Allegany river

Papa’s World – growing up – ELDRED PA.

/ Tom / Leave a comment

Sitting on the front porch of North Main Street –

It was a wide and deep porch –

The kind to sit through a rain storm –

and not get wet !

GOOD MORNING
Welcome to Papa’s World

I guess that is why now when I look at houses –

The very first TWO THINGS I look at are –

Front porches and screened in back three seasons rooms with views !

My childhood had the first but not the last !

Memories – some you just can not duplicate

My grand ma – siting out there on her lap –

I somehow do remember that –

which would make me 3 or 4 years old.

Roller skates – the kind that had a key –

I would strap them on and down the street I would go.

The street on both sides was lined with huge old trees –

The kind that six kids holding hands could not encircle the trunks !

Much – much bigger than this one

The roots had made the side walks uneven –

and to navigate them did not seem to slow me down !

I would turn around at Slavins – furniture store –

Back then it was also a service station –

And I remember Jack – he worked there.

There was a Coke machine that sat outside between the bays

Sometimes he would buy me a coke that came in a glass bottle !

Main Street in the late 1800’s

I lived all the way to the top of this old picture on the left –

some of those buildings still existed when i was growingup

And a few are still there today.

You can see the beginning of those trees even back then.

Then – I got my bicycle –

A red WESTERN FLYER !

The mountains or hills where I lived

That bike – I had those streamers coming out of the rubber handle grips

And a clothes pin with a card on the spokes –

both front and back.

I rode it everywhere – to the park –

across the tracks –

Up Barden Brook –

And just making it home when the street lights came on !

The streets I rode on

The park – my second home away –

base ball diamond – tennis and basketball courts –

But – the outfield of grass –

beneath the huge telephone poles with lights on them !

Where we choose up teams

and played football for hours !

Back home playing golf in the mountains – hills

Papa’s World – Growing up ELDRED PA.

Part two to follow

after all –

to much to see and tell !

If you would like to read more – just type in

livinglifedoingitmyway.blog

email fitztdf@aol.co

Sherry – certified health coach

For HEALTH & NUTRITION

http://www.sf.juiceplus.com

email

ssherrylynn49@aol.com

Thank you for reading Papa’s World

Part two coming

Papa’s World – after sixty two years – I am still a fan – Saint Bonaventure University – BONA’S

/ Tom / Leave a comment

My dad was a big fan of the basketball team at Saint Bonaventure University!

He had season tickets and when they played away games –

He would either listen to them on the radio or go down to SLAVINS!

This was the local town bar he and his close friends would go to have a beer.

Russ and Tootie were the owners and BIG BONA’S FANS also.

Every game the radio would be on and dozens of people would lean close to listen!

To understand the fan base of this basketball team – you first have to know –

this is one of the smallest College Universities in the USA!

If they have over 2000 students -that would be large!

Yet – they are giant killers in Division one basketball!

Have been since the early ’50’s and to the present.

The campus sits in the magical mountains along the Alleghany river –

Just on the town line of OLEAN N.Y. and Alleghany N.Y.

Some 65 miles South of Buffalo.

Yet – they compete on the big stage year in and year out!

To get here – you have to fly into Buffalo and drive the 65 miles through the country and back roads to Olean.

Where you might secure a room in one of the few hotels in the town.

And that is the beginning of your game madness in the Reilly Center – seating some 5200 rabid fans.

Sitting on four sides right on the court!

Mind you – the student body is around 2000 – and the town of Olean on a good day is maybe 12,000.

Yet – while I was young – there was a waiting list for those season tickets.

My father finally got his!

The team has been in that time frame had a high ranking in different years

as Number two or three in the nation!

They have gone to the FINAL FOUR only to lose when they lost their big man –

Buffalo ” BOB LANIER” to a knee injury and out for out for the final game.

Many thoughts throughout the nation – they would of won!

Now – the promise of next year looms before us BONNIE FANS!

PRESEASON POLLS – if they indicate anything at all – has them at the following!

What hurt this year was not the starting five – who all come back – not one senior on the whole team.

Was the bench – not very deep – ( what there was – 3- transferred out)

and when one of there best players twisted his ankle early in the game against SEC LSU –

Well when he returned he was a shadow of himself.

They went on to lose by 11 points!

THE HOPES ARE HIGH FOR NEXT YEAR and that fan base –

from every small town around –

is looking at these preseason polls with hunger in their eyes.

Now the GOOD NEWS!

Early commitments seem to have shored up that bench.

Three have transferred out – hardly playing and could not support that really good starting five.

In their place as of April 13th. FOUR MAJOR RECRUITS ARE COMING!

Two are transfers – who can play right away –

One starting Shooting guard from the ACC – Wake Forest – Quadry Adams – 6′ 4″

One starting power forward from another ACC school – Pitt – Abdoul Karin Coulibaly- 6′ 8″

One high JUCO transfer center

that was recruited by the power five conferences – Oluwasegun Durosinm – 6′ 9″

And a high Canada prep player regarded as a top prospect –

Justin Ndjock Tadjone – a shooting guard listed at 6′ 8″

They still have three scholarships left.

BUT THE CALVARY HAS ARRIVED!

The bench is now there!

My dad -My father would of been so excited – he passed that excitement onto me those 62 years ago!

For years I would bend over close to that same radio and listen to those games –

I would do the same as he did – keeping score with X’S and O’S –

The names of each player written down and the fouls each had.

Yes – I did that and to this day – I watch them on national TV!

We – before we moved South – had those precious season tickets.

The fans right on top of that floor at the Reilly Center –

Rated as one of the most feared and toughest places to play in the entire country!

PAPA’S WORLD livinglifedoingitmyway.blog fitztdf@aol.com

IT IS GOING TO BE ONE OF THOSE YEARS COME FALL WITH THE BONNIES!

Fasten your seat belt – this little Division one University of some 2000 students and Friars

are gonna take you for a ride – who knows – just how far they will go-

They finished 16 and 5 with no bench – now they have one!

SAINT BONAVENTURE – THE LITTLE SCHOOL WHO COULD ONCE AGAIN SLAY GIANTS!

IT’S HAPPENED TWICE BEFORE and maybe – just maybe the third time is the CHARM!

Papa’s World – The wonders of the KINZUA BRIDGE

/ Tom / Leave a comment

Hundreds of years ago – this was the land of the Seneca ‘ s –

One of the five nations in Western Pa. and New York State.

And in this land – was a river and mountains and a valley –

The river – the Allegany – the mountains the same –

and the valley – ” THE KINZUA ” !

GOOD MORNING

Both Sherry and myself

were born and raised in this beautiful part of Penna. and NYS .

Her in a little hamlet called Mount Jewett –

a SWEDISH founded community on top of the mountains –

And me – in the river valley in a little town called Eldred.

Both situated within the boundaries of the Allegany mountains

and what the Indian nation called ” KINZUA ” !

Land of the Senaca’s THE KINZUA VALLEY

Back in the late 1800’s – a way to bring coal to a place to store and sell –

You had to go up and down in these mountains –

A long hard trip –

So – a solution was to build a bridge – spanning this valley –

And to ship the coal by RAIL !

Thus was born ” THE KINZUA BRIDGE ” !

What is left of the bridge

At the time of construction ( I think in record time of months )

It became one of the WONDERS OF THE WORLD –

At its highest point – over 300 feet straight down –

and almost a half mile long !

Disaster struck – a TORNADO

The bridge was used for years and years –

undergoing a complete renovation in the years to follow to strengthen it –

As the trains became larger – heavy – and loaded with coal.

Then – it was deemed the end of transporting the coal era –

And became somewhat of a tourist attraction –

A look down from the bridge

The bridge – became a ride across –

with a steam locomotive carrying passengers .

After years of this – it was deemed unsafe –

But the locals still walked across it

and many rode snowmobiles across it

( Sherry’s father rode across countless times on a snowmobile )

Today – a historical site

About 12 to 15 years ago – disaster struck –

they had just begun restoring the old bridge-

It was going to be safe once again –

They were done for the day –

BUT A STORM WAS BREWING !

Conditions became perfect for Mother Nature !

The winds increased in the valley –

And a TORNADO ( rare ) formed –

The bridge went down – half of it !

One half left

In the years that followed – it was deemed as both historical

and a State Park – with a multi million dollar museum –

and bus loads of tourist all year around.

Glass floor installed

You can now walk out on it to the platform

and peer straight down through a reinforced GLASS FLOOR –

300 feet straight down – not for me –

There is a bench before you walk out –

That is my seat until all come back !

The entrance to the visitor center & Museum

The Visitor center and museum – gives a detail history of the construction

and a timeline and pictures of the destruction from the Tornado.

Along with interviews of eye witness ‘s and rescues !

The old rail road grade

The OLD RAIL ROAD GRADE has been resurfaced

and made into miles of walking and hiking trails

through the top of the valley.

Also known as the ” KINZUA DAM “

Several miles away – part of the valley was made into a dam –

No houses are allowed as it is one half state property –

And the other half belongs to the SENACA INDIAN NATION.

The marina on the KINZUA RESERVOIR

Boating and water sports and fishing is allowed – must purchase a license.

Miles and miles of shoreline in both NYS & Pa.

The area is beautiful – full of wild life –

much as it was hundreds of years ago.

The Senaca Nation owns and runs the Casino –

And the reservation encompasses much of the land in both states.

OLMSTEAD MANOR

In the little town of Ludlow Pa. –

Is the site of the OLMSTEAD MANOR –

Built in the early 1900’s –

We have stayed here many times –

It still has the old phones – that you would blow into –

And the names of all the family who lived here-

With the number of the phone and which room they resided in !

There is a one lane bowling alley in the top floor !

Buck – Cindy – Sherry – Tom

All our friends are from the area – and we go home –

The Bridge is a must stop to see destination.

I hope you liked the blog and a little bit of information –

On the Allegany foothills and the KINZUA VALLEY & BRIDGE !

Thank you for reading Papa’s World

If you would like to read more – just type in the following

livinglifedoingitmyway.blog

for my email

fitztdf@aol.com

for HEALTH

http://www.sf.juiceplus.com

her email

ssherrylynn49@aol.com

Sherry & Tom
PAPA’S WORLD