Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor
Adirondack Thunder Hockey is a month from opening night — but the “Heavy Hitters” are here before a single player hits the boards.
Albany’s Harding Mazzotti law firm purchased the naming rights to what was originally the Glens Falls Civic Center and then was the Cool Insuring Arena.
Based in Colonie, the personal injury practice is well known for its “Heavy Hitter” catch phrase, its jingle touting the contact number “1-800-LAW-1010,” and creatively cornball ads with tag lines such as “Think Big.”
“We’ve put our stake in the ground here,” Paul Harding, founding managing partner of Harding Mazzotti, tells The Chronicle.
He would not reveal the price they paid. Adirondack Thunder President Jeff Mead told The Chronicle the arena doesn’t disclose advertising contracts.
Mr. Harding did say, “We’ve never committed to anything for this period of time and this big. But it just feels so right. We are committed to do this, and for a long time.”
“The whole firm’s excited about it,” he said, adding, “As much as I was excited, and I thought it was just this great idea, I didn’t appreciate how many people in the Capital Region were going to react to this — people who are Thunder fans, but also the basketball games they go to, the concerts. It was a surprise to me.
“My phone was ringing off the hook there with family and friends and past clients who just loved the idea,” he says, when the deal was announced in July.
Cool Insuring was the arena’s first name sponsor, beginning in 2017. Even though “Cool” ceased to exist when the the historic Glens Falls agency was purchased by Gallagher & Co, Gallagher continued the deal under the Cool name.
Mr. Harding says, “We’ve been fascinated with this Glens Falls area since when we saw Cool Insuring had it.
“We just thought it would be a great place for us. We’ve got lots of staff who live up that way. We’ve got lots of clients, so many in that region.”
When they heard “through the grapevine” that Gallagher did not plan to continue the sponsorship, “we reached out to the arena,” Mr. Harding said.
“We had never really considered doing this with any other other building,” he says. “I had this idea 10 years ago, and never thought we’d have the opportunity, or we’d be in a position to do it. When it came to fruition, it really was a 10-year dream that came true.”
Mr. Harding recalls an invitation from Arena Executive Director/Thunder President Mr. Mead to sit in on an Adirondack Thunder game last spring, while they were still in talks. (“It was about a 3-4 month conversation,” Mr. Harding says.)
“It was late in the season, and the team was not in playoff contention,” Mr. Harding said, in a very disappointing season.
Despite the team’s dismal record, Mr. Harding says, “It was a sellout. That just further solidified our understanding that the Thunder and Glens Falls is so committed to the arena, and to their team.
“Not in any way to be disparaging to any of the sport teams in the Capital Region, but no one has the allegiance to their city and to their arena like the Glens Falls community. Even I have lots of friends in Albany who drive up for every game.
“This is a very intimate arena. The fan base, the folks who work there, it is a close community up there.
“We’re just honored to be part of something that is really dynamic and big. It is the biggest show in the Capital Region.
“We’re going to do whatever we can to make the events on the ice, and any of the events, special.”
As to how the sponsorship will play out during hockey and other events, Mr. Harding says, “We’re being very careful to ask, ‘What would you like us to do? How can we help?’ So a lot of the suggestions are theirs.
“We hope that we’ll earn people’s recognition of what we’re doing there, just by being consistent.”
Harding Mazzotti: 47 attorneys; plans Glens Falls office
Chronicle Managing Editor Cathy DeDe writes: Founding Partner Paul Harding of Harding Mazzotti tells The Chronicle the law firm has 186 employees at seven offices — 47 lawyers and the rest legal support staff.
“Our next move is, we’re going to try to find some office space up there (in Glens Falls), to find either a building or rent some space. That’s ongoing as we speak,” Mr. Harding says.
“We’re looking in 2026 to find the right space. This will allow some of our Glens Falls attorneys and team members to work closer to home.
“We’ve been wanting to do it for a long time. This gave us the incentive.”
The firm’s headquarters, with about 150 staff, is at One Wall Street in Colonie. Offices are located in Saratoga Springs, Plattsburgh and Rochester, N.Y.; Burlington and Manchester, Vermont; and in Boston.
Mr. Harding said they handle about 3,000 cases a year, personal injury and Workers Compensation and Social Security-Disability cases.
They reach “throughout New York State, all of Vermont, and then in the Western Massachusetts-Pittsfield area, and also in the Boston area,” and nationally with mass civil cases.
Mr. Harding recalls the firm’’s founding as Martin, Harding and Mazzotti.
“I had just turned 28, out of law school for two years when Bruce Martin and I started the firm, the two of us and one secretary.
“I had worked for one full year at a law firm in Albany where there was a really smart young manager who ran the litigation department, named Victor Mazzotti.
“About three years later, the opportunity came where Victor could join us. And so it was Martin Harding and Mazzotti. That was 1994.”
Mr. Martin has since retired.
Rosemary Bodgan joined as the firm’s fourth-ever partner in 1999.
Mr. Harding says she runs the mass tort department, working on drug recall and other cases of national reach.
“She’s our Ivy League strong litigator,” he says. — Cathy DeDe
About 1-800-LAW-1010 and why they didn’t name arena the Heavy Hitters
Chronicle Managing Editor Cathy DeDe writes: Harding Mazzotti’s singable tag line “One-Eight-Hundred LAW Ten-Ten” came about when an agency hooked them into a general 1-800-LAWYERS number, back in their first years, in the early 1990s.
“But it wasn’t our own,” partner Paul Harding says. At the time, “AT&T had a ‘1010’ promotion of some kind.”
Mr. Harding said he thought up “LAW 10-10” and researched who had that 800 number. It was a dating service. Without letting on its plan, the law firm bought the number for $2,500.
As for “The Heavy Hitters,” it came about sometime around 2000.
“Our advertising agency stumbled on it,” said Mr. Harding. “We were using all different tag lines over the years, but that one stuck. Even though we’ve stopped using it from time to time, there’s still the identification. If I go somewhere, they’re like, ‘You’re the Heavy Hitter.’ So it has resonated.”
They even have their own YouTube channel with current and classic ads.
Mr. Harding says they briefly considered using “Heavy Hitters” as the arena name, but the copyrighted phrase “is owned by our ad guy.”
“It would have been a great name,” Mr. Harding says. “It’ll come up” during games, he assures.
The Thunder’s home opener at the H-M Arena is Saturday, Oct. 25, vs. the Trois-Rivières Lions. It’s also “Harding Mazzotti night.”
There will be giveaways, including some major ones, Mr. Harding says, and other themed activities.
Arena Manager and Thunder President Jeff Mead said they’re not ready to announce the specs yet.
The ice is already in, Mr. Mead says.
Practice camp starts Sunday, Oct. 5.
The pre-season home opener is Saturday, Oct. 11, also vs. the Lions.
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