Just a few days ago, I celebrated my 72nd birthday. In a few days, I’ll be in Boston, visiting my in-laws for the holiday, marking my 73rd Thanksgiving.
Time has flown since my first Thanksgiving in November of 1952. I’d like to think I’ve grown wiser with age, although some might question that. However, I believe that living into my 73rd year has certainly made me more informed.
As I’ve grown older and more informed, I’ve also become more thankful. I’m grateful for my wonderful family, my close friends, and the many friendly acquaintances that fill my life. I’m also fortunate to know some amazing people in their 90s who make preserving the history of Schenectady a joy. Looking back over the past three-quarters of a century to the 1950s, learning about our city and county’s past is always fascinating, especially when shared with people like Clara Walendziak and Frank Keetz.
During the first half of the 20th century, bowling, baseball, and downtown life were all the rage in Schenectady County. As a young boy, I loved visiting Proctors and the Carl Company. I still remember attending a Schenectady Blue Jays baseball game at McNerney Stadium with my father, a sportswriter for the Union-Star, in 1957.
But bowling was my first love. Sundays were for watching “TV Tournament Time” on Channel 6. Hosted by Howard Tupper, the show turned the area’s best bowlers into local celebrities, including Walendziak. I was an avid fan and aspired to be like the bowlers I saw on TV.
Living in Glenville meant traveling south on Route 50 to Skyway Bowladrome for a game or two, with a bit of pinball thrown in for good measure. Burnt Hills Lanes opened in 1959 and, while it and Skyway hold many fond memories for me, I loved every bowling alley I visited. Walendziak shares this sentiment, and don’t dare ask her to pick a favorite.
“Choosing a favorite is impossible because I had so much fun bowling,” said Walendziak, a 93-year-old lifelong resident of the Mont Pleasant area in Schenectady. “I remember scoring my first 700 at Mont Pleasant Lanes, getting a 298 at Towne, and competing in the traveling league at different houses every Sunday. Bowling was wonderful back then. You visited so many different places and always had a great time. I loved the camaraderie.”
While there are now only three bowling centers in Schenectady County (Boulevard Bowl, Sportsman’s Bowl, and Towne Academy), there were many more in the first decade after World War II. Walendziak fondly remembers competing against the best at centers like Van Vranken Lanes, Scotia Lanes, Woodlawn Lanes, Revere Lanes, Paramount Lanes, Riverside Lanes in Rotterdam Junction, and Taberski’s on Broadway just off State Street, where she got her start.
By the 1960s, Boulevard, Towne, Sportsman’s, and Rolling Greens had joined the list. Not counting Taberski’s, which had closed by the 1960s, that’s 12 centers within Schenectady County.
While Walendziak laments the decline of bowling’s popularity, she did more than just knock down pins in the ’50s and ’60s. She grew up on Cutler Street in Schenectady with her parents and a brother, another bowler known as Flash Walendziak. The family lived in the downstairs flat from her grandparents. She attended St. Adalbert’s Elementary School and St. Columba’s before graduating from Nott Terrace High School. She joined the downtown workforce right out of high school, first at Terbush and Powell and then 31 years with General Electric.
Despite her love for bowling, Walendziak always found time for church at St. Adalbert’s, where she is still involved, and enjoyed shopping, dining, and dancing.
“After getting our paycheck, we’d immediately head over to Carl Company and Wallace’s,” said Walendziak. “Everyone went to those places, and we also frequented Joann’s, a women’s shop on State St. For lunch, we’d go to a place on Erie Boulevard for their shrimp sandwiches. They were delicious, and the place was always packed at lunch.”
With GE and the American Locomotive Co. operating at nearly their peak in the 1950s, downtown Schenectady had a large workforce. And if you were Polish and liked to polka, or even if you weren’t Polish, a popular spot to dance was the PNA Hall on Crane Street in Mont Pleasant.
“There were dances every weekend, and if we weren’t at the PNA Hall, we’d be heading over to Cohoes or Albany or Amsterdam,” said Walendziak. “Everyone used to go there, not just Polish people. We had a lot of fun, and my group would often end the night by going to the Silver Diner on Erie Boulevard. They would stay open late at night and we would get something to eat.”
If you weren’t part of Walendziak’s bowling/dancing crowd, you probably spent a lot of your time following Schenectady’s Eastern League semi-pro baseball team, the Blue Jays. And maybe you enjoyed both.
When Keetz retired from teaching high school history at Bethlehem and Shaker high schools, he decided to research local baseball. He remembered that the Blue Jays might be an interesting topic. After all, Keetz grew up in the Philadelphia area, and the Blue Jays were the Phillies’ Class A minor league team from 1951-1957.
The Phillies were his boyhood team, but they weren’t much fun to watch. They had 16 consecutive losing seasons from 1933-1948. The Philadelphia Athletics, another Major League team in the city, did win the World Series in 1930, when Keetz was 2, but then were often as bad as the Phillies until the A’s franchise moved to Kansas City in 1954.
“I despised the Yankees and always rooted against Joe DiMaggio,” said Keetz, laughing. “I always rooted for the Phillies and the A’s, but the Phillies were almost always terrible.”
He still has an interest in baseball, but his passion for the Phillies has faded.
“I have a soft spot for them, but it’s not as intense as it used to be,” he said.
When the Blue Jays were playing in Schenectady, McNerney Stadium, also known as Schenectady Stadium for a time, was another popular destination for sports fans. It is now home to Stadium Golf Club.
“They drew good crowds, sometimes two or 3,000 people, sometimes more,” said Keetz.”
Keetz has written three books on local baseball. During his research on the Blue Jays, he delved into the city’s two newspapers from the 1950s.
“There were 58 minor league teams in 1950, and a decade later only 21 teams remained,” Keetz wrote in his 1993 book, ‘”They, Too, Were Boys of Summer.”
While Keetz thoroughly enjoyed exploring the 1950s Schenectady culture, he never became a fan of bowling.
“I tried it and I just wasn’t very good at it,” he said. “I bowled for a year and a half in a league, but then I quit and never got back into it.”
While I do remember the Albany-Colonie Yankees during their run from 1983-1994, I didn’t really appreciate them. Bernie Williams and Derek Jeter both played there. What was I thinking? I should have been at Heritage Park in Colonie two or three times a week.
But if I could time travel, I’d love to go back to the 1950s as a young man. I might watch a show at Proctor’s Theatre, go to a Blue Jays game with Frank Keetz one night, and hit a bowling alley with Clara Walendziak another night. I’m not sure about doing the polka, Clara, but I’d definitely join you and your friends later in the evening at the Silver Diner.
More Bill Buell’s Around Schenectady County:
Disagree – Bowling is a timeless sport that will always hold significance in history. Glad to see Walendziak sharing their memories of the game’s golden era.
Good grammar and punctuation, disagree. Bowling may have been significant in the past, but it’s time to embrace new sports and activities.
Bad grammar and punctuation, disagree – Bowling is a classic sport that should not be forgotten.
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