Bickal for Congress

Some folks have told me that they remember when my father, Robert Bickal, ran for Congress in the 1962 elections when I was 9 years old. My father had been on the School Board in Rochester for several years when he was asked to run for an open Congressional seat as a Democrat. No Democrats had been elected in that district for many years because the part of the district in Wayne county was overwhelmingly Republican and outweighed the votes in the City of Rochester. So it was a hopeless cause but nobody told us children that. I thought he was going to win.

The picture on the on left was from when Congressional candidates met with President Kennedy. The other picture of our family: my mother Janet, my sister Ellen and my brother Jim and I was also used in campaign ads.

The other memorable feature of the campaign for us kids was the Bickal Bus. My father had an old school bus covered with campaign material and it had a loudspeaker that played, "Happy Days are Here Again" as we tooled around Wayne County. Our neighbor, Joe Yudelson, drove the bus.
Dad lost the election by about 30,000 votes to Frank Horton.

Recent Photos of the Old Place

The sign out front is new, but the rest of the place looks pretty much the same.


The Bridge. Which side did you live on? I crossed the bridge four times every day (remember walking home for lunch?) but it wasn't this one. This is the 3rd bridge to occupy this spot during my lifetime. If I live long enough, maybe I'll see one or two more!


How many cold winter days did we wait outside this door, waiting for the bell to ring?


The Main Office. "You just wait right here, young man. I know the principal will want to have a long talk with you about your behavior."


If you are old enough, you'll remember this as the entrance to the bike room. In later years it was converted into the Industrial Arts shop for Mr. Gurley.


Tay House still sits on the little hill behind the school, and it is still the meeting place for Boy Scout Troop 19. They held the annual Tay House Carnival as a fundraiser. I belonged to a different troop (116) which was affiliated with Tay House in the "Highlanders." By the way, our scoutmaster Harmon Strong is still going strong at age 92, I bumped into him the other day.

How thick is the ice?

Needed to be 6" thick before they'd open the pond at Cobbs Hill (Lake Riley) for ice skating. Imagine this place with snow around it.

The bad news? These days, absolutely no swimming or ice skating is allowed at Lake Riley.

Hungry, Anyone?

"One ground, one! One french fry, one!"

Rocking and Rolling to WBBF

WBBF was our radio link to the rock and roll scene blasting out the Top 40 24X7 to Greater Monroe County. Of course, there was Hullabaloo, Shindig, and American Bandstand on network TV, but locally there was WBBF. (WCMF - FM rock radio was still years away.) Attached is a brief aircheck from Jessica Savitch who later achieved prominence as an anchorwomen for NBC News. Also see a WBBF pick list for March 1967 with the Top 40 songs for the week and a DJ schedule. And remember, if you wanted to purchase any of those hot 45s, it required a trip downtown to Midtown Records or Jay's Record Ranch to get the best selection.

Luke

I wanted to include something about the people we all remember from our #1 School days. Unfortunately, if you Google "Ken and Birdie Button" the only reference you'll get is to this blog! And Sgt. Moynihan may have made a big impression on us when he told us to look both ways before crossing but apparently his reach was limited.

You don't have to be a baseball fan to remember Luke Easter as one of the icons of early 1960s Rochester. I remember taking off school to attend opening day (it was always in the afternoon) when I was in about 2nd or 3rd grade, way too young to know anything about baseball but old enough to appreciate the opportunity to sit in 500 Norton Street eating cotton candy instead of sitting in 85 Norris Drive learning arithmetic. The next day, the teacher asked me to tell the class about the game and I said "Luke Easter hit a home run." I don't think that Luke was even an active player by then.

Here's some stuff I found about old Luke:

Luscious "Luke" Easter was murdered during a robbery on March 29, 1979. From that day he died back until the day he was born, though nobody is sure exactly when that was, Easter lived his life on and off the field in a manner that can be best described as mythical.

The 6-foot-4-inch, 240-pound slugger batted left-handed and in six seasons with the Indians, batted .274, with 93 homers and 340 runs batted in. His best seasons were from 1950 to 1953 when he hit 28, 27 and 31 home runs, respectively.

Before joining the Indians in 1949, and while playing in the Negro League, Easter once hit a home run into the center-field bleachers at the Polo Grounds in New York, a 475-foot blast. Only two other players, Joe Adcock and Lou Brock, duplicated that feat. "When a fan told him (Luke Easter) that he had seen Luke's longest homer, the response was, 'If it came down, it wasn't my longest'." - Pat Doyle in Luke Easter; Myth, Legend, Superstar (Pat Doyle, Baseball Almanac, 09/2003)

As the 1959 season began the Rochester Red Wings, nearing the end of a productive, but increasingly acrimonious relationship with the St. Louis Cardinals, were in need of a left-handed hitter with power. Even a defensively-challenged occasional pinch hitter would be welcomed. And when Buffalo gave Easter his pink slip, Rochester general manager George Sisler, Jr., and manager Cot Deal agreed that he could help their troubled ship. Thus, minor league stop #6 was about to become Luke's final venture in professional baseball. And, like all the others, it would be a memorable one.

During Luke's years in Rochester fans treated him with admiration and respect - even the occasional boos were good-natured. In his new home the chorus changed to "Luuuuuuuuuke" as he won the hearts of the city with a booming bat, a big smile, and a willingness to cheerfully sign autographs as long as there was someone who wanted one. Civic appearances and playground clinics became commonplace as the community-owned franchise sought local support.

Throughout his playing days in Rochester and after his retirement, Luke was also a coach, assisting in the development of the young sluggers sent to the Wings by their new major league affiliate, the Baltimore Orioles. Future major leaguers Boog Powell, Curt Blefary, Pete Ward and others attributed much of their success to the gentle giant. In addition, local fans reveled in watching their first base coach as he engaged opponents, umpires, and the fans themselves in conversation and laughs. Among his biggest fans were the men he played with. Rochester manager Cot Deal remembers, forty years later, that "He was very popular with his teammates wherever he played".

(Here's an interesting link for those of you who WERE Red Wing fans back in the day.)

Hurrah!

Hurrah for #1 School
The school that we love best
The school that has the spirit
It's as good as all the rest*
It has the grandest teachers
The finest pupils too
Hurrah for #1 School
We give three cheers to you!

*Original text was "It's better than all the rest" but P.C. set in early at old #1, and it was apparently felt preferrable to teach us to strive for mediocrity than to risk hurting the feelings of other schools' students despite the fact that they (1) would probably never hear the song and (2) were patently inferior.

The Real Martin B. Anderson

"The college president is expected to be a vigorous writer and public speaker. He must be able to address all sorts of audiences upon all sorts of subjects. He must be a financier able to extract money from the hoards of misers, and to hold his own with the trained denizens of Wall Street. He must be attractive in general society, a scholar among scholars; distinguished in some one or two departments of learning; gentle and kindly as a woman in his relations to the students, and still be able to quiet a 'row' with the pluck and confidence of a New York Chief-of-Police."

- Martin B. Anderson

Martin Brewer Anderson (1815-1890) became the first president of the University in 1853 and served until 1888. His starting salary was $1,800 per year.

In 1861 he oversaw the University's move to what later became known as the Prince Street Campus. At the time of his retirement in 1888, the University had three buildings and 172 students.

Prior to Anderson becoming President in 1853, the leadership of the University was undertaken by Ira Harris, who served as Chancellor, a position later held by W. Allen Wallis one hundred and twenty years later.

No dormitories were built during Anderson's tenure as President. He regarded them as places with "every facility for the propagation of evil principles and habits." Instead, students found housing with Rochester families, and occasionally even lived temporarily with Anderson and his family. The President's House on the Prince Street Campus stood at 440 University Avenue.

Anderson Hall was the first building erected on the Prince Street Campus. When it was being built in 1861, President Anderson used a hammer to "test" the blocks of stone being used in the construction. This apparently annoyed the contractor, but Anderson was undeterred; the first UR president later told Professor Fairchild (who donated the hammer to the University Archive) that he "stuck to the job." Anderson Hall stands firm to this day, although it is no longer owned by the University.

The cost of Anderson Hall was approximately $38,000, and from the start was named for President Anderson. A trustees resolution at the time stated that "...the new home...mainly obtained by the zeal, the labors, and the self-sacrificing spirit of its noble-hearted president" would bear Anderson's name. According to the May History of the University, it was believed that Anderson Hall would provide enough room for the University for the next 50 years.