his mother, Joanne, tended to hold onto things to the point her children called her a hoarder. She typically would respond that the Smithsonian might want the stuff someday. That day was Tuesday.
If he were real, Arnold would be 58 today -- and still waiting for another Jets championship.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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