'I loved the president': The 16-year-old behind the camera who photographed President Kennedy's Tampa visit
TAMPA, Fla. - Former President John F. Kennedy visited Tampa just days before he was assassinated 60 years ago. That visit was documented with some amazing photographs taken by an unusual photographer.
He was a 16-year-old boy with a camera and a love for the president. FOX 13's Lloyd Sowers sat in Tony Zappone’s living room, hearing the story of how he did it.
The first step was a press pass.
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"I rushed to the Chamber of Commerce, and I got a pass, and I just followed him the whole day," said Zappone. "I wasn't in any particular capacity except I loved the president."
He got pictures everywhere President Kennedy went. Getting one picture in downtown Tampa, he stepped into the street and was grazed by a police motorcycle. It didn’t bother him.
"The Secret Service, they gave me some dirty looks, but they didn't touch me," he laughed.
With the aid of his friend John Oliva, who helped preserve the photos, Zappone put them in a book along with the story of that day. But the photo that’s not in the book is the one he told Sowers about years ago.
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"As you know, I got a picture of the president tying his shoe," Zappone said. "I'll never forget that nasty look on his face, he looked right at me."
We know now that Kennedy had a terrible back problem and as he tied his shoe he grimaced in pain. You won’t see that picture, because Zappone made a promise 60 years ago he wouldn’t show it.
"If I give you my word, I'm going to keep it," he said.
He hoped President Kennedy would return, but he never would.
"Four days later he was dead," said Zappone. "A week later, the world was watching his funeral on TV. I’ve never gotten over that. No, never got over that."
Some of his photos have been displayed at Kennedy’s Presidential Library. He’s still holding on to the photo he won’t show and the memory of a boy’s best day, taking pictures of President Kennedy.