Shoe Column: Stevens Point fun, ‘back in the day’

By Tim “Shoe” Sullivan

When it came down to having fun as a 12-year-old boy “back in the day,” 1960 offered many choices.

And decisions had to be made.

A kid could take his softball bat and walk across the street to the backyards of the Stroiks and Meroneks.

There was usually a softball game going on every day of every summer, and Nick Meronek kept the field in perfect playing condition.

Once the kid arrived, he would usually see the Stroik brothers (John, Larry, and Jim), Mike Meronek, Charlie and Ed Rossier, Gary and Ronnie Bronk, Bones Firkus, Jack Ellenz, Tom Warzinik, Tom Frymark, Tom Jensen, Billy Grubba, and Shoe and brother Casey and Leon Zdzieblowski in action. Those were really fun times.

Another choice would be to head on over to the Dixon Street Carnival. There was plenty of stuff to do there, like ride on the Tilt-a-Whirl, shoot BB guns at metal ducks, or toss ping-pong balls into fish bowls. I won a goldfish once, and the dang thing was floating five minutes after I brought it home.

I’ve been told the airport also had carnivals.

Or you could go to Bukolt Park when the Elks Club was there and dig around in the sawdust for dimes.

I started saving mercury dimes then (oh, I wish I still had them!).

Which reminds me. When was the last time a bank had a silver dollar? I’ll wait.

You could wait for “Krazy Days” when someone would fly around in a plane and drop paper plates on roofs and in bushes and all over the place. The plates were good for prizes like a bacon sandwich at the Pal Restaurant.

There was always time to climb the outside fire escape at Lincoln School, but nobody ever dared to climb up on the water tower.

So many decisions to make. Do you go to Park Toyland and buy a Davy Crockett coonskin hat? Like the kind Davy and his sidekick Jed Clampett wore at the Alamo?

I enjoyed playing marbles with Jack Ellenz and Tommy Jensen. They always won. Cost me many purees and boulders.

You could go to the Fox Theatre downtown and try to win a pogo stick from Major Eddy. Or maybe a hula hoop.

It was always fun to go to a buddy’s sleepover. Someone usually put up a tent in their backyard. You would stay in the tent for maybe three seconds and then walk around town looking for watermelons.

You could take an empty pop bottle to Northside IGA and they’d give you two cents.

Occasionally we would tell the new kid on the block to go “snipe hunting” at night. He was told to stand outside and hold an empty Mason jar and catch a “snipe”. Nobody ever caught one.

Building forts around the neighborhood was a must. We made them from fallen trees, cement blocks, and stacks of cardboard. Or inside wooden bins. Then you would go hide inside one of them. The thing is, nobody ever came looking for you because all of the kids were hiding in their own forts.

My buddy John Schmitz, who was across town, also had forts in his Soo Marie area. There were some by the Reichardt house.

Something was always fun to watch on television. “Sky King.” The “Mickey Mouse Club” (I never had the Mickey ears). “Mighty Mouse…” Here I come to save the day!!

Eddie Haskell, Wally, and the “Beav.” “The Untouchables” starring Robert Stack as Eliot Ness and Bruce Gordon as Frank Nitti.

“Maverick” with James Garner and “Gunsmoke” with James Arness. “Jeopardy” with Art Fleming.

And “Rin Tin Tin” and “Lassie”. I always wondered why they never had to go to the bathroom.

Just like later on, I often wondered whatever happened to Archie Bunker’s pal Stretch Cunningham from the loading dock.

And everyone loved Annette Funicello.

Yes, so many decisions. A 17-cent burger at Robby’s or a 20-cent fish sandwich at Richard’s Drive-In on the Southside.

Ice cream or root beer at the A&W? Fishing for perch in the Bukolt Park Lagoon or bullheads on the Wisconsin River behind Pagel Mill on Water Street?

Or a boy could turn on the radio and listen to the great Earl Gillespie announcing another win for the Milwaukee Braves! Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock, Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette…

And all the neighborhood grocery stores with the candy and baseball cards!!!

Cigel’s…Knudsen’s…Thrifty…

Westgate…Stanislawski’s… Triangle…Northside… that one by Emerson… the one on Dixon…

And I still remember when our family stood on the sidewalk across from the courthouse for a 4th of July Parade. I was maybe seven then.

First came some floats. Then soldiers marched down the street. In perfect unison. In their World War Two uniforms (The war had ended a few years earlier). Carrying their rifles. It was so impressive!!

And then came the Sherman tanks!!!

Scared the hell outta me.

I saw all those great soldiers and awesome tanks and thought “How could we ever lose that war?”

We didn’t.