Riverhead Stadium w Fabio Montella
Memorial Day 1949 was an auspicious day in Riverhead as it saw the inaugural game at the brand new Wivchar Stadium on Harrison Ave. The brainchild of Tony Wivchar, a […]
Category: Sports
Ralph Bunn, Long Island’s Jackie Robinson
Librarian and baseball historian Fabio Montella returns to the podcast to bring us the story of Ralph “Sammy” Bunn. Bunn was a Setauket native who excelled at baseball all his […]
The Arthur Murray Girls Baseball Team
In 1949 nine women of the Arthur Murray Girls baseball team took the field against the all-male squad from the Patchogue Athletics. By that year, the Murrays had been together […]
A Cinderella Story from 1950s Long Island
Elizabeth Letts has a knack for finding good stories and evoking a time and place. In her New York Times bestselling book The Eighty-Dollar Champion, she uncovers the secluded equestrian […]
The Life of Marion Hollins
Imagine you were a woman born at the height of the Gilded Age with a passion, not for fashion or society, but for sports. And you grew up riding bareback […]
Mickey Quinn and St John the Baptist High School
It’s the early 70s in West Islip and St John the Baptist High School is gearing up for a crucial game against St. Agnes of Rockville Centre. But for freshman […]
Baseball in Riverhead
A July night at Riverhead Stadium in 1950. Two baseball legends face each other without even realizing it. Satchel Paige, fabled Negro League pitcher, is on the mound for the […]
Clarence H. Robbins: All About the Horses
Clarence H. Robbins was a master of hounds and horses, a gentleman jockey and trainer, and a member of Brooklyn’s Gilded Age elite. Come explore this forgotten Long Island figure […]
Ducks on Ice
The Long Island Ducks personified an era and a brand of hockey. From 1959 to 1973, they fought, checked, and slashed their way through the Eastern Hockey League and […]
The Cuban Giants of Long Island
It’s the summer of 1885 and an industrious and itinerant hotel man named Frank P. Thompson is making history on Long Island. Working for the season at the Argyle Hotel […]
The Coolest Field Trip You’ll Ever Take
When an athletic, thrill-seeking millionaire builds a mansion hideaway on the outskirts of the city, stocking it with a technologically advanced fleet of cars, boats and airplanes along with trophies […]
Writing the Rails
Back when men were men and railroads were railroads, Charles M. Murphy challenged a locomotive and lived to tell the tale. He rode behind a Long Island Railroad locomotive in […]
Being Teddy Roosevelt
James Foote has some pretty big shoes to fill but he’s been pulling it off effortlessly for decades. Starting with a close resemblance to the 26th President of the United […]
The Sage of Blue Point
“You are on the Merrick Road, not far from Blue Point, the place that made the oyster famous. You look to the right and to the left, and, tacked to […]
Racing the Island
Long Island at the turn of the last century was a dream come true for early racing enthusiasts: miles and miles of flat open roads. In this interview, Marty Himes […]