Ravens
Athletic & Social
Club
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THE RAVENS
TThe first members were: Bob Simmonds-President Albert "Albie" Matthews-Vice President Roland "Whitey" White-Secretary Martin Tormey-Treasurer Jack Hanney (Deceased) Bill Baer John "Jiggs" Favilla George "Biffo" Horrigan (Deceased) Danny "Moose" McSpedon (Deceased) Huey "The Stump" Johnstone Doc Bradley Joe Finnegan Marty Torme
The name Ravens came about by a challenge of a softball game from Albie Matthews and Bob Simmonds. Albie belonged to an undefeated team that played in a bar league. One day he was bragging to his buddies how good his team was and Simmonds said, yeah I'll get 9 guys from the job (Sprainbrook Substation) and we'll beat you!! Albie said, we couldn't play them without a name. So right there Simmonds said, we're called the Ravens!! Needless to say the Ravens beat Albie'stteam. The Ravens began playing in a Yorktown slow pitch league. We soon became everybody's favorite team to play against, probably because there was too much time between the end of the work day and game time. Some of us had an inclination to loosen up with a beer or two. Some Gynics said we were blantantly Liberal with the audacity to call ourselves athletic, but we were totally into Social!! The first meeting was held at The Beechwood Inn on the corner of Rt.6 and Millington Rd., in the town of Cortlandt. On the same corner today stands Shoetown. At the first meeting, the agenda was taken down on a bar napkin. We agreed if we can get ten guys together that we could start a club. The first order of business began with having a stag clambake. We sold about 90 tickets at $10 each. Albie's backyard in Yorktown was where the first batch of clam chowder was made, about 30 gallons. The first food order included 100 lbs. of hotdogs (which we threw away half). We had 25 lbs. of homemade sausage from New Rochelle, 100 shell steaks, 50 lbs. of chop meat to make hamburgers, 2 bushels for the clam chowder, 12 bushels of littleneck clams and 200 ears of corn. The steak and chop meat came from a wholesaler on Warburton Ave. Yonkers. To drink, we killed 12 kegs of beer and twice the amount of beer than the distibutor said we would use and 1 barrel of birch . We had all the fixings too. We also hired a clam opener for the day, for $30. His name was Tommy Lent. Danny Mcspedon was able to borrow all the equipment from the Westchester Mechanic's Local 3 for us. On the day of the clambake there were lots of games played. Tug of War, Keg toss, cards and dice (which were supplied) were just some of them. The Ravens supplied cigars and cigarettes to everyone. If somebody got a slight chill the Ravens had their own medicine, Whiskey!! The first bake was at Ridge Road Park, Hartsdale. To reserve the park somebody stood on line at the County Court House on January 2 at 6:00 a.m. We always wanted the last weekend in June to have the longest day of the year. The bake increased our membership so we moved the meetings to the Valhalla American Legion. Of course there was a bar there so the meetings still continued to be a source of much humor and very little order. Someone suggested that the Sgt. at Arms (Baer) should crack down and bring the meeting to order. The reply was, "If these meetings get orderly I'm quitting"! Alcohol and status quo prevailed. Fishing trips, canoe trips, an annual Christmas party and of course the Clamebake became staples of activity. Fun for all!!! And all for Fun!!!
TThis is the closest story that I can remember of the original Ravens. If anyone wants to add to it, please do!!
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