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Troy Boys & Girls Club turns 100
- Christopher Alexander
- Jan 24, 2003
- 4 min read
Reprint of original Troy Record article by Kate Perry:
TROY – For the past 100 years, Troy Boys & Girls Club has changed missions, buildings, memberships and programs, but one thing has remained the same – the effect it has on youth.
The club kicked of its centennial celebration on Thursday.
Theodore DeBonis, a member of the club starting in 1939, remembers clearly the time spent at the old building on State Street, playing basketball, pool and snapping the shutter in photography club.
In his pre-teens at the time, DeBonis said the club, which was just the Troy Boys Club then, was an escape from the streets and offered fun activities as a diversion to what was going on outside. A hot group in the ’30s and ’40s that DeBonis participated in was the Harmonica Band, which was popular throughout the city.
“We were pretty good. We were much in demand for entertainment at churches and social clubs,” he said.
He said he and his friends would go to the club after school for couple of hours a day and also on some Saturdays for movies. His best times at the club, however, were the times he spent at Camp Barker, a Boys & Girls Club-sponsored camp, in the summer.
The camp in Grafton ran for about six weeks every summer and the boys spent their days there playing football and baseball, hiking and learning to swim. They slept out in the woods in old army-style tents and stood for inspection every morning, where extra treats at Sunday supper could be earned.
DeBonis, who still lives in Troy, said the time he spent at the camp and at the club kept him out of trouble and taught him to live right.
“It gave me a better outlook on life, it showed me how to respect my friends and help out my community,” he said.
Dominic Pafundi, 75, lived on Fifth Avenue when he was a boy and started going to the club at the age of 6 or 7 in the mid 1930s. He, too, remembers the club as a place where kids could get off the street and Camp Barker as a place where city life could be forgotten all together.
He also remembers how the value of helping the community was instilled in him at the club.
He and DeBonis both recalled cold winter days after school when the club offered hot soup and Freihofer’s bread to all the boys who stopped by.
In the depths of the Depression, he remembers the Club as place were the boys could get the things they needed, and how that generosity was accompanied by a lesson.
“When times were very bad, we had a shoemaker come in and the kids would learn how to resole their shoes or just watch, but when they left they had new soles,” he said. “It was free. At that time, it would have cost only a couple of dollars, but no one really had the couple of dollars.”
Frederick Baumback, a 79-year-old Troy resident, spent several years at the club around the same time that DeBonis and Pafundi did, and he too took away a lesson about community giving. He said that all the things they did for the boys, even during the hardest times, always stuck in his mind.
Clearly, as Baumback was on his way to volunteer at Samaritan Hospital Thursday afternoon, the message of generosity stuck with him.
All three men eventually left the familiar walls of the Troy Boys Club to serve in World War II, but each one returned to the city and eventually resumed involvement with the club, either as staffers, board members and even as basketball referees.
All three serve on the Old Timers Committee, which picks individuals to be placed in the Hall of Fame. Of course, all three have been honored there as well.
Their lifelong commitment to the club is something that current staffers say is inevitable once one sees the difference the Club makes in the lives of children.
The Club has changed since the 1930s. Construction on their current home at 1700 Seventh Ave. began in 1966 and the club moved in shortly thereafter. The club began offering courses that were more educational, including tutoring sessions. Career planning and SAT prep courses also give the children more focused attention on their futures.
And, of course, for the first time in 1991, the club offered girls an opportunity to become members.
Still, even with a more educational slant and an updated program that addresses all issues of growing up in an urban setting, some things are still the same. For one, the dedication and generosity to the children who walk through the door daily has not wavered.
Evidence of this is apparent when one looks at the list of financial supporters for the club in its 100th year. Club staffers can be found among the corporations and alumni members who have also given this year.
Pioneer Savings Bank, which has donated to the club for more than 20 years is the largest supporter this year. Time Warner also donated 10 new computers to the center this year, in addition to money.
The club has arranged several celebratory activities for the centennial to raise awareness and support for the club, including a 5 kilometer run and healthy kid fair at the South Troy facility on April 26, a golf tournament at Camp Barker on July 11 and a gala at the Franklin Plaza on Oct. 23.
Originally Published: January 24, 2003 at 4:20 PM EST
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Learn more about BGCCA history: www.bgccapitalarea.org/history
