ISD’s Oldest Surviving Football Team

By Fookem

Summary: I found the article from Signews that fascinated me to read. It talked about ISD (Illinois School for the Deaf) football team. I decided to contact one of the football player name is Jerry Tuchman. I interviewed him to share his experience about oldest surviving football team. In 1948, eleven starter on the first team played both offense and defense with injury-free all year are still alive today. Eight out of eleven players showed up at ISD Football Homecoming with pride last year. Three players can’t make to show up. Their current ages are between 78-80 today, 17-19 years old in 1948. Their record was 6 wins, one loss and a tie. He said, that game should be won, not a tie because the player did not follow the play that cost their team a tie. He played good. He played as center position and was in honorable mention selection. The referee talked to William Yates, his quarterback who was the captain of the team that Jerry was a great center player. William Yates was our best quarterback as William loved to throw the ball to James Villiani because James was very good at catching the ball.

The another article about Guinness Book of World Records that made me curious to ask him why he talked about it. He said that it was Marilyn Harbison’s idea, she wrote the letter to Guinness Book of World Records Headquarter in England. They wrote back and told her that it need to be recognized by newspapers to find any hearing or deaf high school’s record similar to this achievement that the 1948 ISD Football Team had successful. He believed that no school can equal his oldest surviving football team in nation. To recognize from Guinness Book of World Records will cost him 500 dollars for the entry fee.

By the way, I asked him if he knew Richard ‘Dick’ Sipek (you can find more information about him, click Dick Sipek) and Luther ‘Dummy’ Taylor. He knew Dick very well for a long time and was really a good baseball player. He even watched the game in Chicago that Dick played for Cincinnati against Chicago Cubs in 1948. Dick played football real good but was not sure about either track or basketball. He can’t compare Dick to other deaf football players, for example, Bill Van Spankeren was the best football player. Luther Taylor was his dorm parent in Cullom Hall building. Luther was deaf and fluent in sign language. Luther’s room was on the first floor, Luther read the book, dictionary every night. The deaf students gave the words to see if Luther can answer the single meaning of the word. Luther was strict but a good man. He saw Luther sometimes for a few year before Luther died.

Editor’s note: Please spread the words to your friends, schools, newspapers, media, blogs, vlogs, whatever you can to find out if there is any school (deaf or hearing) high school can equal Jerry’s oldest surviving football team.

1948 Illinois School for the Deaf football team
(Click the image to enlarge)

Front row: James Villani, Irvin Carlstedt, Victor Marsala, Jerry Tuchman, Robert Liedberg, Oliver Hoffman, Ted Zuziak.

Rear row: Alta Hood, William Yates, Stan Kwaitt, David Early

September 27, 2008

Front row: James Villani (Right End), Jerry Tuchman (Center), Robert Liedberg (Left Guard), Oliver Hoffman (Left Tackle), Ted Zuziak (Left End).

Rear row: William Yates (Quarterback), Stan Kwaitt (Fullback), David Early (Left Halfback). Victor Marsala (Honorary Captain, Right Guard).

Not Pictured: Irvin Carlstedt (Right Tackle), Alta Hood (Right Halfback)

(Photos credits from Signews and Jerry Tuchman)

Deaf Richard “Dick” Sipek played for Cincinnati Reds

Richard “Dick” Sipek (Jan. 16, 1923 – Jul. 17, 2005) was a Major League baseball outfielder. He was the first not to have the nickname ‘Dummy.’ The 5-foot-9, 170-pound outfielder was only the third deaf player to see extensive playing time in the big leagues when he appeared in 82 games for the Cincinnati Reds in 1945. The previous ones were William “Dummy” Hoy, an outfielder who hit .292 for 15 big-league seasons from 1888 to 1902, and Luther “Dummy” Taylor, who won 115 games during a nine-year career from 1900 to 1908. Sipek lost his hearing in an accident around the time he was 5 years old. He was sent to the Illinois School for the Deaf in Jacksonville, where his home-father was none other than Taylor, who was a 21-game winner for the New York Giants in 1904. The older man took him under his wing and encouraged the youngster to develop his athletic abilities. Sipek was an all-state back in football, then the Reds had him at Birmingham of the Southern Association, where he hit .336 in 74 games in 1943 and .319 in 134 games in 1944. The left-handed batter hit .244 for Cincinnati with six doubles, two triples and 13 runs batted in. He was 10 for 45 as a pinch hitter (.222). Click this link to view his official stats from Baseball Almanac website.

Minor Baseball League, Dick Sipek in middle
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Newspaper articles about Dick Sipek
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1945 Cincinnati Reds
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Ripley’s Believe it or not
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Dick talked about his baseball life.

Hot Air Balloon Festival in Lisle, IL

By Jimactor

Summary: Eyes to the Skies Festival is known throughout the nation for the wonderful display of hot air balloons. This is one of the most watched features of the Festival every year. The most spectacular view you can see of these balloons is just before and after the firework shows. The balloons will remain tethered to the ground but will lift up about a hundred feet and in the darkness of the night you can see the balloons glowing, giving off their own light show.

First Mc Donald’s in Des Plaines, IL

By Jimactor

Cats act as ears for deaf woman

Betty Macaluso holds her cat, Tom 2, at her Lawrenceville home. Macaluso is deaf, and the cat wakes her up in the morning and functions as her ears.

Betty Macaluso doesn’t need an alarm clock; she has cats.

The Lawrenceville woman is awakened each morning by Tom 2, a wide-eyed orange and white cat, who gently paws at her arm about 6 a.m. wanting his breakfast. If Tom 2 happens to sleep through his job or gets distracted, Tiger, a heavier gray and black tabby, steps in.

Since Macaluso can’t hear the ringing of an alarm clock – she has been deaf all her life – her cats serve as her ears. She adopted Tom 2 and Tiger, both now about a year old, from PetSmart in Lawrenceville when they were 3 months.

“They know I can’t hear,” Macaluso, 68, said through a sign language interpreter. “They do hear for me.”

Macaluso recalled one morning when Tom 2, whose predecessor, Tom 1, she said was also very smart, stood on her stomach gazing up at the ceiling above her bed. A week went by and she noticed Tom 2 often staring up at the same spot. When Macaluso shined a flashlight over the area that held the cat’s attention, she saw a thin, round line of clay on her ceiling and immediately called pest control. Tom 2 had detected termites.

“(Pest control) came to check up and … found out termite(s) (were) inside (the) wall and asked me how I (heard them),” Macaluso wrote via e-mail. “He was puzzled (how I knew if) I am deaf and can’t hear. I smiled and pointed to my Tom 2.”

The exterminator told Macaluso she was lucky to have a cat like Tom 2; she could have lost her home if he hadn’t detected the termites.

Tom 2 seems especially sensitive to insects in his home.

“He notices the smallest things,” Macaluso said, “a spider on the ceiling, an ant crawling on the floor.”

Tom 2 and Tiger also notice the flashing lights that signal the doorbell or video phone is ringing and alert their owner.

Since Macaluso can’t hear her cats’ meows, whenever the two want to play, they know to gently paw at her leg to get her attention.

Macaluso, whose parents were also deaf, grew up in a home with cats. She remembers one evening when she was a young girl, sitting down with her mother on the swing on their porch, when their family cat began acting strangely.

“We were puzzled why,” Macaluso wrote.

Until the cat began fighting with a rattlesnake that lay five feet away from Macaluso and her mother.

“He saved me (from being bitten) by a rattlesnake,” she wrote. “I will never … live without two cats because they always helped me by (hearing what I cannot).”

DSA 2009 in Las Vegas: part 4

By Jimactor

DSA 2009 in Las Vegas: part 3

By Jimactor

DSA 2009 in Las Vegas: part 2

By Jimactor

Summary: correction of Pinky Aiello’s website link: www.asltales.net