63 years later, athlete shunned for being gay getting varsity letter from Immaculate
By RICHARD COWEN
for Montclair Local
He didn’t know it then, but Tom Ammiano had just run the race of his life when he finished first for Immaculate Conception High School at a track meet in 1958.
Ammiano describes his then-16-year-old self as skinny, with a high-pitched voice and an effeminate way — and as a fierce competitor who wouldn’t let asthma scare him from running track. When his airways