The Way It Was: 50 Years Ago in Euclid

Note: The following news items were excerpted from editions of the 1966 Euclid News-Journal, the city’s former weekly newspaper.  

January 20 – A Page One story reported that preliminary plans for a roof over the open-air Memorial Park Ice Rink had been given the go-ahead. The Euclid Recreation Commission approved plans for the $250,000 improvement. (Today, the rink is completely enclosed inside the Clifford E. Orr Arena.)

• “The Sound of Music” – a “spine-tingling” Euclid Little Theatre production – opened Jan. 19 on the Forest Park Junior High stage.

• A record 375 youngsters “mobbed” the Euclid Jaycees’ “Kid Wrestling” instructors on a recent Saturday afternoon at Forest Park.

• The Euclid YMCA “Partner Member” campaign co-chairmen – Bob and Betty Reichards – announce a “Shoot the Moon” theme for the Y’s annual fund-raising drive.

• In sports news: The Euclid High Panthers snap a 7-game losing streak by bombarding Brush, 84-63, as guard Ed Heise is credited with 15 assists. Tom McRedmond tops all scorers with 27 points and Heise nets 18…. Euclid matman Rich Piscopo (133 pounds) defeats Brush ace Mike Mignona, 9-4, as Coach Clarence Eckert’s Panthers chalk up a lopsided 26-8 victory. Piscopo’s brother Steve, a 127-pound sophomore, also won his match.

• In an advertisement, the Euclid Cab Co. offers rides “anywhere in Euclid” – or in Willowick – for just 50 cents. And SuperX Drug Store offers toilet paper for just 9 cents per roll.

January 27 - Senior candidates for the title of “Queen of the Winter Sports Festival,” based on voting by EHS students, are: Carol Frank, Carol Wojcik, Cindy Piller, Cecile Rinaldi, Marsha Hodakievic, Marty Lybarger, Pam Margheret, Tanya Kokal, and Mary Ellen Kucharski.

• Police Chief Frank Payne notes that major crimes in Euclid increased in 1965 with 284 felonies recorded – up from 227 the previous year. Nonetheless, the city’s crime rate is still among the lowest of Cleveland-area suburbs.

• Terrence McGovern of Benton Ave. organizes a neighborhood protest against plans for two gas stations on East 260th St. - including a rezoning proposal to allow a Shell Oil station at the corner of East 260 and the marginal road. One of McGovern’s allies is Carmen Fiorelli who predicts that, if the city doesn’t block the gas stations, East 260 will become “another East 200th Street.” …. Euclid City Council rejects the rezoning plan, but is later overturned by an appellate court, which orders the city to issue a building permit. (50 years later, the Shell station is still doing business at that location today).

• Sign of the times? …. Dennis Farrell, a seventh grade teacher at St. Felicitas School, reports that he’d informed his class that a Cleveland newspaper was looking for carriers – and asked how many of the students might be interested. “Six boys raised their hands,’ Farrell noted. “ – and 18 girls!”

• Euclid Senior High inducted 91 seniors and 47 juniors into its National Honor Society.

• Holzheimer’s IGA Market at 26688 Lake Shore Blvd. advertised T-bone steak for 99 cents/pound.

February 3 - In a major political development, the three Democratic councilmen in Mayor Kenneth Sims’ Coalition Party – Willard Schutt, Max Gerl, and Tony Sustarsic – decide to break away. “We were outcasts,” says Schutt. “The Euclid Democratic Party made it very plain in the last election that, as long as we stayed with the Coalition, we wouldn’t get endorsements.” One supporter of Mayor Sims labels the breakaway as “nothing but a plain double-cross.”

(Following the split, the Council Dems hold a 6-3 majority, but the mayor expresses his belief that “The Coalition will continue to exist.” Meanwhile, Democratic Ward Leader Joe Whalen poses the question: “If there are no Democrats left in the Coalition, how can you call it a Coalition?”).

* The Euclid YMCA and the YMCA of Cleveland jointly announce that an architect has been retained to begin work on drawings for a new $100,000 gymnasium to “complete” the Euclid Y building on Babbitt Rd. During an earlier building fund campaign, the Euclid Y raised $85,000 towards the cost of the gym.

• The 160-member St. Joseph High marching band – the largest all-boys marching band in the State of Ohio – receives an invitation to participate in the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade.

• In a surprise, the St. Joe wrestling team takes second place in the 9-team Catholic Invitational Tournament – behind Toledo St. Francis, but ahead of third-place St. Ed’s. Jim Roberts (103), Jim Cook (112), and Pat Riley (138) win individual titles for Coach John Storey’s Vikings. … On the hardwood, Tim Delaney’s 15 points and 18 rebounds spark the St. Joe freshman basketball team to a 42-24 victory over Holy Name. Guard Mike Moran chips in 12 points for Coach Tom Banc’s squad.

• The Forest Park Junior High cagers stretch their unbeaten record to 9-0 with a victory over Greenview, as Gary Vaccariello leads the way with 17 points.

• Among the News-Journal advertisers, Smith’s Restaurant at East 222 & Lake Shore Blvd. offers a 10-ounce steak dinner, with tossed salad, home fries, and French-fried onion rings, for a mere $1.85.

… Well, that’s how it was 50 years ago in Euclid. But to us old-timers, it sometimes seems like only yesterday.