Olean Softball Leagues '1949 -'51

OLEAN SOFTBALL LEAGUES

Softball in Olean became a sports giant in the late twenties and early thirties period, dozed off again for some fifteen years and roared back with the red hot Sanzo-Eagles rivalry that jammed Bradner Stadium during playoffs in 1949-50-51.

Softball, as a strong competitive sport, was unheard of in the Olean area before World War I and was slow arranging during the early twenties. The top players were too busy with the many amateur and semi-pro baseball teams that operated in the area from 1900 through 1926.

Big step for 'the masher' game, as it was known by such enterprising figures as Izzy Schiff, Chuck Welch, Chuck Morton, Waldo Burdick, App Driscoll, and others, came in the late twenties and the major rivalries involved such clubs as the Socony-Vacuum, Garvin-McCarthy, Mobil Gas and Bradner's teams. Some of the big pitching names were Roy W. (Kook) Morris, Ed Schifley, Chuck Welch, and Bill Davis. A few years later came John Victor, Hank Kubic, (both comparative youngsters, when they handled the hurling chores for Gavins in playoff clashes with the Vacuum,) John Simon, Kook Padlo, Walt Liwa, and John Roman.

Unlike softball as it was played in 1954, an outer seam ball was used, pitching varied from 35 to 38 feet, base paths were 55 feet. Only the catcher and first basemen were permitted gloves and runners could not score on wild pitches and passed balls.

The Vacuum teams of that early softball period included veterans, who were established baseball stars of the early 20's. Izzy Schiff managed. Ed Schifley, probably the fastball hurler of the 1928-29-30-31 period, made up the big pitching punch. Rudy Gazdik was the catcher. Infield saw Frank (Fundy) Slayer at first, Jim Marron at second, Al Edel at shortstop and Waldo Burdick at third base. The outfield saw Chuck Morton, Jimmy Lundy, Billy Cashimere and several others.

The Gavin-McCarthy club (which also played under the auspices of Davis Clothing for a time during that early period) saw Kook Morris as the top pitcher and App Driscoll as the manager. The rivalry between the Gavins and the Vacuum was the top softball issue during that four or five year period. Besides Morris, other Gavin stars were Don Williams, catcher; John Eaton, first base; Mush Harvey, second; Francis (Wennie) Flynn, shortstop; Abe Cottone, third base; John Williams, Bernie Gill and John Besok, outfielders.

During the early softball period, sponsorship of leagues was by the Olean Herald (three circuits) and the Olean Fraternal League. Bradner Stadium was the site of two games a night, the regular baseball diamond being called No.1 and a diamond in extreme left field being No 2.

With the Olean Baseball Nationals dominating the sports scene from 1932-1938 and the organization of the PONY League and opening of its operations in 1939, softball was strictly on a hit-and-miss basis. Nevertheless softball games managed to attract well-attended crowds to the better games and the playoffs. In 1936, games between the Dotterwyck Simon Pure and Daystrom teams, brought crowds that jammed such playing sites as the Ka-Bar Field, Franklin Field and the Polo Grounds. The Dotterwyck team of that year included an infield of Abe Cottone, Pete Houte, Dick Martell and Bill Kulp and an outfield of Bob Griffin, Ed (Nudra) Abdo and Babe Gibbons. Bob Klink, a veteran from the 1928-29-30 eras did the catching while John Simon, on the front end of a long career, was one of the team's top pitchers. Daystroms, which turned back the Dotterwycks in a torrid seven-game city championship series that 1936 season, included Walt Liwa as the pitcher, Babe Soder, catcher; Mush Harenda, Coots Piechota, Coon Suda and John Padlo, infielders; Fran and John Piechota and Walt Jonak in the outfield.

Several years later such pitching stars, as Kook Padlo and John Roman were key figures on the scene. Padlo being a Welch's Cafe stalwart while Roman, a Detroit, Michigan product, toiled for several teams. The big change in softball pitching was from 1929-30 to 1936 on through 1940-41, when they started just 'lobbing' the ball, the pitching improved to the point where it became a science.

During the World War II years, softball was conducted mainly on an industrial level, with the Thatcher,s Club of 1943, one of the best on the lot. Shortly after the war, in 1946 and 1947, the city league action resumed with Ted Welch's American Legion club controlling the play. Then came the WHDL League thus softball roared back to a prominent stage. First year of that circuit was 1948 and Dotterwycks and Sanzos put on a playoff series, which was the forerunner of bigger and better series in 1949-1950 and 1951. The Sanzos controlled the play during the period from 1949-52.The big pitching names of the 1948-52 period were George Price and John Gabler, both of Sanzos; Cliff Brookins, of the Eagles; and John and Tom Simon, who played with several teams during the period including Van der Horsts and Christopher Columbus.

Softball from just before World War II, softball saw the players using gloves, bunts permitted, scoring on wild pitches and passed balls and the pitchers at 46 feet. That was different from early years of softball. The Dotterwycks, losers to Sanzos in the 1948 WHDL playoff series, went on to dominate the local and area softball picture during the 1949-50-51-52. Under sponsorship of the Sanzos, Price and Gabler were the pitching standbys. Price possessing the windmill pitch, which contrasts sharply with the pitching of the 1928-29-30 eras of Morris and Schifley.

In 1949, the first years of the Sanzos four year domination of city softball, the climax came in the playoff series with the Eagles. Cliff Brookins was the Pitcher for the Eagles, but he came in at a period when the Sanzos one-two mound punch of Price and Gabler was making area softball history. The playoff games that 1949-year were in Bradner Stadium and the throngs that turned out exceeded the attendance at PONY games that year.

The Sanzo infield showed John (Bail) Kolkowski, first base; Jim O'Neill, second base; Ed Butler, shortstop and Joe Duffey, third base, while the outfield showed John Neporadney, Bill DeArmitt, John Collins. Bob Camp was the catcher on the first Sanzo team in 1949 and like Duffey, O'Neill, Butler and DeArmitt have been on the same team since 1948. The Sanzos are now the Bowers' Truckers of the Otto Softball League.

The four-year domination of the Sanzos saw that club's peak in 1950 when they won 28 regular WHDL games and playoff games without losing a game. That same 1950 season saw the Sanzos gain the Penn-York League championship with a four game sweep of playoff series against the Bradford Emerys.

Industrial Softball Leagues had operated in Olean, off and on, since the game took held about 1929. During the World War II years, an Industrial League was in operation. The Industrial League of 1954 was formed in 1952 with Sam Ash as the president. In 1952, Clark Brothers won the pennant and Line Material the playoff series. Daystrom won the pennant in 1953 and Daystrom won the pennant and Line Material the playoffs. Times Sesqui Centennial 1954
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