U-All Golf Club celebrates 60 years of friendship
The U-All Golf Club of Delaware County will celebrate its 60th anniversary with its annual tournament in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Sept28-Oct. 6.
The club’s membership is made up primarily of residents of Sharon Hill, Collingdale, Clifton Heights, Aldan, and Folcroft as well as former Delaware Countians who have relocated to the Jersey Shore, Florida, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
“Once you’ve experienced this trip, you’ll always want to return for more,” said Mike Keeley, the U-All Club president and a former Cabrini University men’s basketball assistant coach. “It’s a week of social interaction blended with the competition of daily golf.
“It’s the people, not the golf, that’s what this trip is all about.”
The first trips averaged about 28 players, but this year there will be 56 golfers competing on two teams — The Hookers, captained by Don “Gabby” Hartnett and Carl Robinson, and The Slicers, captained by Jim Stewart and Tony Borsuk.
Golfing is played in a Ryder Cup format, and a player draft is held in August.
“One year we had (the late) John McAdams, who was the voice of the Big 5, as master of ceremonies for draft night,” Keeley said. “He was reading the bios of the players and cracking jokes about each person as they were drafted.”
Among the legendary trips were those of the
1980s, when Collingdale businessman Bud O’Hagan and his son, Tom “Bear” O’Hagan, Fran Robinson, Nick “Pickles” Sciosciole, who cooked plenty of pasta for the golfers, Joe Brennan, noted singer Jesse Papale, Savi Ferrari, and Jack Kelly were the guiding figures of the organization.
“They were the men I befriended when I started with this in 1984 and they remained my friends,” Keeley said. “The club has sustained itself for
60 years, and hopefully will for at least another
60 years. We have a great group of younger players waiting in the wings ready to steer the ship forward when it’s my time to move on.
“Having the chance to lead this group has become pure passion for me, something that is never taken for granted and will be cherished forever. We’ve seen other groups in Myrtle Beach, but a club with a long and rich tradition that the U-All Club has established is hard to come by in these times. Now we just have to hope that the weather cooperates for those eight days.”
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John King, a graduate of Ridley High and Bloomsburg University, is beginning his first season as head men’s and women’s swimming coach at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.
King spent the last four years as an assistant coach at Arcadia University, where he worked with the distance swimmers, assisted with recruiting, and was responsible for the team’s dryland workouts.
He was an assistant coach at the University of Miami during the 2011-12 season, and also has served as head coach at Ridley Park Swim Club, assistant coach at Strath Haven High, and master’s coach of the Hurricane Aquatics team.
At Bloomsburg, he finished his career as the school record-holder in the 1,000 and 1,650 freestyle events.
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John King, a graduate of Ridley High and Bloomsburg University, is beginning his first season as head men’s and women’s swimming coach at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.
The Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum, which is located in the Radnor Township Building on Iven Road, is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mickey Vernon, the Marcus Hook native who won a pair of American League batting championships.
For the month of September, the museum’s featured card from its Mickey Vernon commemorative card set shows Washington Senators manager Charley Dressen and Vernon with actress Gwen Verdon.
The picture was taken in May 1955 at the 46th Street Theater, where Verdon was starring in “Damn Yankees.”
Museum curator Jim Vankoski also is putting together the “Vintage Delco Baseball Winter Wool and Summer Games Uniform Exhibit,” which will run from December 2018 through March 2019. It will feature 20 individual jerseys representing Delaware County baseball teams from the 1930s through the
1970s.
Among the jerseys on display will be those from the Leiperville (1930s), Fizzano Brothers (1955), Glenolden (1957), and Tinicum A.C. (1970) Delco League teams. Others include Chester and Eddystone High (1960s), Monsignor Bonner High (1973), and Villanova University
(1973).
“Saturday, Henry Gaudino, who was manager of the 2006 Delco League champion Collingdale Colts team, was a visitor to the museum,” Vankoski said. “He brought his 1967 Little League uniform and his 1974 Collingdale High School jersey.”
Sponsorships at $100 per uniform are being accepted to defray expenses in setting up the display. For additional information, contact Vankoski at 610909-4919.
In the Community
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Buck Boettger, former president of the Chester Chapter of PIAA Football Officials, became a clock operator when his days on the field came to an end.
Boettger was in the Jacai Colson Memorial Press Box at Chichester High’s Anthony Apichella Memorial Stadium when the Eagles hosted Kennett High recently. The veteran of more than 40 years in stripes kept public address announcer Fred Neeson and spotter Bill Burland amused with stories about his on-field career.
Boettger sang along as the Chichester and Kennett bands took turns playing the 1960s classic song “Hey Baby.”
“I was working a game with (referee Don Docherty) and the band started playing that song during a timeout,” Boettger said. “I’m singing and dancing and the players are enjoying watching me.
“But I could tell Doc wasn’t happy and I knew I had to stop when he yelled ‘Hey Bucky.’”