Editor’s note: This column first appeared in the Sunday Dispatch on Sept. 22, 2013.

Question:

In 1963, “ringside and bleacher seats” were set up in one Pittston location for a showdown of sorts. There was an element of excitement in the air. What was going on?

1963 – 56 YEARS AGO

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George P. Mancini opened his barber shop on Searle Street in 1914. “Haircuts were 20 cents,” Mancini told a Dispatch reporter in 1963. “Today, they’re $1.25.” Mancini learned the barber trade at his uncle Ralph Totaro’s Parsonage Street shop. Mancini, who celebrated 50 years as a barber, remembered seeing styles come and go and then come back again. “Sideburns were all the rage,” he said. “Crew cuts were only requested by a certain few and hair dye, well, they buy that in a store nowadays.” He reminisced about days he’d work until 11:00 at night. “You didn’t make a lot of money; it went a long way. Things were cheaper. It’s better now.”

1973 – 46 YEARS AGO

John Alaimo, of Pittston was in Barcelona, Spain directing “The Unfinished Vision,” a film based on the life of Antonio Gaudi, an architect born in Reus in the Catalonia region of Spain. Also, the film’s screenwriter, Alaimo finished the film in 1974, after which it was screened at the Cannes Film Festival and the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in New York City. For 35 years, the film was “lost” until it was discovered by a film historian in a bank in Barcelona in 2009. Never seen by the general public until December 2009, the film was honored with the prestigious designation of “Cultural Patrimony of Catalunya,” making it an official part of Catalan culture. Gaudi’s most famous work the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia has over 3,000,000 visitors a year. Construction on Gaudi’s monumental design of the church began in 1882. Unbelievably, 137 years later, the work is still ongoing. The proposed completion date is set for 2026.

It was quite an impressive scene as uniformed men from the Marine Air Reserve Training Unit of Wyoming escorted the Wyoming Area Homecoming Queen Patti Rostock and her court, Sharon Murphy, Karen Begliomini, Mary Kay Brown and Andrea Pellegrini. The young ladies were escorted on the arm of their respective attendants, Cpl. Brian Baum, Sgt. Donald Harris, S/Sgt. Rick Cradit, Sgt. Robert Gambill and L/Cpl. Tom Heruska.

At the beginning of the school year, three Wyoming Area High School correspondents, Sandra Richelmi, of Wyoming, Debbie Sandroski, of Exeter and Elaine Charney, of West Wyoming, were on board to supply the Dispatch with school news.

1983 – 36 YEARS AGO

Pittston Area School District created a Computer Sciences Department coordinated by Walter Tigue which offered an expanded curriculum within the Business Education and Mathematics Departments . Being one of the first in the area to do so, the school’s main objective was to graduate students able to compete in all employment areas, especially computer sciences as it was estimated, at the time, that 20 million jobs would be computer-oriented by the end of the decade. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, computer and data processing services grew by 181% from 1979 to 1989.

2003 – 16 YEARS AGO

Edward Earley, a 1936 graduate of St. John’s High School who won a sports scholarship to Syracuse University and John “Bozo” Connors, a 1949 graduate of Seton Catholic High School who won a scholarship to William and Mary, were two local “three sport stars” inducted in to the Luzerne County Sports Hall of Fame. Sanctioned by the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the local chapter was founded in 1985. A section of the Hall of Fame’s mission statement reads: “We endeavor to perpetuate the memory of local athletes, male and female, who have brought lasting fame and recognition to the state of Pennsylvania through their athletic achievements and community involvement.” To see the list of inductees from 1985 to the present day log on to www.luzernecountysportshalloffame.com/

Answer:

Jimmy “Cowboy” Moore, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was coming to Pittston for a 350-point match up with Pittston’s Lou “Sonny” Butera to determine the fastest billiard player. Both men claimed to be the fastest but Butera, in August 1963, had run 93 balls in eight minutes, Moore wanted to re-claim the title. Tickets were on sale at Lattore’s Steak House and Butera’s Billiards. A large crowd was expected at the West Pittston American Legion for the event. In December 2005, Lou Butera was one of 43 invited pool players who competed in the International Pool Tour’s King of the Hill Shootout in Orlando, Florida.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1711 — The Tuscarora Indian War begins with a massacre of settlers in North Carolina, following white encroachment that included the enslaving of Indian children.

1776 — American Captain Nathan Hale is hanged as a spy by the British in New York City; his last words are reputed to have been, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

1862 — President Abraham Lincoln issues a proclamation calling for all slaves within the rebel states to be freed on Jan. 1, a political move that helps keep the British from intervening on the side of the South

1869 — The Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional baseball team, arrive in San Francisco after a rollicking, barnstorming tour of the West.

1919 — President Woodrow Wilson abandons his national tour to support the League of Nations when he suffers a case of nervous exhaustion.

1945 — President Harry Truman accepts U.S. Secretary of War Stimson’s recommendation to designate the war World War II.

1961 — President John Kennedy signs a congressional act establishing the Peace Corps.

1969 — Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants becomes the first baseball player since Babe Ruth to hit 600 home runs.

1970 — President Richard M. Nixon signs a bill giving the District of Columbia representation in the U.S. Congress.

1975 — Sara Jane Moore attempts to assassinate US President Gerald Ford, the second attempt on his life in less than three weeks.

BORN ON THIS DAY

1791 — Michael Faraday, English physicist, inventor of the dynamo, the transformer and the electric motor

1902 — John Houseman, director, producer and actor

1927 — Tommy Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team from 1975 to 1996

1956 — Debby Boone, multiple Grammy Award–winning singer, author, actress; “You Light Up My Life” set a record in 1977 with 10 weeks at the No. 1 spot on music charts

1958 — Joan Jett, singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actress (“I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”)

1959 — Saul Perlmutter, astrophysicist; shared 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for providing evidence the expansion of the universe is accelerating

https://www.psdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_Judy-Minsavage.CMYK_-2.jpg.optimal.jpg

Fashions for the younger set were featured at the Greater Pittston Women’s Club Fashion Show in 1979. Pictured are Rachael and David Burke, Marc Cefalo, Kiera and Danny Feeney, Christina and JoAnn Sperazza, Bridget Ristagno, Corina Zurenda, Jennifer Acconzo, Melissa Bradbury, Diane Lapansky. Absent for the photo were Marlene Monichelli and Heather Haddow.
https://www.psdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_1979-photo-2-FASHION-SHOW.jpg.optimal.jpgFashions for the younger set were featured at the Greater Pittston Women’s Club Fashion Show in 1979. Pictured are Rachael and David Burke, Marc Cefalo, Kiera and Danny Feeney, Christina and JoAnn Sperazza, Bridget Ristagno, Corina Zurenda, Jennifer Acconzo, Melissa Bradbury, Diane Lapansky. Absent for the photo were Marlene Monichelli and Heather Haddow.

The Pittston Area Key Club conducted elections for Homecoming Queen in 1995. Chosen were Kerri Miglionico, Hughestown; Shelly Slezak, Suscon; Leah Rebovich, Suscon; Holly Newcomb, Pittston Twp. And Krista Yanchulis, Suscon. The queen was to be announced at an upcoming pep rally.
https://www.psdispatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/web1_1995-photo-1-PA-HOMECOMING.jpg.optimal.jpgThe Pittston Area Key Club conducted elections for Homecoming Queen in 1995. Chosen were Kerri Miglionico, Hughestown; Shelly Slezak, Suscon; Leah Rebovich, Suscon; Holly Newcomb, Pittston Twp. And Krista Yanchulis, Suscon. The queen was to be announced at an upcoming pep rally.

Peeking into

the Past

Judy Minsavage

Reach the Sunday Dispatch newsroom at 570-991-6405 or by email at sd@psdispatch.com.