‘chronicle’ Uses Superpowers For Top Spot

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No standout GOP contender

Photographer Steve Lukasik hops over railroad tracks while covering the Knox Mine Disaster in January of 1959.
 
 courtesy of mike savokinas 
 

Question #1
In 1952, what did Nick Mauriello, of Exeter; &ldquo;Polish Benny&rdquo; of Plains, Joe Baker and Andy Kelly, of Dupont, Henry Meade and Owen McAndrew, of Avoca, &ldquo;Koochie&rdquo; Weiskerger, of Pittston; Joe Corcoran and &ldquo;Stumpy&rdquo; Stonik have in common? 
1952 &ndash; 60 Years Ago
A pool tournament was set for LaTorre&rsquo;s Smoke Shop in Pittston, one of the last pool halls in the area. Some of the patrons waiting for the start of the tournament reminisced about the old days when Frank Carr and Paul Earley, &ldquo;house men&rdquo; for Allardyce Pool Parlor in Pittston, spotted a &ldquo;sharpie&rdquo; and sent someone to find Joe Sheridan of the Junction and Bill Lynn of Tedrick Street, two area pool sharks. Sheridan took on the sharpie and &ldquo;whipped him for low stakes in two games,&rdquo; commented one of the old-timers. &ldquo;The sharpie then upped the stakes much too high for Sheridan.&rdquo; Sheridan agreed only to play for double what they played in the first game. The sharpie left town &ldquo;foiled in his throw the first game then win for high stakes&rdquo; plan.&rdquo;

Duryea Clothing, 725 Main St., advertised Sanforized cotton dresses for 88 cents, men&rsquo;s coats for $12.50 and women&rsquo;s gabardine coats for $15 to $18. Sanforization is a trademark process used to pre-shrink fabric, widely used in the manufacture of denim products.
The Sunday Dispatch Inquiring Photographer asked this dangerous question: &ldquo;Do you think that women drivers have increased or lessened the perils of driving on highways?&rdquo;

Paul Keim, of West Pittston, answered, &ldquo;They add to the perils. They don&rsquo;t seem to have the same ability that men do.&rdquo; 

Albert Christian, of Pittston, added, &ldquo;Some of the best drivers I know are women.&rdquo; 

Michael Baccanari, of Pittston, stated, &ldquo;I find them too slow, I would say this constitutes a hazard.&rdquo; 

Mrs. Worthy 
Hood said, &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t drive as fast as men so they don&rsquo;t have as many accidents.&rdquo;
1962 &ndash; 50 Years Ago

Betty Kischel, chairperson of the Greater Pittston observance of World Day of Prayer, worked with several representatives from area churches to observe the event locally. Women from South America wrote the theme &ldquo;For God So Loved the World.&rdquo; Mrs. Herbert Bainbridge, Mrs. Robert Comstock, Mrs. David Evans, Mrs. Chris Cunningham, Mrs. George Wilson, Mrs. Elizabeth Davenport Mrs. Bert Luce, Mrs. John Cochran, Mrs. Lester Falkinburg, Mrs. Mary Santee, Mrs. Alex Hite, Mrs. Aaron Hastie, Mrs. Edward Pugh and Miss Jessie Robertson helped to organize local participation of the worldwide event to be observed in over 52 countries. 
Christian Missionary Alliance, First Methodist, First Presbyterian, First Congregational, Luzerne Avenue Baptist, Trinity Episcopal, Salvation Army, First Methodist, St. Paul&rsquo;s Methodist, First Presbyterian, Second Presbyterian, Water Street Baptist. St. James Episcopal, St. John&rsquo;s Lutheran, St. Peter&rsquo;s Lutheran, Hughestown and Inkerman United Presbyterian churches were represented. 
This year&rsquo;s theme, written by women in Malaysia, is &ldquo;Let Justice Prevail.&rdquo; On the first Friday of March in services all over the world, that country becomes the focus of prayer and understanding. Women worldwide learn how their sisters of other countries, languages and cultures understand the biblical passages in their context. The United States has been the author of the event seven times since 1887.

William Michael Falzone was following his father&rsquo;s example by passing the State Board examinations for becoming a barber. William trained with his father Joe Falzone at his shop on Charles Street. 

Nick Scarantino opened Pittston&rsquo;s newest business, a television repair shop on Main Street in Pittston. A World War II veteran stationed in the South Pacific, Nick attended Temple University Technical Institute in Scranton and worked with Philco Distributors for 10 years.
1972 &ndash; 40 Years Ago
Ten men from Topps Chewing Gum formed a basketball team and entered the Bethlehem Industrial Invitational Tournament. The team won the championship with a come-from- behind shot by Bob Hines. Members of the squad were lead scorer John Milus, Duryea, Lanny DeBiasi, John Ellis, Frank Raykovitz, Frank Zawrotny, Joseph Wudarski, Joseph Petroski, Donald Collins and Paul Lowe. 
A banquet to celebrate the first season of the Hughestown Tigers and Tigerettes junior football organization was chaired by Michael Rubin and held at the Germania Hose Company. Louis Giordano, head coach of the Tigers, presented trophies to the A Team. Angelo Mantione presented the B team with trophies. Rose Marie Mantione and Helyne O&rsquo;Malley, directors of the Tigerettes, presented the girls with sterling silver charm bracelets. Trophies for best performance were presented to Gene Orzello, best offensive back; Gene Harned, best offensive lineman; Joe Hensley, best defensive lineman; and John Adonizio, best defensive back. 

Top ten songs of February 1972

1. Black Dog &ndash; Led Zepplin
2. Let&rsquo;s Stay Together &ndash; Al Green
3. You Are Everything &ndash; Stylistics
4. Stay With Me &ndash; Rod Stewart
5. The Lion Sleeps Tonight &ndash; Robert John
6. Never Been to Spain &ndash; 3 Dog Night
7. Anticipation &ndash; Carly Simon
8. Sugar Daddy &ndash; Jackson 5
9. Sunshine &ndash; Jonathan Edwards
10. I&rsquo;d Like to Teach The World to Sing &ndash; New Seekers and Hillside Singers.
Question #2
 In 1972, Dr. Elmer Marianacci and Pat Hudock scored their first victory in two years of playing, defeating the team of Dr. Joseph Fasciana and Mike Chiampi. Tillio Santarelli and Jim 
Begliomini won four games in a row, shutting out Frank Zurla and Lou Braccini. What game were these gentlemen playing?
1992 &ndash; 20 Years Ago
Prints of the 1873 West Pittston Borough property map were available at the West Pittston Library. The prints were reprinted from the A. Pomeroy &amp; Co. &ldquo;Atlas of Wyoming Valley&rdquo; which was originally published in the mid 1870s. 
To see this and other historic maps contained in the atlas, log onto www.historicmapworks.com/Search/city.php?..Wyoming+Valley

You might say Paul Murman, of Duryea,was a patient man. Forty-seven years after being wounded in a firefight in Caumont France during World War II, he received a Purple Heart. Murman had many other medals to his credit, but maintained his most prized was the Combat Infantry Badge he earned while fighting in Korea. 
2002 &ndash; 10 Years Ago
 It was the St. Louis Rams vs. the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI. In the Dispatch, 460 locals predicted a Rams&rsquo; win while 233 sided with the Patriots who won their first Super Bowl by defeating the Rams 20&ndash;17 as kicker Adam Vinatieri made a game-winning 48-yard field goal as time expired. The Rams had been 14-point favorites to win the game, making the Patriots&rsquo; victory one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. 
Question #1

John &ldquo;Ace&rdquo; O&rsquo;Malley in his weekly column in the Sunday Dispatch listed these gentlemen as some of the best pool shooters in the area.
Question #2
These Exeter men played weekly matches as members of Gino&rsquo;s and Club 8 Pitch teams. It is believed that eight men invented Pitch in its current form during a deer-hunting trip in Mayfield, Kentucky in the early 1900s. 

&ldquo;We gave the people of Greater Pittston a new strong voice in community affairs, something which all other regional publications did not do for the community. That&rsquo;s what it was all about then and that&rsquo;s the way it is today.&rdquo;

Excerpt from &ldquo;On My Mind,&rdquo; a column written in February, 1992, by Dick Cosgrove on the eve of the 45th anniversary of the first published issue of the Sunday Dispatch.

‘sharpie’ Got A Pool Lesson 60 Years Ago