Ok guys I’m going to do my best from my old puck hit memory to explain the birth and history of hockey at Avenue F from 1972 to the early 80’s when I played there.
The 70th precinct PAL had two roller hockey teams
that originally played at the playground up by East 5th and Fort
Hamilton Parkway. They played without boards and the games were usually on
Saturdays and Sundays in the late 60’s through very early 70’s. They were the Ryan’s
Northstars and the Terrace Rangers. Local bars sponsored both teams. Which in hindsight is actually funny
because we were just kids. The guys who ran the league back then were; Fred
Allen, Bill Webster, Jerry Cartalano, Mr. Pierce, Joe Romano, Louie DeBiasi,
Richie Kenna and many that others I forgot.
These men were all pretty much tough “blue collar” guys that
didn’t take shit from anyone including us teenagers. They also did more for us than anyone else because of the
time and devotion they put into the league.
On any given Saturday or Sunday back then there were probably
around a hundred people either watching or participating in the games up by the
playground on Fort Hamilton and East 5th. Especially when IHM let
out after mass, that’s when the place would fill up and it was standing room
only!
Now a couple of the older guys who ran the league either
worked for the Parks Department or had some kind of affiliation with the city.
So when we heard there was going to be an actual rink being built down by
McDonald Avenue near Avenue F we were all quite excited. We also knew that it would happen much
faster than normal because they worked for NYC Parks and oversaw the McDonald
Avenue Park before the rink was actually there.
No back then you just got things done period.
My cousin Pete has a vague memory of some Italian
construction company doing the paving work down by F during the summer of
1972. The fence piping and the
plywood were all put up by the guys who ran the league back then and also with
the help of some of the older teenage players who were skilled and strong
enough.
Ok, I’m going to say that the original Avenue F was built in
the Fall of 1972.
The cool thing about Avenue F from what I recall is we were
the first roller hockey rink in Brooklyn to have curved corners vs. the angled
corners that both 53rd and Kings Bay had. And the guys that ran the league were quite proud of that
too!
I think they held some kind of painting party and many of
the boys that played in the league helped paint the boards, the blue lines,
face-off circles, goalie creases, etc.
The original nets that were lightweight aluminum were given
up for much heaver steel nets that could not be blown down by the wind. I
clearly remember our original nets being held by sand bags up on East 5th
when we played there. And for the record I still have one of the original nets
and my cousin Pete has the other. Patty DeSimone traded us the two nets for a motor scooter
back in 1971 or so.
Patty no longer has the motor scooter but we have the nets!!! I still use the net today to shoot into on my block here on
East 4th.
The rink was originally named the Billy Powell Memorial
Hockey Rink after a young player was killed by a car on the way to one of the
games early one Sunday morning. Billy was killed by the circle by Prospect Park
down by the Coney Island Avenue/PPSW/Ocean Parkway merge. We were all in shock
that morning to learn that he was killed on his way to the game. We had a
ceremony one day before a game and there was even a sign erected on the fence
outside the rink.
It was never known as the DiGilio Playground when we played
there.
Well, we had refs, score boards, dozens of fans and the
action was always quite intense. There were fights galore, playoff games, crowds
cheering on the park benches, rivalries, hockey dinners, trophies, crying after
a tough loss and celebrations after you won the coveted “Kenna Cup”. The Kenna
Cup was our equivalent of the Stanley Cup and you better believe that when my
team won it we skated around the rink and held it up to the sky just like any
other NHL Pro team would.
We had our annual hockey dinners at the Farragut Terrace and
one time we even had Bill Chadwick appear in person to speak.
We even once had a nighttime Roller Disco party down at the
rink around 1975 or so. There was music, food and hundreds of people enjoying a
night out by the rink. The Parks department even brought in floodlights to make
it well lit at night. There was even talk of installing floodlights for nighttime
games like at 53rd street.
Those were the Glory Days at Avenue F and we thought it
would never end.
The 70th Pct Pal continued to run the league down
by F into the early 80’s from what I recall. I “retired” at 17 but then came
out of retirement at 19 to play again for another team at F. They were Richie
Kenna’s Flyers and once again there were fights, friendships, intense playoff
games and the same feel that we all felt 10 years before.
But then things changed for many of us, we were too old to
play, some guys got married, some found girlfriends and hockey started to take
a back seat to other things.
I think the wave of us “Baby Boomer” guys took over Avenue F
and then left just like we arrived.
I remember coming out of “retirement” one more time when I
was 33 years old. I remember going down to F in 1990 and looking at a wasteland
of what were the best years of my life. My goalie crease had a giant crack in
it and my roller blades were constantly getting stuck in it. Making saves were
difficult because of the bumpy goalie crease and the large fault line-like
crack. I came down one day after we played and fixed the crack with some
automotive bond so I could glide over it smoothly. We started to play on Sunday
mornings at 8 am and we brought down our nets. There were regulars that played
there and we had a great time just playing “choose-up”.
But then again things changed and hockey again took another
back seat to children and marriage.
But then one day in the late 90’s I remember seeing that the
court was totally redone. The surface looked awesome and the boards were actually
real ice hockey boards as opposed to the plywood that I always remember. There
was a banner that said “South Brooklyn Roller Hockey” and I was so happy to see
the court being used again. I knew
some of the guys running the league and even thought about getting involved
again. But sadly I never did.
I’m not sure what happened to that league but what I always
did notice was that the court was constantly being used on the weekends. There
were young guys always down there and it was nice to see the court in action.
From what I understand the court was even being cared for by these kids and
they went out of their way to make sure they were maintaining it while NYC
Parks was not.
Councilman David Greenfield should know that the rink is
being used as much as it was when I was a kid. Although there is not a league
there the rink is being skated on by humans and the fun and laughter is still
what I remember when I was 17. The guys by playing there keep a lot of
riff-raff out of the park and without them it would probably look like a
wasteland.
There is plenty space in that park to accommodate both
hockey and a nice renovation. Tear out the grandstand behind the rink and do as
you please. The guys don’t use the grandstand anyway.
But more important is maybe, just maybe young kids will
start using the rink again if the rest of the park is more palatable. Because right now the rest of that park
looks pretty scary and yes it can use a sprucing up.
It is also important to remember the history behind the Avenue
F Roller Rink. The blood, sweat and tears that were shed there. The hundreds if
not thousands of people that played there and still do today including me.
Please Councilman Greenfield, try to make a compromise of
some sort and be a hero to all, don’t let the memory of so many men who put so
much time into that rink go to waste. Because the Avenue F rink is more than
just an open space looking to be replaced by adult exercise equipment and a few
trees.
Avenue F rink has been a local institution since 1972 and is
still an active rink in 2015. Being used today by many people to enjoy the same
way we did as young adults in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Building friendships and memories
that will last forever while playing a sport you love so very much.
That’s something an adult exercise area will never ever do while
a hockey rink can. Please consider that thought before destroying the rink.
Thank you,
Ron Lopez
399 East 4th Street
Brooklyn, NY, 11218
