Posts Tagged lincoln

In 1908 fifteen year old Carmine Troino left San Georgio, Italy with his older brother to try to make themselves a better life in America. The same customs broker that would not allow his brother into the country also changed Carmine’s name to Charles Turner. Mr. Turner, who could not speak English, followed other Italian immigrants to Greensburg, Pennsylvania. It was there that he came across a newspaper ad for a barber wanted at the National Tube Company in Ellwood City. Not only did he cut hair at the tube mill all day but he also would cut hair at his house on Hillside Avenue and eventually opened his own barbershop on Lawrence Avenue.

Everyday management personnel from National Tube stopped for their “shave and hair cut” (25¢ cash). These daily stops helped him get through the Great Depression and in turn he was able to help his neighbors in Little Italy. The Turners lived on the corner of Bell Avenue and Fourth Street and built several $3,000 houses on Hillside Avenue. Charles was able to send his second son Kenneth to college to pursue his desire to be a funeral director after his oldest son Gene joined Navy where he served as a radio man and as a barber. After the Navy, Gene the red headed Italian became second chair in his fathers shop.

At a time when it was common for men to get a haircut once a week, turners Barber Shop boasted six chairs and no waiting. Turners was reportedly the first barber shop in Ellwood to have a television for its customers. In 1960, Gene installed the television so his customers could watch the Pirates who were going to the World Series that year.

After developing Hodgkin’s disease in the mid-40’s, Charlie (along with some of the family) moved to California for his health. Gene stayed in Ellwood to manage the shop and his brother Kenneth also remained in the Ellwood to operate his funeral home. Not one to sit still, Turner looked around his new home in the Los Angeles area and decided the area needed a motel.

From time to time Charlie would visit Ellwood City and go into the shop, move now first chair Gene’s tools to the second chair and begin cutting hair – it was his shop. Gene would eventually own the barbershop at 405 Lawrence Avenue that he managed for his dad and where his family lived on the second floor. In 1963, Gene sold the barber shop and the former second chair moved to California to become a barber to the stars.

Gene became a barber/stylist at Cosmo Sardo’s Art Gallery, Hairstyling, and Barber Salon around the corner from the famous Schwab’s Drug Store in Hollywood. The salon/art studio was everything you can imagine complete with martinis and hors d’oeuvres for customers. Gene not only cut the movie stars hair, but he himself was in a number of Gillette commercials.

Gene’s daughter Linda Turner Tidemanson of Winnetka, California once shared that she had no choice but to be “good” during her time in Ellwood. In our small town, everyone knew her dad and everyone knew she was Gene Turners daughter so she had to behave. In 1963 Gene sold his shop to Joe DeLisio who had started working the sixth chair at the shop in 1953 while in the 10th grade at Lincoln High School.

      Legendary baseball Coach Bill Spellman’s 1962 Lincoln High School squad won the WPIAL Championship. those pictured above were: first row, from the left, Bill Pratt, Randy Chesko, Toy Laitinen, Trippy Blythe, and John Pratt; Second row, Jim Bucac, Pat White, Bob Latino, Bob Poholsky, and Alex Herman; third row, Tom Webster, Gary Docchio, Bruce Smith, Jim Birtalan, and Ralph Bognosky; fourth row, Mike Tomeo, Bill Smeltz, Joe Listorti, Ernie Funari, and  Jim Filippone; back row, Coach Bill Spellman, manager Bill Lively, manager Bob Lordo, Charles Belonzi, and John Matrangol.

I was saddened to see the recent obituary for a long time equipment manager for Ellwood City football Mr. Joseph P. Ferruchie and it reminded me of an email Jim Hardie shared on August 22nd.

In Jim’s words…

     No one has talked about football equipment before the advent of plastic in 1961.  Prior to that time most of the padding was made of leather including the helmet.  1960 was my 9th grade year and the last with leather.  I loved the leather.  It was comfortable and had a great smell.  There were shoulder pads, hip pads and the helmet, all of leather.  You always see old time players with helmets that look like padded pilots helmets with a strap flying in the wind.  Our equipment was not like that and was a quality product.  I thought they were comfortable and preferred them to the plastic ones we received the next year.  The exception was the girdle which was foam hip pads in a cloth undergarment.  This replaced the hip pads which strapped to your waist. Years later when I played as a freshman in college I had to wear the old hip pads to my amazement!!!  Our equipment in high school was every bit as good as what was used in college which shows the backing of Lincoln and the football support group.
     One other thing that changed about 1962 was the practice jerseys.  They used to be a loose knit flexible ribbed material which was very comfortable but in my junior year they switched to a fine weave, with no give, cotton which had a shine to the fabric.  We loved the older ones and bought several to wear as street clothes.
     Our uniforms were state of the art and were worn with blue and white leggings.  If I remember correctly we wore one uniform for our sophomore and junior years and got a new one for or senior season – the fall of 1963.

    The Ellwood Opera House Hotel was built in 1893 on the 600 block of Lawrence Avenue. If you look closely at the picture, you can see that the first floor housed a bowling alley, barbershop, restaurant, and a pool hall. The Second floor was used as an auditorium where most of town’s public meetings were held. The auditorium was used as a theatre hosting Vaudeville, usually featuring Ray & Rini Grant.  In the late 1800′s and early 1900′s Vaudeville became one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America. Each evening’s bill of performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts. Types of acts included (among others) musicians (both classical and popular), dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and or short movies.

    The Ellwood Opera House later became home to the Loyal Order of the Moose until they sold the property to ESB bank and moved into their current building at 1400 Factory Ave. The Moose hosted many events for the community including Lincoln High School’s after-prom, and performances by various singers including Lawrence Welk, Guy Lombardo, & Vaughn Monroe.

   We know there were many other performances and other events held at the Moose but we need you help, could you please share your memories with us? Please either leave a reply below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

      I recently attended an engagement where the speaker spoke on Ellwood City Area Athletics. Most of the presentation centered on baseball and football but the topic of basketball stirred up some conversation. It was suggested that Joedy Gardner was the most valuable basketball player in Ellwood City history. The speaker conceited that he may not have been the greatest in Ellwood’s history, though he was great, but the most valuable. He credited Gardner with changing the way the other schools around the area viewed Ellwood City Basketball.
A number of people have shared with us how good Joedy was, so if he wasn’t the greatest in Ellwood City history, who was? I guess that comes down to how old the person you are asking is.
Ellwoodians that are around the century mark remember players like Dip McDaniel, Merit Book, and Sing MacDonald as phenomenal players. Dip has been credited with getting people in Ellwood interested in basketball during his games at the Shelby clubhouse as these men played before Ellwood City even had a high school team. As a matter of fact, for the first fifty years of Ellwood’s existence, Dip was widely regarded as the greatest athlete to come out of our tube making town.
      Then that was about the time Joedy Gardner hit the scene. As mentioned above Joedy turned the tide for Ellwood from consecutive losing seasons to an actual contender. He starred at Lincoln from 1951 to 54 before playing on nationally ranked teams at West Virginia University.
      Dan Aloi is probably the other great basketball player to be mentioned in this conversation. Having ended his career in Ellwood with a number of records including single game scoring record, single season scoring record, and the career scoring record. He was also named to the National High School Boys Basketball All-American team in 1987.
However, if the conversation is about the greatest basketball player in Ellwood City history, you have to include Anne Malkowiak who graduated as the all time leading scorer in Beaver County, all time leading scorer in Lawrence county, the first boy or girl to score 2,000 points for Ellwood, and the all time leading scorer for Lincoln High School.
It is a tricky conversation to have as there are a number of reasons why it is difficult to compare these great players to each other. Not to mention whenever the conversations start to get heated, someone throws in the legendary Don Hennon whose 2,376* career points at Wampum from 1951-55 stood as the WPIAL record for 38 years (I added the asterisks because Don earned his points without the benefit of a three point line). As many of you know, the Wampum school district closed and is now part of Ellwood City and Mohawk so he might deserve to be added to this conversation. How good was Don, consider this, the 1958 he was selected for the Associated Press All-American team, along with future NBA stars Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Elgin Baylor, and Guy Roger.
      By default, if you are going to include Dr. Hennon in this conversation, I guess I feel inclined to also add Sean Miller to the mix. True he played his high school ball for his dad’s teams at Blackhawk High School, but he was born and raised in Ellwood City before moving to Blackhawk for his varsity years.
Okay, there you have it, who did I forget? I am sure you will point out great players I forgot like Joe Dougherty but I assure you it was not intentional. I am just going off of previous conversations/arguments I have had or overheard. Please feel free to correct me below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      This picture was taken about 1920 in front of the place the stairs to the Lincoln High School auditorium now stand. The picture was given to a man in Fallston and hung in a barroom in the same town where the locals took bets on which community it was. E.J. Wright of Beaver formerly worked at the Aetna-Standard here in town and recognized the background as Ellwood City.
      Although it is fairly easy to establish the date of the picture as 1920, since that was the date the Simon Building in the background was completed, and it is still under construction in this picture, nobody seems to know for certain just what the occasion was. There are some that seem to think it was a Knights of Pythias program, but that has not been substantiated. A graduation ceremony can be eliminated as Lincoln High School was not built until 1925 and at this time students attended Central Public School on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Sixth Street. The older gentlemen on the left, just right of the band are wearing grand uniforms that tend to be more closely associated with the Knights or with the Odd Fellows. The front row of the picture appears to be younger children wearing “sailor” uniforms with round discs on their heads. The flag on the left would be the biggest indicator as to who these folks were and what they were celebrating.
      Notice the bricks on the left where a house is about to be erected (Evans Home) and the vacant spot where the First Methodist Church now stands. At the time of the picture, the Hotel Lawrence was still standing. At the time of the picture there was a half circle (or crescent, if you will) on Crescent Avenue in front of the old hotel. The hotel could not be accessed from Crescent Avenue, but rather it had a driveway that jutted through Oliver Park behind the hotel and circled up to the front. Crescent Avenue had to have the half circle to accommodate the driveway in front. If you look closely, you can still see the crescent in this picture.
We would like to hear your thought about the picture. Please share them below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      If you stop for a second and ask yourself what was the most dominant high school sports team in Ellwood City history, what comes to mind? Perhaps it was the 1925 football team considered by many as the best football team to come from the area. Or perhaps you thought of one of the other teams from Ellwood to win the WPIAL in their sport including the 2005 Boys Cross Country team, the 1942 Football team, the 2000 Girls Track and Field team, the 2008 Girls Softball team, or a number of Baseball teams including the 1945, 1962, 1968, and the 2001 teams.
      The 2003 Baseball team won the WPIAL & the State PIAA Championship as did the 1930 Track and Field team. However, when you hear dominant, you think not just one great year, but a number of years like the Girls Cross Country teams that won the 1992 and 1993 Class AA WPIAL and PIAA Champions.
Though they never won the PIAA State Championship, one Lincoln High School sports team dominated the WPIAL year after year after year. The Boys Gymnastics team coached by the legendary Mr. Ansell produced nine consecutive W.P.I.A.L. championships, eight consecutive A.A.U. championships and despite not winning the state championship, his teams had two third place finishes at the P.I.A.A. meets and in 1951 they came in second place at the P.I.A.A. State Finals.
 
    
Having won so many WPIAL championships in a row like they did is a testimony to how good the TEAM was and their success was not the result of any one or two particular players. However, these teams did produce some phenomenal athletes. I got these pictures from various Ellwood City Yearbooks. The pictures include Joe Barbati in the middle of a flip during his thrilling floor routine, a perfect lever exhibition by F. DeNome, a giant roll on the parallel bars by F. Wallace, hand stand by Mark Jamison, a hand stand on the rings by team captain Roland Stone, and State champion rope climber Leo Minotti displaying his perfect form that he used to pull himself up the 20 foot rope in 4.0 seconds to repeat as State Champion.

    
  These men were just a small handful of the spectacular student athletes that competed for Coach Ansell. We would all enjoy hearing from any of those that competed on one of these championship teams or just remembers these teams. Please share your memories of Mr. Ansell or the Ellwood City Gymnastics Team by leaving your memories in the comments section below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      I was flipping through a stack of old Ellwood City Ledgers that someone had let me borrow a couple of weeks ago and came to an article where they made a big deal about a certain Ellwood City baseball standout that was coming to the end of his career as a Wolverine and in his last days, hit a towering home run that not only cleared the fence but actually landed on the roof of the school. Of course this was in the days when the field was beside Lincoln High School, which a few of you might remember.    
      The way the article was written, it made the homerun seem to be a Babe Ruth-ian type of homerun that was typically reserved for movies like “The Natural”. Of course after reading this, I thought to myself that this would make a great History’s Mystery. The only problem I thought of at the time was that everyone would remember a spectacular homerun like this.
      I posted the question in the History’s Mystery section of Ellwood City Memories and it turns out, I had another problem. The home run was indeed a Herculean fete, but not that uncommon. I heard from a number of you including Bob Mallary who guessed Al Miller and Don Tindall who guessed Rich Potter. The article in the Ledger was about the drive off of the bat of Jesse Brown, but like I said, he was not alone. Jim Hockenberry, who grew up around the school remembers playing sandlot ball on the field a lot and also recalls that Mary Ann (Corigan) Caputo would easily hit baseballs onto the roof from home plate. Not only could she do it easily, but she did it regularly.
      If you know of anyone else that hit a drive onto the roof of the school from the old field, please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      The 1964-65 Ellwood City Boys Basketball team not only sported the schools greatest uniforms, but also posted the best overall record in the history of Lincoln High School (18-4). The members of the record setting team included; front row, left to right, Darl Romanoski, Jim DeMark, Bill Donnelly, Chuck Hennon, and John Kolik; back row, the ledgendary hall of fame Coach L. Butler Hennon, Al DiFrischia, Bob Fusco, Tony DeLisio, Ernie Hemmerly, and Jim Yohe.

      The 1995 Lincoln Hich School Wolverine Baseball Team from Ellwood City were crowned Section 10-AAA CHAMPIONS and WPIAL Quarter Finalists.  
      Pictured above front row, from left: bat boys, Santino Riccio, Mike Sharek, Jason Hazen, Steve Kimmel, Darin Sharek, Dave Ottavio, Kyle Blazin, Joey Bartolomeo, Kevin Ricciuti and Ryan Sulia. Second row, from left: Brad Welsh, Mike Pelloni, Joe Nardone, Curt Dominelli, Rody Polojac, Eric Meyer, Justin Zona and Sam Pelloni. Third row, from left: Ronnie Morrow, John Frisk, Blake Schilling, Larry Pasquale, Tom Nulph, Mike Hall, Ron Harper, Ryan Sudano and B. J. Boyle. Fourth row, from left: Ed Casciato, Kevin Stiles, Nick DeSanzo, Craig Radvansky, Mark Gardner, B. J. Guy, Matt Barberio and Joe Battaglia. Fifth row, from left: B. J. Neghiu, Ryan Venezie, Matt Haydo, Jeff Hall, Ron Walker, Adam Wehman, Neil Blazin and Corey Best. Sixth row, from left: Head Coach Jeff Fotia, Assistant Coaches Joe Ricciuti and Bill Baker; Players Eric Slevin, Travis Loccisano and Pat Wehman; and Dave Blazin, Vic Sharek and Vince Riccio. Some people were missing when the photo was taken.

      Jim Hardie may have said it best when explaining the dance craze that hit Ellwood City in the late 50’s, 60’s & 70’s. “That timeline would include the very first of the Baby Boomers and the last teenagers of the 1950′s. Those that had one foot in one generation and the other in a new one got to experience  the birth of Rock and Roll, Doo-wop, Folk and the music of the 60’s.”
      I have gotten more than a handful of people that keep mentioning the dances in Ellwood City. Having not come from that time, the only dances I know about are the ones held Friday nights after the football games in the Lincoln High School small gym where three quarters of the students leave at half time of the football game to walk over to the dance. From what I have been told, the ones held today would not even be considered a dance, but rather a “gathering”.
      We have heard stories of dances held in Ewing Park shelters with Christmas lights strewn about and the record player belting out the tunes (for those that do not know what a record player is, you’ll have to Google it.)
      We have heard about different clubs in town that put on the best dances as fundraisers for their clubs including the Road Rebels Car Club and the Kingsmen Car Club. The Son’s of Italy hosted weekend dances, the Jaycees also sponsored dances for young people, as did the Shuffle Shop after the game.
         The Shuffle Shop was a teen dance hall operated by local citizens inside the former Circle School Building. The Shuffle Shop (also known as the “Can”) is remembered today as always having dance floor crowded to the limits with enthusiastic jitterbugs and dance contests.
      Tree of Life Jewish Synagogue hosted open dances for Jews, Protestants & Catholics in their new recreation hall at the end of the Ewing Park Bridge. Even the high school had a Dance Club. E.C.M. contributor Danny John served as president of the club whose job it was to put on a dance every Friday evening throughout the school year.  The club took care of security, setup, arranging for a DJ, running the concession stand and cleanup afterwards. 
      Jim Hardie mentioned that the Dance Club would not have functioned without the guidance of the faculty sponsors: George Reese and Lou Oliastro. “They were exceptional men who allowed us the latitude to have a great time while gently, usually, keeping us from getting into trouble.  Lou passed too soon but George is still around with his quick wit and humor.”
    Jo Ann (Miller) Oxsen shared a personal memory of the Dance Club’s Friday night dances in the early 60′s. She recalled the time she and Vinnie Jeoffre (sp.?) won the Twist Contest (grand prize: Peppermint Twist record album). To this day she believes that Vinnie chose her as his partner because she was the shortest girl there that night.
      I am sure all of us would enjoy hearing your memories of the dances held in Ellwood City. Please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com. Please be sure to mention where the dance you recall was located.

      Denny Schill is known for many things during his tenure as the executive secretary of the Ellwood City Area Chamber of Commerce, but before he got that job and began refereeing high school games, he coached one season of football at Lincoln High School. The 1935 Ellwood City team ended a streak of losing seasons when they finished the season 8-1-1. Mr. Schill retired from coaching with the highest career winning percentage and is only one of four coaches in Ellwood City football history have posted career winning records.

This is “his” team…

According to the Ellwood City Ledger, from left to right in the first and second rows are; Bill Young, Al Biego, Robert “Jiggs” Hazen, Dave Luxenberg, Joe Pishioneri, Abe Pratt, Harold Young, Simon Hughes, William Hienz, Jim Flanagan, captain Mike Kraynak (holding football), Francis Miller, Augie Metz, Phil Tammaro, Bill Daufen, Andy Conti, Milton Young, Chester Bognosky, Onarato “Russia” Funari, Mike Perry, Nick Gib, and Tony Scopellite.

In the third and fourth rows with white shirts, from left, Jim Beemer, Bob Schantz, Carl Zeigler, Adam Izzo, Dorace Shapiro, Louis Butchelle, Chuck Rupert, George Ungham, Ben Keller, Dan Fenechi, Eugene Sam, Kenneth Welsh, Vince Galati, Mike Santillo, Sam Leopardi, Harold “Mac” Miller, Mike Gaydosz, Tony Cipro, Ben Bartle, Fred Teolis, and Floyd Rocco.

In the fifth row (in black jerseys), from left, Delmar Wiley, Ed Snyder, Herman Berendt, Art Kaufman, Bob Koah, Don Muir, Dale Worley, Bill Meyer, frank Blaine, Chester Franus, Andy Fehl, Joe Janose, Jim Hall, Donald Marshall, Al Morabito, Chuck Shaffer, Phil Wiegel, and Jack “Sparky” Adams.

In the next to last row from the left, Harry O’Brien, Ralph Tritt, Mark DeBortoli, Gene Massine, Martin Shaffer, Sam Costantino, George HAll, Walter Robuck, and Kenneth Price, managers, and Chester Swick.

At the top, from left were, Ralph Shaffer, principal; Thurman “Dutch” Croft and Gerald Newton, assistant coaches; Vaughn DeLong, superintendent of schools; and Schill, head coach.
Missing from the photo were Nick Frisk and George Robuck, who were out of the lineup with broken legs when the picture was taken.

Please feel free to share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com