Local article on Ethan
Note from Darlene: I found this article while (finally) cleaning the living room and throwing out old newspapers. Our local newspapers did not carry many articles about Ethan, but if I come across any others in my pile of living room reading material, I’ll submit them.
Article from: Lexington Minuteman
Written by: Helene Newberg
Lexington resident and Lexington High School Class of 1992 graduate Ethan Zohn won his bid for $1 million on the show ” Survivor. ”
The results of ” Survivor Africa ” were announced last night after a two-hour finale. Zohn lives in New York City but reportedly has been staying at his family home in Lexington while CBS film crews have followed him to Diamond Middle School and his mother’s knitting shop.
Peter Cohen, social studies teacher at Diamond Middle School and childhood friend of Zohn, described bringing Zohn to tour the school. “Ethan visited Diamond twice, once before Thanksgiving and a second time at the request of and filmed by the CBS crew,” said Cohen. While at the school, Cohen gave Zohn a tour of the school while Zohn signed autographs and visited in Cohen’s classroom. “The students got more interested in my childhood as a result of Ethan’s visit,” he said. CBS also interviewed Cohen for the reunion show also scheduled for broadcast this evening.
Cohen described Zohn as easy to get along with. “Because he has traveled a lot and had been to Africa before, Ethan knew what climate to expect. His life experiences to date prepared him well for success on ‘Survivor.’ He was a leader in our group of friends, a very successful athlete. Just a quality person.” Cohen said he and Zohn have been friends since they were very young and their families remain close.
Zohn may have learned early how to outlast his challengers, as Cohen recounts an incident when they were much younger: “Ethan and I and a third friend were maybe throwing crabapples at cars. We got a car full of teenagers who jumped out and came after us. Ethan and I ran fast enough to get away from them, but the third kid was a little slower and the teens caught up with him. We learned our lesson, too, though.”
Zohn was completely silent about his participation in Survivor. Over the summer, said Cohen, “Ethan e-mailed several of his friends and told us he was going to Europe for a couple of months, out of contact.” During the time Zohn was allegedly in Europe, Cohen had a reunion of some friends at a house on the Cape, sent Zohn an invitation anyway, and was surprised when a much thinner yet darkly tanned Zohn turned up for the party. Zohn said he’d lost weight “because he’d gotten sick in England. None of us thought to question how anyone would get quite so tan in England,” admitted Cohen. His friends knew he had submitted a tape to the show’s producers, but were surprised when they learned a few weeks later that he was a contestant.
“Ethan is getting a kick out of being a minor celebrity,” said Cohen. “All the girls in my class think he’s very cute.”
Assistant LHS Principal David Lautman, Zohn’s lacrosse coach, echoed Cohen’s observation. “My 13-year-old daughter and three of her friends are in love with him.” He asked his daughter if she thought he was more important because he knew Zohn and she nodded “Yes.”
Lautman admitted to not watching much of Survivor 1 and 2. “I didn’t watch the third series until my daughter brought a tape home from a friend’s house. She got me hooked because of her crush on Ethan. It’s really uncanny, because it’s the same Ethan I knew in high school, the same kind of character,” he said.
Lacrosse was Zohn’s second sport. He was captain of the soccer team and at the same time he was on the lacrosse team, he played on an elite national soccer team. Lautman recalls that he and Zohn made compromises so that Zohn could play on both teams and take on other activities.
“Ethan was very responsible, when push came to shove and he had to choose between an important elite team commitment and a lacrosse commitment he showed a tremendous amount of character by meeting his commitment to the lacrosse team. I found it impressive that he could be so responsible at that age. A better kid couldn’t win. Win or lose, I don’t think you’d have anyone saying anything bad about him,” said Lautman, who coached lacrosse at LHS for 18 years.
“Probably he’s been so successful because he’s being who he really is. The hackey sack, playing with the kids, that’s Ethan, not some strategy. He was on one of the better teams and among the nicest bunch of kids we had,” said Lautman. “Hopefully, good guys won’t finish last. He’s a great kid.”