Tommy Kono, Coach Tommy Kono at work. The location is unclear but those are York Barbells waiting to go airborne. Background posts: Olympian/lawyer Whitney Metzler comes home to York County, Who were most prominent 20th-century sports heroes in York and Adams counties? and York Barbell blog category.

Who was the greatest weightlifter in York's storied past?

Many believe it was three-time Olympian Tommy Kono.

And make that the greatest in America's past ... .

Posted in Explanations/controversy For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web Made in York Nostalgia & memories People War World War II York Barbell York Town Square York celebrities York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Jen German heads the list of all-time best Dallastown Area High School athletes. Where does she rank on list of greatest York County prep athletes? Background posts: Who is rightful owner of area boys' basketball scoring record?, Northeastern last York/Adams public school to field football team and 'When people are looking back into Pa. basketball history ... it's great'.

A current 22-week York Daily Record/Sunday News series story opines about Shannon Bortner Werner, Dallastown Area High School class of 1998: "She is arguably the best girls' volleyball player the area has ever seen." ...

Posted in Explanations/controversy For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web Nostalgia & memories People School days Women's history York Town Square York celebrities York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Northeastern Football Association president Joe Griffith is a prime reason why Northeastern Senior High School will field a football team this fall. 'We were the largest school in the commonwealth not to have a football program. That's not a title to be proud of,' he said. To view a four-day series on how Northeastern football came to be, see York Daily Record/Sunday News reporter Sean McLernon's Finally in the game. Background posts: Big Conewago separates Northeastern School District into two, Wolf Man, Wolfchester. No the village of Mount Wolf and New Weekly Records tell about community life.

Northeastern Senior High School will become the 22nd York Area Interscholatic Athletic Association team when the football is teed up on Friday, Aug. 29.

York Daily Record/Sunday News coverage of the addition of this costly sport in tight budgetary also showed that the YAIAA has more than doubled from its nine original teams in 1960.

The following YAIAA chronology, certain to be of interest, was part of that coverage:

Posted in Events Explanations/controversy For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web Nostalgia & memories School days Small-town life York Town Square York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

A championship horshoe-pitching team poses at a location now flooded by Lake Redman. Three Lake Redman-related background posts: Mile-a-minute weed's York County origins questioned, Memorial honoring victims of alcohol-related crashes should be visited and Rainmaker's visit indicates much awry in York.

Over at sister blog The Lineup Card, Chris Otto connects the York-based national horseshoe pitching tournament just passed, local horseshoe pitching champions from old and the York County locale known as Smoketown... .

Posted in Events Explanations/controversy Farms & fields For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web Local landmarks Mail bag Nostalgia & memories Small-town life York Town Square York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Camp Ganoga athletic director Don Roehm leads Boy Scouts in exercises in 1921. Scouts trooped about three miles into the isolated camp on the bank of the Big Conewago Creek near Strinestown after disembarking from the trolley in Manchester. This York County Heritage Trust photo was published in the book "On My Honor, 70 Years of Scouting in York & Adams Counties." The Big Conewago is the symbolic divide between northern York County and the other two-thirds of the county. Background posts: Monica Goodling proves that all roads lead to York, Part of Elm Beech still visible and Northern York area strawberry part of Neapolitan county.

Monica Goodling, in the news recently for her practices in hiring federal prosecutors, lived in a region where northern York County met southern York County.

In a forthcoming York Sunday News column, I tell about the Conewago Creek region where she lived and how at least intra-county cultures met on its banks.

The column follows:

Posted in Books & reading Civil War Events Explanations/controversy Farms & fields For photo fans Genealogy/research God & York County Local journalism & Web Local landmarks Nostalgia & memories People School days Small-town life Unsung/obscure sites War Wheels of York Women's history York Town Square York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

This was the scene at the 2005 Musclecar Madness event at the York Expo Center, an event inspired by weekend racing at the York Airport - the U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way. The dragstrip operated from the late 1950s to 1979. Background posts: U.S. Drag-O-Way, Part I, U.S. Drag-O-Way, Part II and Wheels of York.

Tim Rearich, a former York countian living out west, remembers the U.S. 30 Drag-o-Way, subject of a couple of previous posts.

He particularly remembers the radio ads that went something like this:

"Saturday, Saturday, Saturday night at the US 30 dragoway... ."

Posted in For photo fans Local landmarks Mail bag Nostalgia & memories People Small-town life Wheels of York York Town Square York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (1)

Bill Stiles and Jere Stahl of York ran their 1966 Plymouth Belvedere in National Hot Rod Association competition and won every national event in '66. The photo was taken in 1966 at Stiles Performance. Jere Stahl received drag racing's Legion of Honor award at Musclecar Madness several years ago. The seventh annual racing event concluded over the weekend. Background posts: U.S. Drag-O-Way, Part I, The night the furnace 'blew' and Wheels of York.

The news stories say that the U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way's 20-year run ended in 1979.

The York Airport's wide, long runway had served area piston-heads well.

As far back as 1972, the dragway had been struggling. It had even resorted to a promotion in which a dozen topless women would make an appearance.

The lure of demeaning promotions had been used in York County before in an attempt to bolster desperate situations... .

Posted in Events Explanations/controversy For photo fans Local journalism & Web Local landmarks Nostalgia & memories Wheels of York York Town Square York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

Don 'Big Daddy' Garlits, right, was the big star at Musclecar Madness in 2006 at the York Expo Center. He also was the star driver at the old U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way when it operated from in the 1960s and 1970s at York Airport. Background posts: First York Airport's administration building stands today, Vehicle crash ends life of former Indy driver, Museum exhibit brings back early days of high fliers and U.S. 30 Drag-O-Way, Part II.

The seventh Musclecar Madness, a nod to the old Route 30 Drag-O-Way, concluded this weekend.

That dragway operated for about 20 years - from the late 1950s to 1979 - at the York Airport.

When the dragway was operating, the airport was shut down to air traffic and the dragsters took over. The events often drew crowds of 10,000 spectators or more.

The legendary "Big Daddy" Garlits and other drivers liked it... .

Posted in Events Explanations/controversy Famous York visitors For photo fans Local journalism & Web Local landmarks Nostalgia & memories Wheels of York York Town Square York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

This Hanover Raiders team in 1921 is one of 300 photographs in the recently released book "Hanover Raiders: Minor League Baseball in Hanover, Pennsylvania." Background posts: Adding to baseball timeline: Revs ready for 'second helping', Little school house in Hanover: A Story of Circus and Coal Room, and A journey from Delone Catholic to the Super Bowl.

John Coulson's new book on professional baseball in Hanover in the first part of the 20th century caused some Web commenters to call for the organization of such a minor league team.

"It would be cool to start up this team again in the same league as York (Revolution) and Lancaster (Barnstormers)," one person commented.

The Hanover area wouldn't appear to have the population base to support such a team, and it would take years and years to build a stadium.

But the comment shows that some in town yearn for those days when the Hanover Raiders ruled.

Coulson points the community's memory to those days, as the following Hanover Evening Sun story (7/07/2008) indicates:

Posted in Books & reading For photo fans Genealogy/research Local journalism & Web Nostalgia & memories People Small-town life York Town Square York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)

An Associated Press photographer captured Whitney Metzler of Dallastown during the women's 400 Individual Medley event at the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials. Metzler went on to finish in eighth place at the Olympics. Metzler is now an attorney in York. (See photo below.) Background posts: Lineup full of stars with York County links, Olympic gold medalist Scott Strausbaugh another achiever with Dover links and Who were the most prominent York County athletes of the 20th century?.

York County has produced many star athletes, but not that many Olympians in recent years.

There were those decades that weightlifters from York Barbell were kings of that sport. About 40 lifters, coaches or trainers with ties to York Barbell went to the Olympics, and earned 11 gold medals.

And, according to the York Daily Record/Sunday News sports department, Hans Gerhard Boetzelen won a silver in 1932 in rowing (double sculls).

And Robert Sohl won a bronze in 1948 for the 200-meter breastsroke.

And Linda Myers picked up a fifth and seventh places in 1972 and 1976, respectively.

Recently, the county has produced two medalists.

Scott Strausbaugh picked up a gold in canoeing in the 1990s.

And the most recent participant, Whitney Metzler, finished eighth in swimming in 1996.

Now, Whitney Metzler is back in York... .

Posted in Events For photo fans Local journalism & Web People School days Women's history York Town Square York celebrities York sports

Bookmark Permalink using

Comments (0)