Jackson Heights Life
Get Connected => Jackson Heights of Yesteryear => Topic started by: mike in ca on August 26, 2013, 01:52:16 PM
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any hockey players from the 60s-70s who skated at 77th st park ?
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any roller hockey players from the 60s-70s who played roller hockey at 77th st park and other parks in queens ?
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More like the 50's . Yes I did. Used a roll of friction tape as a puck
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we started playing roller hockey,1961 and ysed friction tape also,then by 1965 someone came up with electric tape,scotch 88,worked alot better then the old friction tape,later on scotch 33 colored tape was even better,came in different colors,one could stick handle better ,we could see the puck better with out having your head down.
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I didn't play...but knew 2 guys who did... Jimmy Hodges... and Joe Grieco... Joe is younger.
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Roller hockey at the 78th Street Park (we never called it Travers) was great. A fine dust, probably from the wearing down of our wheels, formed a nice fine layer that helped the puck move smoothly. We didn't have much equipment then, and helmets weren't invented yet but injuries were minimal. Lots of fun.
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This may be of interest:
Tribute for a Roller Hockey Warrior Who Broke the Color Barrier (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/nyregion/tribute-for-a-roller-hockey-warrior-who-broke-the-color-barrier.html) (NY Times, May 3, 2015)
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I didn't play...but knew 2 guys who did... Jimmy Hodges... and Joe Grieco... Joe is younger.
I knew Jimmy Hodges. He was probably at least five years older. I used to talk to him when we were both younger when he played with his gasoline-engined model cars. Later, when he came back form his military service, we worked on motorcycles together. I hung with him and the other bikers at a hole-in-the-wall candy store on 37th Ave. between 78th and 79th street, upstairs above the Bowling alley. While Moe and Archies candy store on the corenr of 78th street had magazines and was a lot larger, the other one had a better selection of car, bike and gun mags, so I tended to hang there.
One of my building neighbors, Johnny McLaughlin who ride a purple Triumph Bonnevile, was dating a girl I remembered from grade school, Annelise. She had been a shy, attractive girl and I was surprised to see her dating a "bad boy" biker. It was my first contact with the phenomenon.
Those were great days.