Download - Monthly Progress | April 2013
Volume 68 – No. 4 April 2013
MONTHLY PROGRESS founded by Ted Kereczmann† in 1946.
Published by
The United German Hungarians of Philadelphia and Vicinity
4666 Bristol Road, Oakford, PA 19053
Phone: 215-357-9851 Fax: 215-357-1560 Web Site: www.ughclub.us
President: William Galgon, 1641 Loretta Ave-
nue, Feasterville, PA 19053
Publicity/Editorial: Emily Fricker, 654 Manor Drive, Horsham, PA 19044
267-470-4828, [email protected]
2013 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
May 15th—Spring Penny Party
June 16th—Gau Team Warm up
Father’s Day Picnic
June 30th—German-American Day
September 6-8th —Hot Rod Hoedown
September 28-29th —Oktoberfest
October 5th—Rocktoberfest
October 26th—Schocktoberfest
November 2nd—Fall Craft Fair
November 9th—Kirchweihfest
November 13th—Fall Penny Party
December 15th—Club Christmas Party
OUR TOASTMISTRESS’ TOAST AT OUR
103RD ANNIVERSARY BANQUET My name is Nichole Blank Deely and I have the honor of being
your Toastmistress tonight. I am 31 years old. I am the daughter
of Marlene Fricker and John Blank and the step-daughter of Bill
Galgon. I am a sister; I am a wife; and I am a mother. And I have
been a member of the United German Hungarian Club for 31
years.
I chose to use these descriptors in my introduction because I feel
they give you a piece of who I am. Everyone knows what a
daughter is, what a wife is, and what a mother is, but, what is a
club member? When I began to reflect on this I had trouble find-
ing the right words to describe the essence of what it means to
me to be a member of the German Hungarians. So I went to my
computer and I typed the word club into the google search box.
According to Wikipedia a club is an association of two or more
people united by a common interest or goal. This definition is a
starting place but for me our club is so much more.
I widened my search to include the words family, friendship, and
kinship. Now this was getting me closer to the feeling of our mem-
bership. Kinship is a term in anthropology, considered to refer to
the web of social relationships that form an important part of the
lives of most humans in most societies. This is what the German
Hungarian membership is…A kinship.
I am proud to say that I have been a German Hungarian my en-
tire life. My closest friends have been made here. I have celebrat-
ed my happiest moments with these friends...many times under
this roof, and more importantly, during the most difficult times in
my life, this kinship, these friends, are who have given me the sup-
port to overcome obstacles.
We are a group of people who come together to have a good
time. We work together; we play together; we travel together; we
dance and drink together. We laugh together and we cry togeth-
er. And, We love each other.
I can’t imagine my life without this club, without these members,
my German Hungarian friends.
Please raise a glass with me on this anniversary night. To our
guests, thank you for celebrating with us. I invite you to drink and
dance with us this evening. To my fellow club members , my
friends, my kinship. Thank you for inviting me to speak tonight.
May we have many more memories together...Prost!
April 2013 Monthly Progress Page 2
103rd ANNIVERSARY BANQUET Our club was the scene of a
very enjoyable banquet held on Satur-
day, March 23rd. The cocktail hour be-
gan at 6:00 P.M. and the guests looked
resplendent in their evening finery.
It’s always a pleasure to see the
various ages, seniors, middle aged and
youth, enjoying a celebration together.
The Toast Mistress for the evening was
Nichole Blank Deely and she welcomed
all who joined us for the evening. After
the National Anthems of both the United
States and Germany were sung a mo-
ment of silence was held for our de-
ceased members, especially Antonia
Kreutzer was held.
At that time Michael Fricker who
gave the invocation, was introduced.
Michael is a member of our Publicity &
Editorial committee, the Archiving com-
mittee, and can be most often found
performing with the dance group. He is
currently a student at Temple University.
Michael chose as his invocation a pray-
er by St. John Neumann: “Everyone who breathes
High and low
Educated and ignorant
Man and woman
Has a mission
Has a work…
As Christ has his work
We too have ours
As he rejoiced to do his work
We must rejoice in ours also.”
Nichole introduced the head
table. She gave a toast and a small
speech about what it means to her to
be a member of our club. She then offi-
cially opened the dance floor with our
Cultural Group performing a Grand
March.
The dinner was served and as is
our custom, various introductions were
made throughout this meal as well as
our guests enjoying dancing to the mu-
sic of the Heimatklaenge Orchestra. The
Board of Governors was introduced. Al-
so two past presidents, Andy Weyer-
shaeuser and Werner Fricker Jr. were
acknowledged and thanked for their
continued support and involvement in
our organization
Special guests in attendance were rec-
ognized:
Vereinigung der Donauschwaben Phila-
delphia – Fred Gauss Vice President
Cannstatter Volksfest-Verein – Willie
Glaeser, President
German American Committee of Phila-
delphia – Lou Oschmann, President
Catholic Kolping Society – Frank Staub,
President
Bayerischer Volksfest Verein – Alex
Paraker, president
Bayerischer Volksfest Verein Ladies Auxil-
iary – Thea Paraker, President
First German Sport Club Phoenix – Chris-
tine Groeber, Phoenix Anniversary Com-
mittee Chairlady
Vereinigung Erzbebirge – Jay Bitterlich,
President
Steuben Day Observance Association –
Tom Markow, President
US Eastern Region Verband der Do-
nauschwaben – Fred Gauss, President
WaldEcho Singing Society – Betty Boyts
A Friend from the Donauschwaben of
Los Angeles, California – Paul Fruhner
Tom Marko, Lou Oschmann and Alex
Paraker each spoke a few words to the
guests.
Bill Galgon, our President,
opened his address by reading an arti-
cle from our Monthly Progress Newsletter
in the May/June 2008 issue. The article
entitled, “Attention Members! Read This
Now!” began with the words. “I wonder
how many of you who are reading this,
realize what it means to be a member of
our club.” The article told about all as-
pects of our club, the people, the activi-
ties, and ended with “Why are we so
few when we should be so many? Only
as members united together with a
common goal – the advancement of
our club, - can we continue as a bigger
and better organization than ever be-
fore.” An Editor’s Note at the end stated:
The above article (with some updated
changes) appeared in the Monthly Pro-
gress in August 1957. This article was
written over 50 years ago. IT IS STILL REL-
EVANT TODAY! Billy continued to say
that he referenced this article because
as things change – they remain the
same. He stated, “I do not speak of bad
members or members that do not at-
tend, I speak of a lack of interest, apa-
thy or indifference. In the world we live
in today, people would rather stay at
home sit on the couch and eat too
much of the wrong food, watch TV or
play on the computer. People no long-
er want to get dressed up to go out. We
have dress down Fridays. Jacket and tie
required seems like something out of the
“Great Gatsby”! Now we see signs “No
Shoes, No Shirt, No Service!” The reason
that many organizations like ours, lack
people is because of some of the issues I
just mentioned. This affects the clubs,
lodges, singing societies, religious organi-
zations and many more.
Our president further stated,
“We speak of our young people all the
time. Today, I acknowledge our toast-
master , Nichole Deely, the next genera-
tion on the podium. I now speak for us,
the German Hungarians, with pride, that
we are able to bring forth people that
can present themselves as professionals
in front of an audience. This is what we
do! We are teachers.! Susi Hartmann is
the third Chairman of the Cultural Group
after the initial group of women who
started it all in the 60s. The soccer pro-
gram under Andrew Weyershaeuser Jr.
has grown to its highest level of partici-
pation in our history.
Representatives from Adidas and the
Philadelphia Union Soccer Team have
visited our club and stated that this is
great – what a soccer club is all about. I
have heard leaders from dance groups
around the world compliment our danc-
ers. I brag, that we get it right, that all
of you get it right, that there is and
should be room for organizations like
yours and ours, that we get off the
couch and become involved!!!”
At this time Bill introduced all the
Committee Chairmen stating “The Ger-
man Hungarians exist because of the
sacrifice of the people just mentioned
and all the other members that serve on
committees. Thanks to the Executive
Board, Janet, Andy and Michael who
work together with me every week and
often times every day. Thanks to the
young adults and our parents. A special
thanks to the members and friends from
the Bayerischer Volksfest Verein espe-
cially their president, Alex Paraker and
to all our friends in the German Ameri-
can Community. I thank my wife, Mar-
lene, and our children for all their sup-
port. Enjoy the remainder of the even-
ing.”
Nichole commented, “Bill Galgon has
been our president since 2007, but he
does not just hold a position. He is instru-
mental in all happenings around the
grounds. He is one of our biggest sup-
porters. Our president travels with both
the soccer teams and dance group to
help cheer us on in our endeavors. And
he plays music for us at many events.
Thank you Billy, for your time, support
and being our #1 fan!!!”
The final Cultural Group perfor-
mance featured the dancers performing
the Lueneburger Windmueller
April 2013 Monthly Progress Page 3
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? German Hungarians named to Halls of Fame
Certain phrases are in use in
our club community. They seem to
always be floating around my head.
(I don’t know if that happens to you
or if it’s just my strange mind.) For ex-
ample when I was organizing the
pieces of this article together in my
head, the phrase that stuck there was
this, “Hundreds of Teams, Thousands
of Players.” There is a ring to that and
I searched my archives of German-
Hungarian and general soccer docu-
ments to find its author. To no avail I
might add. Most likely I heard anoth-
er German-Hungarian-for-life say it in
one of the countless hours we spend
talking about ourselves; our club. (If it
is yours let me know.)
In my search I found some-
thing similar although, so I’ll transpose
it here, with attribution. “Just sit back
and think of the people that played
and trained here on our grounds.
Thousands played and trained here,
a l l w ith a pass ion for the
game." (Werner Fricker, Jr.) This is from
the opening of a piece that Fricker
wrote entitled "Hallowed Ground"
that we ran in the Progress last year.
This lengthy introduction aside the
meaning of the line is what this is all
really about. The German Hungarians
as an organization has a history of
drawing players, administrators, and
coaches alike to our sport communi-
t y . W h e r e a r e t h e y n o w ?
It seems to be Hall of Fame season
and a number of former GH men
have been inducted recently to vari-
ous Halls both locally and across the
nation. Former players Mark Ozoroski,
and Rich Reice were inducted to the
Bucks County Chapter of the
Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame on
T h u r s d a y A p r i l 9 t h .
Ozoroski started his full-time
Majors career in the 1991-92 seasons
and he played in the televised 1993
US Open Cup Final for the German
Hungarians in Indianapolis. Werner
Fricker, Jr., Major Team Manager from
1988 to 1999 said, “He was known to
be a very good player coming out of
the midfield often to create and
score goals.”
The Reice family including
Richie all played youth and adult soc-
cer at the club. Richie was a really
good player and went on to play with
the Fury in the NASL.
On March 24th Tony Rod was
inducted into the North Catholic Soc-
cer Hall of Fame class of 2013. Tony
played continuously for the German
Hungarians from the early 2000s until
just recently.
The South Eastern Pennsylva-
nia Soccer Hall of Fame, formerly the
Philadelphia Oldtimers Soccer Associ-
ation holds the slogan "Honoring the
past, Building the Future." Dating
back to 1947 there is an extensive list
of inductees that have been honored
over the years. Glancing over this list
you will find over 60 inducted have
ties to our club in some way. This year
one more will be added. On May
11th at the annual banquet at the
Cannstatter the 66th class will be hon-
ored. Joe “Rock” Rudy is among the
names listed.
Rudy joined the club in 1987
when the re-building of the major
team was being taken very seriously
by a group of administrators seeking
new younger players that could con-
nect with the past traditions and suc-
cess. The 75th Anniversary of Soccer
Souvenir Book reads, "Joe Rudy con-
tributed greatly to the club’s success.
Joe gave the best years of his adult
career to the German Hungarians."
Fricker spoke to Rudy’s
strength as a player, “he was a strong
and disciplined player who could
read any situation, it was difficult to
knock him off his game, he would be
dangerous on the attack and disci-
plined on defensive man marking.”
It has just been announced
the Peter Vermes has been inducted
into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame on
the Veteran Ballot. He played for the
club in the 1987 season. Vermes, after
his return to Rutgers University, be-
came a full time member of the US
National Team, and was a member
of the US World Cup Team. In 1988 he
was named US Soccer Federation
Player of the year. Vermes is currently
the Head Coach of the MLS team
Sporting Kansas City.
Vermes when talking about
Philadelphia native Bobby Convey
playing in the MLS for Kansas City,
told Philly.com in January of 2012
about the dedication to soccer in the
Philadelphia area. “I know that men-
tality. I played in Philly for a number of
years with the United German-
Hungarians. Just knowing that men-
tality there, I think it’s good, and I
think it’s good to bring it into our team
here.” Vermes is the fourth Man with
ties to our club to be inducted to the
National Hall of Fame behind, Walter
Bahr, Alex Ely, Werner Fricker, and Emil
Schillinger. He told Soccer by Ives,
“Soccer is the consummate team
sport and being inducted into the
National Soccer Hall of Fame is cer-
tainly indicative of that. It is humbling
and a great honor”
Mark Ozoroski, right Joe Rudy, far right
Peter Vermes, right German Hungarian Team Member, 1987
April 2013 Monthly Progress Page 4
— GERMAN-AMERICAN DAY — Sunday June 30th 2013 | 12:00pm
On the grounds of the United German Hungarians
Proceeds support the: German-American Steuben Parade
on September 28th 2013
AS MEMBERS OF THE GERMAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY WE NEED TO SUPPORT GERMAN DAY AND IN TURN THE PARADE
www.germanday.info
U.G.H. Women’s Auxiliary
— SPRING PENNY PARTY — Wednesday, May 15
Doors open 6:30pm | Numbers
called 8:00pm
Tickets—$3.00 per person
Includes coffee and cake
RESERVATIONS are REQUIRED
Call Emily Fricker at 267.470.4828 Set-up: Wednesday Morning—10:00am
_____________________________________
— SCHNITZEL NIGHT — Wednesday, May 1
Wednesday, June 1
— A THANK YOU — The German Hungarian Cultural Group thanks
all of you who supported our recent events! The
Martini Night, the Fish Fry, and the Game Night
were Fun Friday successes. There is a raffle that is
currently underway! Tickets are $5.00 and can
be purchased from any dancer at the club. 1st
prize is an iPad 2 and 2nd prize is Philadelphia
Union Tickets! Drawing will be held on May 21st! *Winner need not be present at drawing to be eligible.
_____________________________________
— BAYERISCHER ECKE — Saturday April 20—
SPRING DANCE with Emil Schanta Band
Wednesday April 24—
BVV Ladies Penny Party
Doors Open 6:30pm
Saturday May18—
MEMBER APPRECIATION DANCE
with Joe Weber Band