Gene Fisch | Page 12 | Syracusefan.com

Gene Fisch

I worked at the Northside CYO on Salina near Butternut in high school. They had a gym upstairs and I used to play bb with some of the Northside kids - low ceiling so you had to adjust the arc of your shots there. I know where Kellogg St is - went to Delaware for kindergarten before Rosary - they didn’t have a kindergarten then. Lived on Putnam-Dudley St till I was almost 8.

I used to ride my bike down Dudley St. hill when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It seemed like a mountain! Used to fish in Onondaga Park, played sandlot baseball with kids from other neighborhoods on the West Side. I went to Delaware until the summer between 3rd and 4th grade, when my parents split.

First we moved to a flat on Seward St., then a year later to S. Alvord St., near Franklin Elementary. A year later my mom remarried, and we bought a house out in Nedrow.
 
We used to go to Danzers mostly but also Tino’s, and occasionally the old Rustic Inn or pickup a pizza at the original Twin Trees on Milton after games. After high school though it was Coleman’s, Fisher’s, the Big O mainly while in college.
Tinos, wow. Great pizza. Used to go there after games all the time. Was it on North Salina? Do you know when it bit the dust?
 
Tinos, wow. Great pizza. Used to go there after games all the time. Was it on North Salina? Do you know when it bit the dust?
Yes it was on North Salina just past Butternut heading towards downtown. It was across from State St and the back of St Joe’s hospital. Don’t know when it closed. Maybe sometime in the 80’s? Found some pictures of it and posted below. I remember there was so much red in the decor. Great place.
1748810158436.jpeg

1748810433030.jpeg
 
I used to ride my bike down Dudley St. hill when I was about 4 or 5 years old. It seemed like a mountain! Used to fish in Onondaga Park, played sandlot baseball with kids from other neighborhoods on the West Side. I went to Delaware until the summer between 3rd and 4th grade, when my parents split.

First we moved to a flat on Seward St., then a year later to S. Alvord St., near Franklin Elementary. A year later my mom remarried, and we bought a house out in Nedrow.
Dudley St used to be all brick. Used to go to Heldmann’s pharmacy and soda shop on the corner of Dudley and W Onondaga and McGrath’s grocery store next door on W Onondaga. That hill was steep - tough going in the snow from Rosary, they even had a steel railing you could hold on to going up/down the hill next to the sidewalk because so many people would fall.
 
Dudley St used to be all brick. Used to go to Heldmann’s pharmacy and soda shop on the corner of Dudley and W Onondaga and McGrath’s grocery store next door on W Onondaga. That hill was steep - tough going in the snow from Rosary, they even had a steel railing you could hold on to going up/down the hill next to the sidewalk because so many people would fall.

Oswego St between where it ended at Grace St on one end, up to about Gifford St. on the other end (the street St. Lucy's was on), that used to be a nice little commercial strip, too. The was a bar & grill named Burns' where my dad used to hang out. There was a convenience store or two. That used to be my walk from home to church on Sundays.
 
Oswego St between where it ended at Grace St on one end, up to about Gifford St. on the other end (the street St. Lucy's was on), that used to be a nice little commercial strip, too. The was a bar & grill named Burns' where my dad used to hang out. There was a convenience store or two. That used to be my walk from home to church on Sundays.
My husband’s Uncle Bud owned that bar. It was on Slocum. Small world.
 
I'm not young (56) but some of you must be about 10 years older. I remember some of the names/places, but I'm from the era of the Poorhouse West and North, $1 pitchers, the Scene then Uncle Sams, etc.
I remember all of those places, poor house west was a place veterans could hang out while going to OCC.
 
My husband’s Uncle Bud owned that bar. It was on Slocum. Small world.

Yeah, Oswego St. didn't seem right, but I couldn't remember. Was it where that drugstore is now?
 
Wow ... I love this post!!! While all of you are alums of the parochials much of what you are reminiscing about brings back very fond memories ... like Wysocki's and the Rustic Inn. Thanks for remembering some of the guys at Central (not Central Tech) OE... Joe Reddick (and I believe he had a brother), Jimmy Collins, Jesse Dowdell. I agree, while we really could never field a decent football team (most of the time anyway cause we always got our butts kicked by Nottingham and CBA) we did seem to have a decent basketball team. Hey while I really do appreciate you parochial yokels prancing down memory lane (and please keep it up;I love this post) don't we have any non-parochial old timers out there?
Vocational Reddick & Collins
 
Yes it was on North Salina just past Butternut heading towards downtown. It was across from State St and the back of St Joe’s hospital. Don’t know when it closed. Maybe sometime in the 80’s? Found some pictures of it and posted below. I remember there was so much red in the decor. Great place.
View attachment 252519
View attachment 252521
Thanks for the great pictures. I never did any drinking there but in my younger days my best friend and I ate a lot of really good pizza there.
 
Thanks for the great pictures. I never did any drinking there but in my younger days my best friend and I ate a lot of really good pizza there.
I never drank there either - like you, it was all about the pizza and friends.
 
I went to St Vincents up to grade 8. Believe they closed the HS when I was in grade 7.

The ceiling in the gym was ridiculously low. When we took shots during gym, or played pickup there, people hit the ceiling all the time. The weirdest part about it was that the building was old and almost all of it featured high ceilings. Except the gym and the cafeteria a level below. Outside shooting was really not an option there.

There was also almost no room behind the baskets. One one side, there was an un padded wall. On the other, there was a stage, so if you came in hard on a layup, you had to jump up 4 or 5 feet to the stage floor to avoid breaking some bones.

I can’t even imagine how some high level D1 basketball players were able to play there.

I think Assumption might have had a tile floor. Like you would see in a kitchen. Lots of lots of little squares. I think that was because their gym was also their cafeteria.

Maybe someone can confirm that. I think I was only at their gym once and maybe I imagined it. I am guessing there were some idiosyncrasies at some of the other parochial league gyms as well.
The church I grew up in used to meet IN the St. Vincent’s gym on Sunday morning… roll out carpets, metal folding chairs, hang a banner on the backboard, etc. We used to stay & play basketball on Sunday afternoons after the service (actually used to play there on Saturday mornings too), I’ve spent countless hours there. The low beams were hilarious for first time players. They also had big & low hanging wooden backboards, had a friend hit his head on the corner dunking a basketball.

Not only was the court super small length/width wise, I know for a fact the rims were lower than 10 feet, I honestly think they were 9’6-9’7 range. Used to dunk there easier than any other spots I played at throughout Syracuse. Ahh, the memories!
 
We used to go to Danzers mostly but also Tino’s, and occasionally the old Rustic Inn or pickup a pizza at the original Twin Trees on Milton after games. After high school though it was Coleman’s, Fisher’s, the Big O mainly while in college.
I have fond memories of Tecumseh Club, especially the weekend before classes started. Schaefer brewed in Fulton for .50, Labatt’s .60.
 
Yeah, Oswego St. didn't seem right, but I couldn't remember. Was it where that drugstore is now?
My husband doesn’t know - his uncle sold it in the late 70’s after being robbed twice in a week suffering some tough injuries from it and died in the early 80’s. My husband knew where the bar was but never went in there. His great uncle (named Burns) initially owned the bar and left it to my husband’s uncle (he was a Costello) in the late 50’s.
 
My husband doesn’t know - his uncle sold it in the late 70’s after being robbed twice in a week suffering some tough injuries from it and died in the early 80’s. My husband knew where the bar was but never went in there. His great uncle (named Burns) initially owned the bar and left it to my husband’s uncle (he was a Costello) in the late 50’s.

Now that know it was on Slocum, I can probably figure it out. Sorry to hear about the robberies, but I wasn't lying, it was a tough neighborhood. My dad taught me to box at 18 months old. Ex-Marine.

Jim - Marines.JPG



Jim teaches Matty to box.JPG
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
173,931
Messages
5,121,573
Members
6,079
Latest member
Baby Gabe D

Online statistics

Members online
173
Guests online
4,498
Total visitors
4,671


...
Top Bottom