A Birthday Anniversary - Celebrating A Sports Journey / Part 1

Picture - Peter Pierro -  LPO Jr. College Basketball - 1946 - 20 years old - #5

Well, today is the 99th Anniversary of my Birthday. That’s a long time and my partner, Peter McGahey, wants me to tell you some of the special sports experiences that I recall from those years. 

Keep in mind that I was born on May 31, 1926. This was three years before the market crash that led to the Great Depression of 1929. The Depression remained until our involvement in World War II in 1941. The Great Immigration, 1910 to 1970, provided this country with cheap and loyal workers; mainly men; European-born women were basically stay-at-home parents.  My father was a coal miner and my mother stayed at home and raised five kids.

We didn’t have much money; my first baseball glove was bought with popsicle sticks and $5. My baseball spikes cost $3 and was a burden on our family budget. My three brothers were older than me and fine athletes. My older sister was not a “Tomboy”.

So, that’s the background to all I accomplished in the World of Sports. Remembering that “Telling the Truth is not bragging,” I will be objective in describing my sports’ activities.

Let’s start with Baseball. My first formal baseball activity was with my Washington School sixth grade team. I was captain of the team, played 3rd base and one of the leading batters in the league. In that summer and in the following years, I played in the LaSalle,  Illinois park system and made the all-star teams (one year we were transported to Chicago to watch the Cubs play in Wrigley Field).

We did not have a baseball team at LaSalle-Peru Township High School. None of the other high schools in that cold, northern Illinois land had baseball teams at that time. I played in the park program in the summer.

My next baseball experience was after I returned home from the U.S.Navy and played with  the Utica Yanks, a semi-pro baseball team. I played second-base and batted leadoff. I recall one game when I came up at bat at the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and hit the first pitch, a liner over the shortstop’s head. I remember that because one of the fans came down from the bleachers and handed me a $5.00 bill. In 1946, $5.00 was $5.00.

By this time I was playing baseball on Sunday and softball 2 or 3 nights a week under the lights.

So that leads me to Softball. I actually played my first fast-pitch softball on Tinian Island at the Naval Air Station, Mariana Islands, South Pacific Ocean. The war had ended almost exactly one year after my induction into the Navy. I spent almost another year on Tinian before being honorably discharged from service. I played basketball again and played fast-pitch softball for the first time.

My brother Joe, three years older than me and a great player, organized the LaSalle Merchants’ softball team in 1946. He was the catcher and I played third base; batted leadoff there, too. We did quite well in the park league and he and I were recruited by the Peru, Illinois, Will-Walt Team of the Northern Illinois Fastball League. This league was well-known for the Aurora Seal-Masters Team, several times National Champions.

I played with these two teams until September of 1952. I enrolled at Northern Illinois State Teachers College (now NIU) in 1948 and played softball in the summer. I taught my first year in 1950-51 in a country grade school in Deer Park, Illinois.

I recall playing in a softball tournament in Ottawa, Illinois. I had played well at bat and at 3rd base and we lost in the finals. At the end of that game, a gentleman came up and introduced himself. He was the owner of an auto sales organization and sponsor of the winning team. He offered me an office job while playing on his team. I was entering my last year at NIU and declined - I was beginning to realise that Teaching was my future profession.

So, what else was I doing? Bowling and Basketball.

I really started bowling in High School. Beginning with my junior year, I set pins. Made some money for the family while my three older brothers were in the U.S. Army and my sister had gotten married and was working at the Westclox Clock Co. - producing military airplane instruments.

Along with setting pins, my buddies and I set pins for each other whenever we have time to do the bowling. Sam Arbisi, the lane manager, was a good coach and I learned well from the beginning. I shot a 204 for my first 200 game and 241 for my best game that junior year.

When I returned from the Navy, I enrolled at LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby Junior College (now Illinois Valley Community College). Sam hired me as his assistant and I worked after school. The alleys belonged to the Westclox and the employees' bowling games were played after work. I did some bowling there and joined my brother Joe’s Major League team at the local lanes. I got my average up to 188.

The following two years, I did okay at NIU. I bowled once a week with no practice - no money for practicing. In my senior year, I was co-champion with a 184 average and bowled the high game of 257. In my third year of teaching, Bill Einert, a fellow teacher, invited me to go with him to the summer session at Colorado University. I declined, truthfully stating that I couldn’t afford it. Soon after, our team played in a tournament that paid top individual and team scorers. I bowled a 650 series including a 253 game and made enough money to take my first graduate hours at Colorado University. 

Let’s take a break here and get to the end of the story next week.