Forgotten among the anticipated battle between the New York Giants and New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI at Indianapolis Feb. 5 - and an emerging dispute between Govs. Christopher Christie and Andrew Cuomo over where to hold a prospective Giants victory parade - lies a fact that may warm the hearts of fans in and around Orange and Newark.
Orange and Newark once had a National Football League team of their own in 1929-30. East Orange was also present during the team's formation.
Granted, two years are almost footnotes in the NFL's 92-year-old records. Edwin "Piggy" Simandl's team became one of at least 51 defunct NFL teams in the league's first 40 years. Simandl, his players and other traces of the team are long gone - as well one of its five venues.
But Newark and Orange were part of what became North American football's premier league. That team played the Giants four times - and the Giants play a team that might even have ancestral roots to the Newark and Orange franchise on a yearly basis. The team's name even lives on at the high school level.
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr., the City of Newark, the NJ Keep It Green Coalition and State legislative leaders came together on Friday, June 3rd to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the NJ Green Acres program. In addition, the government and community leaders highlighted the development of new parkland along the banks of the Passaic River/Newark Bay and raised awareness about the many projects in the County, City and State that have benefitted from this State-funded grant program. June 3rd is the anniversary of the date that the first Green Acres Bond Act was signed into law in 1961. 
