A story of friendship
From The History of the Ball Hogs By Linda Price
It was the early 1970’s. We were young and idealistic, and we were going to change the world. We believed in peace, love, and consuming as much beer as possible. Only a few of us were married at the time – others were in serious or semi-serious relationships, and still others unattached and playing the field.
“Make Love – Not War” was the cry of our generation as the United States insisted on involving itself in the Viet Nam conflict, though some of our male friends did serve either voluntarily or involuntarily in one or another branch of the armed forces. Others chose instead to work in some kind of court assigned community service capacity rather than compromise their beliefs. Sadly, one of those who served was never able to exorcise his demons and suffered from PTSD and debilitating health issues most of his later life until he passed away in 2014.
Whereas back in the 70’s and 80’s we all had the slender, taut bodies of a typical young person, today most of the first generation suffers from the usual signs of aging – arthritis, wider hips, bigger bellies, gray to white hair, bigger butts, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes – you name it, one of us probably has it. Al Koren’s “perfect navel” disappeared years ago. Some of us have had knee or other joint replacements, and still others suffer from some far more serious afflictions. Several have even passed away already from various diseases and health issues. We still remember them with much love and affection.
We are scattered far and wide – western Pennsylvania, Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Vermont, Michigan, New Mexico, California, Florida, Georgia – even The Netherlands.
The story of the Dutchies and their involvement began in 1972 or so when Curt Hunter was drinking in a bar in London. Huub Reijnen and John Van der Woow were sitting at the bar next to him, and they started talking, becoming fast friends. Huub and John invited Curt to come visit them in Tilburg, The Netherlands, and Curt did just that. He had such a good time that he invited all his new Dutch friends to come visit him in America. The next year, Huub and his friend, Thijs VanErve came to the US. This is when the Ball Hogs were officially introduced to our friends from across the Atlantic. In 1975, Thijs returned with his then girlfriend Anneke Stokkermans for a long visit over the summer months. The year 1976 brought about the summer of the seven Dutchies when Thijs and Anneke returned with Huub and his girlfriend Lucy Van der Warden, Jan Panis, Kees Reijnen (Huub’s brother), and Thea Stokkermans (Anneke’s sister). In 1979, Thijs and Anneke spent the entire summer in the US joined by Alex Timmermans, Lex du Bont and his girlfriend Carina. What a great group of people we met through those years. They spoke very good English – just not “Merican”, as Anneke would always remind us when in a big gathering while she tried to process all the conversations taking place around her. Also, one of our families more or less “adopted” a student from Iraq for a time – a situation that began as an exchange program and lasted a bit longer when the student enrolled in college here in the United States, and he attended our 40thyear reunion.
Some of us never married. Of those who did, most are parents, and even grandparents – some with several grandchildren. Bob and Karen Davidheiser actually have seven grandchildren. We can boast about a very strong second and even third generation of pretty good kids. There have been divorces and remarriages, but there are also some long-lasting marriages – one even over 40 years and several past the 30 year mark.
Among our first generation, our numbers include a doctor, nurses, an associate college professor, a college librarian, teachers (some already retired), a former warehouse manager for a well-known utility company (now semi-retired) who recently began a new part-time career helping to care for physically and mentally challenged adults at a county-funded training facility because he was bored, a president/CEO of a small trucking company (his own business), engineers, a professional photographer, owners of their own businesses, an office manager for a hospital doctor’s office, a bank vice-president, administrative assistants, and owners of a long-standing local public golf course. If I’ve missed some, I apologize, but as you can see, we cover very diverse areas of employment. Several have already retired, some are on disability – mostly because of health issues. One of us has even just begun pursuing a college education, and another fairly long-married couple just purchased their first home. Although it seems that we are still growing (and there’s nothing wrong with that), amazingly, we’ve turned out pretty good.
Today some of us love to travel, work in the garden, read, write, bird watch, fish, make music, take pictures, work for the greater good of the world by remaining active in charity work, volunteer our time and talents, visit with friends and family on Facebook, help organize fundraisers, and just generally enjoy life. Quite a few of us have given up drinking alcohol, many of us are into eating better and more healthy foods – more fresh than canned and/or frozen – and visiting gyms and spas to exercise. Some are into yoga and one is still doing aerobics after 30 odd years. We walk, ride bikes, and just generally try to take better care of ourselves.
How did we get our start? It was a very lazy, boring Saturday afternoon in 1971, and several people had gathered at the home of Linda and Bill Price to just “hang out”. Among the people there that day were Billy D and Sharon Iaeger, Bill Monroe and Becky Leuchak, Al Koren, Bob Davidheiser, Ed Musser, and several other people. Billy suggested that we go out in our backyard – a very, very small backyard with not much space at all – and play some volleyball. Why not – no one could come up with anything else to do. I’m not even sure where we found a net and a ball, but somehow these items were available, so we started to play around with just hitting the ball back and forth over the net – nothing serious, just volleying back and forth. Before long, we were starting to get a little more serious, and the volleys became more intense. Later Billy Walsh and Sheila Hoffman joined us in the backyard games. We started to make up rules about boundaries – if it hit the gazebo roof, it was out of bounds, anything over Becky Leuchak’s head if she was in the back row was out of bounds, etc. If the ball went out of the yard and rolled down the hill, the person that hit it had to chase it – that is if they felt like it. Otherwise, we just abandoned the games for that day. Some of the rules made no sense at all, but it was a beginning. We played just about every Saturday after that for the rest of the summer – just this small group of people with a desire to “get in shape”.
The real evolution began in 1972 when we decided that the backyard at 1210 Manatawny Street was just too small in which to play any serious volleyball. Since Bill’s Dad wasn’t gardening anymore, we asked if we could use his precious former garden area as a volleyball court, and he was more than willing to allow us that use. One week as we gathered for our Saturday game, some new faces appeared just as we were about to get underway. Turns out that Billy D had invited some other friends to join us to help bolster the numbers for teams, and the new arrivals quickly fit right into the mix. From there, it just grew and grew as the word got out and more and more people invited more and more friends. A very diverse group of volleyball players began to gather every Saturday. Everyone got along, and new friendships were developed – some of which have now lasted for over 40 years, and some of which have reconnected in the recent years of our Ball Hog reunions.
One week when it came time to put down the lines, we found that we had run out of lime. Bill went down to his Mom’s and came back with two bags of flour, and the lines were laid for the day’s games. Thus was born a tradition – flour lines – much safer for those playing should they get some on their hands and much more environmentally friendly.
In those early years, our Saturday games were followed by gathering at Linda and Bill Price’s and ordering Sicilian Special pizzas from Little Italy. A Sicilian Special was a very large, square, thick pizza covered with cheese, sauce, pepperoni, sausage, onions, peppers, mushrooms – you name it, it was on it – except anchovies – NO ANCHOVIES. Al Koren and Ed Musser were the champions when it came to seeing who could consume more slices of the gigantic pizza – each one betting the other that they could actually eat one entire pizza. Amazingly, both did. Later, some of those post-game suppers would be buying dozens of ears of corn, making a fire in a pit in the yard, and cooking the corn in the pit. That was it – just good, homegrown, fresh corn on the cob.
The beer of choice in those early days was – anything in a can that was on sale. Again, we were young, and none of us was making much money. So, if it was on sale, it was on ice in the tub. Beer money collections were a tedious chore, and we were lucky if we collected $20.00 to cover the cost of the beer – as you can tell, a case of beer in those days cost just a few dollars. One of the biggest jokes for years was the day they found a very cheap beer – Polskie Piwo – and bought a case. I am told it was the most awful beer anyone had ever tasted, but it was, again CHEAP. For years after that, Al Koren’s “beer of choice” was Polskie Piwo. Even today, it still comes up in conversation when we discuss the choice of beer for our new annual reunions. Research on the computer in 2016 shows that this beer is still in production, and there is a push to find a case for our 45threunion coming up in 2017 – more on that later. Sadly, in those days, we were not very environmentally conscious, so the cans were dumped into a pit in the back corner of the field where the volleyball court was located. I’m sure they are still there in some condition to this day.
The guys used that same corner as a latrine, but the ladies always went down to Bill’s Mom’s when they had to use the facilities. Unfortunately, no one told Bonnie Kerr that she could do this, so she went back into the latrine area and ended up with a very bad case of poison ivy on her derriere and other nether regions. We still talk about that to this day.
We eventually became so organized, that we even had official T-shirts designed for us. The first were done by Ted & Laurie Dames and had a hog lying on his back with a volleyball on top of him. The next one, supplied by Laurie from a silkscreen her Dad, Paul McVickar, made for us had the logo on it that was originally designed by Miles Wells, a co-worker of Bob Davidheiser’s from Sanders & Thomas, for a patch that we also had printed for us. Also provided by Billy & Sharon Davidheiser for some of the original Ball Hogs were T-shirts from Little Italy, our favorite after-game pizza provider.
At the side of the court, Bill Price built us a set of bleachers for seating for those who weren’t playing at any given time so we could sit and chat or watch others playing. It was about 3-4 rows, and it got much use through the years. It was still sitting there years after our weekly games had ceased due to the activities of our piglets that prohibited us from meeting on that weekly or even monthly basis.
Some of us were far more serious about the outcome of each game than others. Billy Walsh, Jamie McVickar, and Earl Olinger were particularly competitive and played each game as if they were on the Olympic Volleyball Team. But for the most part, the games were played on very friendly terms. Sure, you WANTED to win, but if you didn’t, OH WELL. It was just the opportunity to get together and do something other than stagnate, get some fresh air and exercise, and share moments that would last a lifetime.
In the earlier years, there were even times during the winter when many of the group would meet at the Pottstown Central Junior High School, which had been the old Pottstown High School, to play volleyball indoors in their gym that was open to the public. We would play against a group from Pottstown and won every time – probably because two of those players were Billy Walsh and Earl Olinger – our more serious participants as previously mentioned. It was good competition and helped keep us sharp.
We are proud to say that in our early days, we took a stand for and against situations for which we had strong feelings.
On August 18, 1979, we held a marathon to benefit the American Cancer Society. This event was spurred by the cancer death of Bill Price’s Dad in 1975. We wanted to make a difference, and because his Dad had been gracious enough to give us his blessing to use his precious garden space on which to play our games, we decided on this cause for our marathon. All were asked to collect pledges per games played by the individual player, and we would play volleyballfrom 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. We had a tremendous turnout of players. Some camped overnight at our “home court” behind what is now 1260 Manatawny St., Pottstown, PA, so they would be up at the crack of dawn and not be late for the start. Just one problem – it rained. It rained off and on throughout the entire day, but we played on anyway. It wasn’t a driving rain, just enough to make the volleyball court nice and wet. Competition was spirited, and several of us made it a goal to participate in every game played in the twelve-hour span – in particular Billy Walsh & Jamie McVickar. Each was determined to be the ONLY one that finished the day playing in EVERY game. At one point, I believe it might have been Jamie that took advantage of the fact that Billy was temporarily indisposed and got another game started, which meant at the end of the day, Billy was one game short of Jamie. Ah our younger days. The more it rained, the muddier it got, until we were playing in a huge mud puddle. It didn’t matter. We were having a great time. Someone came up with the idea to collect money among the group and donate it to the final tally if Al would take a running start and slide on his stomach through the giant mud puddle – I believe it was Curt Hunter. He collected $2.00, and Al did his thing. The pictures tell the story. Then Curt came up with the idea that we should take up another collection and add it to the final tally if Anneke, dressed in her pristine, clean white jacket, would Kiss Al and let him hug her after he slid through the mud. Curt collected another $3.00, and in keeping with the spirit of the day, Anneke “paid her dues”. The group raised over $1,700.00 (check exact total) to donate to the American Cancer Society. We were pretty proud of this accomplishment. We even submitted a news item to the Pottstown Mercury, the local newspaper, and it was printed – still have a yellowing copy of the article directly from the paper.
Another cause for which we played a marathon was to raise money for the Keystone Alliance, a group that was formed to try and prevent the building of a nuclear power plant in Limerick, PA – an area only about 45 miles from Philadelphia and very close to the homes of the people involved. This event was organized by Laurie McVickar Dames and was held at the McVickar home on Black Horse Road in Chester Springs on
July 11, 1981. Again the pledges collected were on a games-played basis. The turnout was great. The Ball Hogs met a whole new group of people who were totally dedicated to keeping the power plant out of our area. The weather that day was beautiful, and with the swimming pool to keep us comfortable between games, it was a pretty good day. I don’t have a total of what was raised that day, and the nuclear power plant was built anyway, but it was moving to see the passion these people had for their cause. Following on the heels of this fundraising event, several of our Ball Hogs participated in a demonstration at the site to protest the plan to build this power plant. Some of the children who participated with their parents were even photographed by a Pottstown Mercury photographer and were featured in the article the next day. Austin Davidheiser held a sign that said “Build Me a Windmill”, while Katie Davidheiser (so young she was in a backpack carrier) had a sign that said “I Want to Have Babies Too”.
On two occasions, November 12, 1977, and June 10, 1978, we even met at the Twin Ponds grove and pavilion and played challenge matches against members of the Twin Ponds golfers scat team, who would talk smack about how they were SO good, they could beat us with one hand tied behind their backs. Of course, the Ball Hogs were always victorious, but we had a great time mixing and mingling with “older” people and discussing the problems of the world. On those occasions, we would usually pitch tents (except the one in November – very, very chilly day) and sleep out at the grove. Other memorable events held at the grove included The Grove Groove and the Tree Frog Grog beer celebration. Both included beer and volleyball – NOT a Ball Hog event without both!
Another mini Ball Hog event occurred the weekend of (insert date here), when ten of us piled into Billy Davidheiser’s van and drove to Vermont to visit Dave Tansey, aka Kansas City Dave, who lived in a cabin on the top of Jerusalem Hill in Rutland, Vermont, that had no electricity or indoor plumbing. During this time in the 1970’s, there was a “gas shortage”, and if you wanted gas for your car, you could count on sitting in line for a long time to fill up, then hoping that the pump still had gas when you got there. Billy filled two gas cans to make the trip (I can still smell the gas when I think of this trip), and off we went – Bill and Linda Price, Billy, Sharon Iaeger, Bob Davidheiser, Al Koren, Bill Monroe, Billy Walsh, and Charlie Rotenberger and his lady friend (fill in name). Dave had decided to host The Great French Toast Festival (we were the only guests), and I believe there was also a table hockey challenge between Dave and Billy Walsh. We spent the weekend playing crab soccer (no volleyball this time – no room to carry a net in the van), drinking beer and cheering for our favorite in the table hockey tournament. The culmination of the weekend was the crowning of Miss French Toast – Sharon Iaeger – after it was determined that she had made the best French toast. It was an interesting weekend to say the least, and one that is remembered fondly by all who participated.
No Ball Hog gathering of ANY kind was held without a net and a volleyball. Parties, outdoor weddings/receptions, picnics – every gathering was fair game. Some who even got married in a church but had outdoor receptions still had volleyball as a prominent point of entertainment. An indoor winter party – no problem. Just string up a net in a doorway and play on your knees. This feat was accomplished in the apartment of Ted & Laurie Dames. We even set up a net at the Twin Ponds grove when we held a Celebration of Life gathering for Billy Davidheiser when he passed away in 2008. It’s something that would have made him smile.
Another venue for our games was the Reinbold’s beach house in Dewey Beach, Delaware. Ray’s parents, Doc & Elaine had this house, and all were welcome. So, every few weekends or so we would pack up after work on Friday and drive to Dewey Beach. Early Saturday, we would trek to the beach with a cooler of beer and a volleyball and net and spend the day playing beach volleyball. The nights were spent either on the boardwalk at Rehoboth Beach or just sitting around while Cindy drank wine, Laurie, Sharon, and the guys drank beer, and we would play pinochle. Once in a while Doc & Elaine would even join us for the weekend. I still remember Elaine Reinbold asking me how I could put up with this bunch of crazy people, since I was one of the only Ball Hogs that did not drink – for no other reason than I just didn’t like the taste of any kind of alcoholic beverage
Many of our Ball Hogs are musicians. Not just your run-of-the-mill let’s play some music, but very accomplished guitar, bass, trombone, drum, harmonica, or keyboard players. One is even a music teacher, sharing his talents with the younger generation. There are some excellent vocalists with great voices. Anytime the Ball Hogs get together, there is music – great music of all varieties, but mostly blues and folk. Several of the Ball Hogs have even written original songs. One of our Ball Hog family, John Sharp, has made a career playing music around the world – blues guitar – and has even recorded an album that is still available on CD through Amazon. Now that’s impressive!
Many of us when we were younger would make a weekly trip to Reading, PA to The Touchdown Club to hear The John Butch Band play. Some of these guys still play together, but others have moved far enough away that it’s no longer easy to get together on a regular basis. Yet, at our Ball Hog 40thReunion event, when they gathered to play, they hadn’t missed a beat. Playing acoustic so they wouldn’t disturb the neighbors, they played like they had been playing together forever.
During the winter months while Sheila Walsh’s parents were in Florida, Billy and Sheila would open up the Twin Ponds Clubhouse, the band would come in and set up, and Ball Hogs would gather for an impromptu jam session. Anyone with a guitar or other instrument was welcome to sit in, and the sessions would go late into the night.
In the folk vein, Bill “Rags” Monroe is a master of the Irish folk songs, and one of the most requested songs in his repertoire is “Boozin”, a song on which he is generally joined by Al Koren, Kirk Kegel, and Sharon Davidheiser, and anyone else that wishes to join.
Ball Hog piglets were the luckiest kids in the world. They had more caring “parents” than they could handle. There was always someone available to look after the little ones if a mom or dad wanted to play a game, and Bill’s Mom was always happy to have the little ones down in the house with her to keep her company. Many pictures from back in the day show someone other than the parent holding or reading to or playing with one or more of the kids. They grew up knowing that they were loved and that many people cared about them. They were made to feel comfortable and that their participation was welcome in any situation. There was very little from which our kids were excluded. As a result, the children they are now raising have been made to feel the same way, and it was very cool getting to meet and know our third generation at our recent reunion. Not one of the third generation who showed an interest in participating in the volleyball games was turned away – they were encouraged and praised for their efforts.
With regard to this second generation, Earl & Teresa Olinger were the very first Ball Hogs with a child – Justin was already about 2 or 3 when they first joined the group. Then in 1975, things began in earnest. The first second generation Ball Hog born after the group had formed was Austin Davidheiser to Billy and Sharon on
September 21, 1975. He was followed by Jessica Walsh on May 8, 1976 - then things really took off. Cindy & Terry Weiler had Clint on September 30, 1978, Bob & Karen Davidheiser had Brian on October 2, 1978, and Billy and Sharon Davidheiser had Katie on October 6, 1978. All were born nine months after two of the biggest snow storms we had that previous winter fell a week apart and made travel impossible. Snow removal in those days was pretty much non-existent. Luke Walsh followed on
May 23, 1979, and from there on in no particular order came Danny Price to Linda and Bill, Jana Rapposelli to Rippy and Ruth, Corey Walters to Jean and Bruce,
Annie & Kate (wrapped in and around Austin, Jessie, Brian, Kate) to Joel and Helen Ferguson, Becky to Edie and Steve Condict, Christopher Kirkhoff to Don and Betsy, Beau to Ted and Susan Dames, Christie Olinger to Earl and Theresa, and Ivy Cappoferri to Hope and Nick. Other second generation piglets were born after the group had pretty much stopped the gatherings as many of us spread far and wide and our children became involved in their own activities. – NOTE TO ME – NEED TO CHECK ALL THESE BIRTH DATES. Laurie moved to Florida, Rags and Becky moved to Rhode Island, Bev Watson got married and moved to Florida, and so forth. These second generation Ball Hogs included, though were not limited to, Kinsey, Skylar, Becca, and Wyatt Griesemer to Laurie & Richard, Willis and Hannah Monroe to Bill & Becky, Amyra to Bev and Kemwa Perkins, and Kyle Rapposelli to Rippy & Ruth. If I have forgotten any of those earliest second generation Ball Hogs, I apologize. I don’t have my pictures in front of me as I am trying to recall back thirty or more years ago.
From time to time we branched out from our volleyball focus and engaged in other activities. One of the favorite was at the Twin Ponds golf course when the ponds would freeze in the winter, and out came the ice skates and hockey sticks. Sometimes we would even have to clean the snow off the ice before we could play, but that didn’t deter us. One of the most memorable hockey games was when Billy Davidheiser fell face first onto the ice and broke off his two top front teeth. His comment of “Oh thit, Tharon will kill me” with his two top front teeth broken in half still rings in my ears every time I remember that.
We were also all very into the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team, and gathering at the home of friends to watch the games became almost a religious experience. Several times we hired a bus and filled it with Ball Hogs to travel to the Spectrum and see a
pre-season, or if really lucky, a regular season game. It was never hard to fill a bus. At that time, not many people at all had cable, but Ted Dames worked for a monitor company in Boyertown where they did have cable, and he would invite many, many people over to his place of employment after hours, hook up several monitors to the
cable, and we would be able to watch many games that we would not have otherwise been able to see. Many years later, Jamie McVickar, Laurie’s Dames’ brother, worked as a statistician for the Flyers, and if we were lucky enough to get tickets to a game, he would be sure to invite us up to the broadcast booth, introduce us to the broadcasters after they were off the air, take us down to the ice, and even would take us down to the locker room area hallway to meet players. For a time, Laurie had season tickets for two third level, nosebleed seats, and she was more than generous with giving a pair of tickets to good friends as a Christmas gift or taking one person at a time with her to a game. We had some good times in those seats. During those years, we attended several of the Flyers Wives Fight for Lives Carnivals. Laurie and I were the two faithful, with Bev Watson taking me once because Laurie couldn’t make it. We drove in the snow, and one year we even couldn’t find our car after the fact, so a guy driving a tow truck drove us around the parking lots until we found it. That was a little scary, but an adventure nevertheless.
Another activity in which we participated was our yearly/semi-yearly Halloween parties. Some were held in outside venues such as the Angus Pub or St. Gabriel’s Hall in Stowe, and those parties were usually sponsored by the John Butch Band. Others were held in the private residence of one of our Ball Hogs – much smaller gatherings, but fun just the same. The costumes were usually quite creative – just take anything from around the house and make yourself a costume. There was never a lack of creativity when it came to those costumes, and we always looked forward to seeing what original creations would appear each year. One of the more memorable costume incidents was the year Al Koren dressed up as a woman complete with a blond wig, and someone (still don’t know who to this day) was wrapped from head to toe in bandages like a mummy complete with a rather noticeable male organ sticking out the front. This mummy proceeded to follow Al all evening, making advances, and Al played it to the hilt. We could not stop laughing. Sheila Walsh was very good at coming up with silly games to play, and one of her most unusual was passing a hot dog from person to person using just your knees. Problem – there was Claude Garber at the end of the line. Claude had been paralyzed years ago in an automobile accident and was confined to his wheelchair. As soon as the hot dog was passed to him, using his hands to close his knees, he squeezed too hard, and the hot dog just kind of blew up all over the place. It was actually pretty funny, and even Claude almost fell out of his chair laughing. Sheila also had couples on their hands and knees pushing a peanut across the floor with their nose. Ah – good times!
One yearly event that involved many of our Ball Hogs was the Scorpio Dinner. Amazingly, many of our group had birthdays that fell under the sign of Scorpio, so every year we would all get together and go out for dinner and a night of just fun and laughing. Those attending were Bill and I (the Scorpio)., Bob and Karen Davidheiser (both Scorpios), Cindy (the Scorpio) and Terry Weiler, Laurie Griesemer (the Scorpio) and Ray Reinbold, and Rippy and Ruth Rapposelli (neither a Scorpio, but they joined us for the craziness). One of our favorite places for this event was the Alpenhof German restaurant in Reading. They served very good traditional German food, sold German beer, and played the oom-pah music most associated with German beer halls. One year, Ray Reinbold, in typical Ray fashion, led a sort of conga line through the restaurant to the beat of the music. Many customers joined in, and the rest sat and clapped along to the beat, including the waitresses. What started as a fear of getting tossed from the restaurant turned into a really cool, fun thing that amused everyone and got the place jumping.
No Ball Hog project, big or small, was performed without the support and assistance of many other Ball Hogs. This included everything from cutting down a tree in the yard of Bill & Linda Price at 1210 Manatawny St. to building a house on Bishop Road for Billy & Sharon Davidheiser.
The day Bill Price wanted to cut down a tree, Terry Weiler and Ray Reinbold, Ball Hogs with “experience” in tree cutting, showed up to help. Terry, who actually worked for a landscaper, took control of supervising the process, and Ray climbed the ladder with chainsaw in hand. He started the saw and began to start cutting the limbs off the top of the tree, and smoke started to pour out of the saw. Problem – he had forgotten to release the brake from the saw, so it wasn’t actually cutting anything. Once he did, everything went smoothly from there on, and the tree finally came down safely.
The next project was building a room onto the side of the Price’s house at 1210.
Billy D, being the accomplished carpenter in the group, was first on the scene to help Bill – followed by many, many other Ball Hogs, and even Bill’s Dad and Linda’s Dad, who lent their expertise each Saturday morning until shortly after lunch to get the room at least under roof so it could be completed inside during the winter months. Also, that way, they could be free to play volleyball in the afternoon. All they asked in return was a cooler with beer and to be fed lunch. Can’t get much cheaper labor than that. That room was used by Ball Hogs for many years as a recreation room for parties, etc., until it was turned into a living room when Bill & Linda finally had their son, Danny. Behind the paneling in that room will to this day be found a score tally for the ping pong games that were played on the table Billy D made for them especially for the room. There was also a dartboard in a cabinet that Billy made, and plenty of space for dancing.
The biggest project that they tackled was building a house on Bishop Road in Chester County for Billy & Sharon Davidheiser. It was built on land that had been owned by Billy’s grandfather, Paul Mogel, and Billy designed the house himself. Again, family and Ball Hogs stepped up every weekend to lend a hand. We helped build this house from the ground up, and even as it was being built, parties were held there as well. Billy had a generator hooked up to get power for his tools, so he could also hook up lighting to hold the parties. Only problem – it was a gas generator, and it would run out of gas and just shut off unexpectedly. When it did – off went the lights. Austin was just a little toddler at the time, so every time the generator would go off, you would first hear someone yell “Who has Austin”, we would make sure he was OK, then Billy would go out and fill the generator, the lights would come on, and activities would proceed. The Dutchies even helped with the building of this house, helping to lay the block for the foundation. Billy had a string line run to help keep the block in line, and as the blocks got laid faster and faster with all the help, he walked the line to check and make sure everything was lining up correctly, He stopped and asked Thijs if he was making sure to lay everything according to the string line, and Thijs replied “What line”. Billy just shook his head, laughed his laugh, and walked to another section of the house to do what he needed to do. The house is still standing, so I guess it was all good.
As second generation Ball Hogs became more and more involved in their own activities, our weekly, and even monthly games, came fewer and farther between until we finally just stopped gathering. It was just too difficult to pick a day that would suit enough people to have a decent turn-out for playing any meaningful volleyball.