Winter 2022

Mid-Winter Newsletter

The Racquet Club on Park Hill, Inc

12 February 2022

Over the Hump?

It’s good to see Yonkers’s Racquet Club on Park Hill reopening this mid-winter, as the bowling

league is back on Tuesday nights; the Park Hill Players are launching into rehearsals for their new play;

week-end pickleball has resumed; the bar is again open on Tuesday and Friday evenings and on Sundays;

and popular parties are again being scheduled. Covid-19 has been wreaking havoc on society, at home

and abroad, for two years now, and everyone hopes a kind of “endemic normalcy” can safely govern our

lives henceforth with vaccines, masks and social distancing.

The highly infectious Omicron variant shut down the club for over a month, wiping out all of the

club’s usual end-of-year social activities: a month of the bowling league; the Holiday Cocktail Party, for

which over 60 members and guests had signed up; Breakfast With Santa; the New Year’s Day potluck

party; Football Sundays, with the bar pools; and all the conviviality that surrounds the beautifully

decorated club at the end of each year.

The end of the club’s fiscal year rapidly approaches on February 28th. Meanwhile, the Board of

Governors, under Directors Justine Henry, Patty Gamba and Kirsten Barbera, will again lead the Annual

General Meeting (AGM) on Zoom, on Thursday, February 10th, as was done last year. Membership

boomed for the second straight year of the pandemic, and the Board is pleased to notify members that

once again there will be no increase in dues for the coming fiscal year, despite the extensive repairs and

many maintenance projects carried out over FY2021-22, usually by our multi-talented super houseman,

Roger (Rogelio Herrera). Heartfelt thanks to our long-time club Treasurer, Matt Krawiec, for a decade of

outstanding service as he now steps gradually away from that post.

Thanks to all who contributed to the annual Holiday Fund for club employees: lifeguards,

bartenders, court helpers, and houseman. The total collected from members set a record in December,

and the employees expressed great appreciation for their end-of-year bonuses.

Upcoming Social Calendar

Super Bowl Sunday.

Super Bowl LVI (56) will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, February 13th, and the club bar will open that day at 3 pm. Patty Gamba is coordinating dishes for the pot-luck affair and members should contact Patty with their proposed contributions. Kickoff for the game between the Cincinnati Bengals, the American Football Conference (AFC) winners, and the Los Angeles Rams, the National Football Conference (NFC) champs, will take place at 6:30 pm (EST). The $20 boxes for the betting pool are sold out. Winners will be announced at the end of each

quarter and for the final score.

Karaoke Party:

The club is now looking at late March to hold the next karaoke party.

Resumption of the Winter Bowling League

In late January, the PHRC Winter Bowling League resumed, after a month of layoffs, and three Tuesday evenings have already resounded to the shouts of bowlers, the crash of bowling pins and the pop music setting the mood in the background. Remarkably, as of February 8th, the five teams have pulled into one of the tightest and most exciting races the league has seen in many years.

Boom, under captain Paul Meissner, retains a slender lead over the rest of the field at 34 points.

(Each evening’s play is worth seven points: two points for each of the three games and one point for

total pins.) Tied for second place, with 31 points, are Pretzel Logic , led by captain Ed Schmid, and

Brown, under long-time league president, Jon Wallen. Right behind them at 30 points come the surging

DOA, led by captain Bill Dennison, and the Hurricanes, under captain Jose Alvarado, with 28 points.

Through February 1st, the highest current individual bowling averages are held by: Bill

Dennison, at 163; Jon Wallen and Robert Klein, at 159; Paul Meisner, at 157; and Jose Alvarado, at 154.

Paul has bowled the highest game this season at 237, followed by Bill Dennison, at 224; Robert, at 221;

Jose, at 196; Annmarie Ennis, at 182; Ed and Jennifer Ringstad, at 175; Jon, at 174; Pat O’Hanlon, at 172;

and Patty Gamba, at 170. The highest scratch series have been bowled by Paul, at 554; Bill Dennison, at

551; Jose, at 537; Robert, at 532; Ed, at 505; Pat, at 492; Annmarie, at 489; Jennifer, at 483; Steve

Savard, at 464; and Jon, at 460.

As usual, thanks to Jon for running the league and providing liaison with the technician who

services our venerable old Brunswick machines. Thanks as usual to Steve for doing the weekly stats.

And the league appreciates the many maintenance tasks Jon and Robert do regularly to keep the alleys

looking good and the machines functioning well between visits of the technician.

A Busy Fall 2021 Social Season

After our last newsletter on 15 October 2021, the club enjoyed a busy fall social schedule. On

Saturday, October 16th, Patty Schumann hosted the Oktoberfest party in the lounge, featuring delicious

German sausages, seasonal German brews and oompah music playing in the background. Some of the

45-50 attendees came specially attired for the occasion in lederhosen and dirndls, to enhance the

cultural spirit and mood of the occasion. Thanks, Patty!

Another sparkling highlight of late October was the Halloween Haunted House extravaganza

organized by Chrissy and Matt Gervais for the entire Halloween week end at the club house, which

became “a set” with numerous highlights very well-designed to terrify unwary kids and adults. They

turned the spooky environs into what they called The Ravenhurst Nightmare Clinic Haunted House and

Night Market. By all accounts, the week end was a tremendous success. To process the many hundreds

of attendees of all ages, both members and non-members, Chrissy and Matt urged those planning tocome to book in advance. They also arranged for a Night Market and the Tiki Food Truck to feed visitors

in the club parking lot.

Matt and Chrissy spent many days bringing in the props and partitions to create “the set” and

then carefully setting them all up. When it was all over, they then spent many more hours and days

dismantling the sets and carting them out for storage in their home. Congratulations, Chrissy and Matt,

on a tremendous and exhausting job very well done on Halloween week end – and an experience no

doubt unique in the annals of the Park Hill Racquet Club!

End of 2021 Tennis Season

Mixed-Doubles Final. On Sunday, October 24th, in perfect autumn weather, the club’s competitive-

tennis schedule concluded with the final of the mixed-doubles tournament. In a spirited and very well-

played match, Tara Ware and Michael Plaut defeated Peter Scher and Amy Hamlin, 7-6 and 6-4, to

become the club’s newest mixed-doubles champions. Congratulations, Tara and Michael!

Tennis Awards Brunch. On Sunday morning, November 21st, the Tennis Committee organized the

annual Tennis Awards Brunch in the club lounge, to recognize all the winners of the various competitive

and fun tournaments held last year. In the competitive categories, the winners of the men’s singles and

the men’s and women’s doubles and the mixed-doubles tournaments were recognized. So were the

winners of the Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day fun tournaments.

The hosts of the event were Patty Gamba, Patty Cecere and Wendy Bodner, who prepared a

delicious brunch of assorted quiches, smoked salmon, cream cheese, spiral ham, fresh fruit salad, and

assorted beverages. Many thanks, ladies, for your usual labor of love on behalf of the Tennis

Committee!

Week-Day Morning Tennis. Until late November, Steve Spiegler continued to organize morning

tennis on Mondays through Fridays for those able to come. Play on our beautiful red-clay courts

continued until Oval came to shut the courts down for the winter.

Thanks to Steve, Todd Geremia and Ingrid Krawiec for their work last year in maintaining the

courts and rolling them when Roger was not available. And thanks to Tom “Westy” Westmoreland for

organizing and managing the court-reservation system throughout the tennis season.

Paint and Sip Night

On Saturday evening, November 20th, new member Tara Ware kindly organized a very well-

attended paint-and-sip night in the big hall of the club. Tara entitled the event a “Festive Mandala

Dotting Class,” at which she exhorted participants: “Come and find your Zen while painting your own

mandala ornaments!” All supplies were provided. The activities involved filling in two wooden

ornament panels “with multi-layered dots, perfectly themed for the holidays.”Holiday Wreath-Making Fundraiser

Kathryn Buckley organized her annual holiday wreath-making fundraiser in the ballroom of the

club on Sunday afternoon, November 28th. The $35 charge to participants included provision of wreaths

and all decorations.

The Park Hill Players

The Park Hill Players have just begun rehearsals for their newest production, Ken Ludwig’s work,

The Game’s Afoot. Ludwig also wrote the play Lend Me a Tenor, which was the group’s first production

after a 30-year hiatus in plays staged at the club. Thanks again to Jim Beirne, the driving force behind

the revival of the Players.

Karin White and Lauretta Kahn are co-directing the production of The Game’s Afoot, with an

intensive rehearsal schedule in February and March. Performances are currently planned to be held on

the week ends of April 1st, 2nd and 3rd, as well as April 8th and 9th (and possibly the 10th).

As always, the Players very much welcome the participation of any club members interested in

acting or in providing other kinds of support to the PHP productions.

Pickleball

Pickleball has resumed on week-end mornings in the large hall of the club. Anyone interested in

playing, or learning to play, can contact Jim Beirne or Lyrica Leon for information. The sport is fun and

provides for a wonderful winter workout for players and couch potatoes of all ages.

Remembrances

The Club mourns the passing of Vincent D’Alessio, Jr., a distinguished long-time member since

the 1970s. Vinny is survived by his beloved wife, Adrienne; his loving children: Donna Ventarola, Patty

Gamba and Vincent D’Alessio III; and his seven cherished grandchildren: Ashley, Vincent and Jessica

Ventarola; Gabriella and Christopher Gamba; and Gianna and Anthony D’Alessio. Vinny was a very

active Club member for many years, serving in many capacities such as Club president and on many

board committees over his half-century of membership.

Vinny truly loved the Club and spent many of his days playing tennis, bowling, and enjoying the

social life with the many good friends he met at the Club. Although his physical limitations in later years

prevented him from continuing to participate in tennis and bowling, he was always ready to engage in

lively conversations on a wide range of topics, especially the Club’s history, at parties and other social

events. Vinny and Adrienne were regulars at the semi-annual karaoke parties. And on warm sunny

days, Vinny could often be found sitting on the patio, cheering on his fellow members during tennis

tournaments. Vinny is deeply missed by his family and his many friends.