HISTORY Capital Region Scrapbook Down memory lanes State tourney brought women bowlers to town in ’58 BY JEFF WILKIN Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Jeff Wilkin at 395-3124 or at wilkin@dailygazette.com. Visit his blog,“Type A to Z” at http://www.dailygazette.com.
Women began rolling into Schenectady during the middle of March in 1958 — and then began rolling in Schenectady. The 25th annual New York State Women’s Bowling Association Tournament was under way on local alleys. About 1,000 women from 2,000 teams were touring Schenectady’s stores and streets. The visit was an excellent adventure for Gerry Berger, 25, and Joan Guile, 21, both of New Berlin in Chenango County. Many bowlers hit town on Friday, March 21, and some checked into the Hotel Schenectady on Broadway. Following their matches, Gerry and Joan shopped and dined in city locations, with a writer and photographer from the Schenectady Gazette along for company. The city wanted to impress ladies of the lanes during the 11-week tournament (weekend action), and so merchants put welcome signs in their windows. On Friday, March 28, the Hotel Schenectady and Hotel Van Curler conducted open houses. Members of special committees gave tours, helped with hotel reservations and arranged dining accommodations. Schenectady was striving for favorable reviews; tournament participants and their friends were expected to spend about $750,000 by the time competitions ended in mid-May. Gazette reporter Bob Barber wrote bowling was picking up more and more fans. “Saturday afternoon television, traditionally sports, is becoming more and more aware of bowling, and Don Carter has become as well known in bowling circles as Ted Williams in baseball circles,” he said. Barber also noticed the women’s colorful bowling uniforms: “A visit to the lanes during the matches is like seeing a pageant on color film, and the noise of the bowling and the enthusiasm of the bowlers infects even the most casual observer,” he wrote. Gerry and Joan seemed happy to be shopping for gifts, ordering steak for dinner and just walking around downtown. “I’m having a perfectly wonderful visit to your city,” said Gerry. “And the bowling alleys here are simply marvelous,” added Joan. Guile, left, and Berger prepare to rock the maples at the Towne Bowling Academy in Rotterdam. The Woodlawn Bowling Center in Schenectady also was used for the tourney competition. GAZETTE FILE PHOTOS BY CHARLES B. SELLERS JR. Gerry Berger, 25, left, and Joan Guile, 21, of New Berlin get directions to city stores and restaurants from Patrolman Bill Fairlee of the Schenectady Police Department in March 1958. The women were in town — and here on State Street near Broadway — for the New York State Women’s Bowling Association Tournament. Berger, center, and Guile, right, watch as a store clerk presents shirts and ties. The women needed Schenectady souvenirs for their husbands.
Back in Time MARCH 24, 1958 Ex-champ Marciano touted virtues of farming in 1958 BY JEFF WILKIN Gazette Reporter
Boxers stay away from cauliflower. It reminds them of ear injuries that are part of the vocation. But potatoes are all right. At least they were for Rocky Marciano. “I’m a potato farmer now and darn glad of it,” the retired heavyweight legend said during a visit to Schenectady on Monday, March 24, 1958. “I’m not kidding about being a farmer.” Nobody argued the point, as the champ made appearances at two new businesses — the Ave Maria religious and gift store at 855 Crane St. and Nate Heller’s sporting goods store. Rocky told sportswriter Art Hoefs of the Schenectady Gazette that he and partner Jim Cerniglia had farms in Florida, Virginia and Prince Edward Island in Canada. Marciano was watching the 800-acre farm in Homestead, Fla. “The fight game is my great love,” he said, “but since my retirement in 1956, things have sort of fallen into a pattern of life away from the ring. Believe me, it’s definitely not on purpose, because it has been very good to me.” The boxer said he had received offers to teach young fighters but was satisfied with his jobs of husband, father and farmer. Marciano, the blockbuster from Brockton, Mass., was in town during a big boxing week. Top boxers from upstate New York were just days away from the AAU Golden Gloves championships at the IUE Hall on Erie Boulevard. And the next day, Sugar Ray Robinson and Canastota’s Carmen Basilio were fighting for the middleweight championship in Chicago, a rematch of a fight held the previous September. “Robinson may be tougher than most think, but Carmen trains well and has the guts to go with condition,” Marciano said. “Don’t take anything away from Robby, but age will be a factor and I’ll stick with Basilio in a close 15 rounds.” The champ was wrong. Robinson won the fight by decision to regain his title. He was also wrong about potatoes. The venture eventually failed. Marciano died Aug. 31, 1969, the day before his 46th birthday, in a plane crash outside Newton, Iowa. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO BY SID BROWN Former heavyweight boxing champ Rocky Marciano takes a right to the jaw from fan Bobby Alesio, 7, during an appearance in Schenectady on Monday, March 24, 1958.
Larry Hart CLASSIC TALES OF OLD DORP Early families lived in luxury or humbly
The Daily Gazette is reprinting excerpts of the late Larry Hart's long-running column, “Tales of Old Dorp.” Hart believed everyone could be a star in local history and makes his case in this column excerpt originally published Aug 28, 1984.
Every family that has lived in Schenectady has some bearing on this city’s history — some more than others, of course. How often has a mere picture or document led to an intriguing story of a person or family residing here many years ago? It doesn’t necessarily entail momentous developments, merely an account of an association with an early industry, fraternal or religious organization, and just enough details on social aspects to add to our knowledge and appreciation of family life in another century. Old Dorp frequently mentions people such as Arendt Van Curler, a Dutch merchant who first planned a settlement here, or John Ellis, founder of the Schenectady Locomotive Works, or Charles P. Steinmetz, the GE Engineering genius, or Dr. Elizabeth Van R. Gillette, the city’s first female physician. LESS WELL-KNOWN Theirs are names that are linked to Schenectady’s formal history, which is the story of this city’s development and growth. However, lesser-known individuals or families also make up an important part of that total picture — how the people lived, what sort of homes made up neighborhoods, the kinds of work and wages then existent, what they did for amusement and recreation, etc. For example, letters, diaries and other documents of the past tell us about life in these parts in the early to mid-1800s when electricity, automobiles and central heating were unheard of. Rarely did the “average” homestead have plumbing facilities. Water for drinking and cooking was brought into the kitchen by buckets from nearby wells, sometimes private but often public. Each house had outdoor toilets in the backyard and night commodes under the beds. In the dead of winter, ice sometimes formed on the water buckets indoors by morning, it was that cold. Naturally, the homes of the affluent offered conveniences far beyond the means of working-class families. Some of these big, luxurious houses are with us yet today — such as the Henry DeForest house (now Schenectady Veterans of World War II) on Union Street opposite Seward Place, the Frederick Fuller (now Knights of Columbus) at Union and Church or the Charles Ellis house (now Amity Hall) at 217 Union St. Picture, if you will, the families of those multi-roomed dwellings having the comforts that come with servants, fireplaces in bedrooms, plumbing which permitted indoor toilets and ablution, stables in the yards that housed riding conveyances, animals and driver on call at a moment’s notice and magnificent drawing rooms with ornate furnishings that included a grand piano, a marble-manteled fireplace and fancy gaslight fixtures. CONTRASTING LIFESTYLES This is an isolated portion of what can be gleaned from writings or memories of the past, a contrast in styles of family life in Schenectady. We can piece together some other fascinating bits to yesteryear from these sources which help us reconstruct a picture of another era. In some ways, the “good old days” must have been really terrific. On the other hand, it is difficult for us to imagine people actually enduring without our modern conveniences.
Logged
