• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

YMCA Celebrates 150th Anniversary; Building Character, Community

Posted on: Tuesday, 10 May 2005, 00:00 CDT

Before sitting down to talk about the York YMCA's 150th anniversary, Jim Quickel slid his arms into an old sweater while walking past his dining room table decorated with cards commemorating his 90th birthday.

"It's a nice, warm sweater, golly," Quickel said. "I don't wear it all the time, though."

Two palm-sized patches are sewn below the side pockets. One is for Sigma Lambda Chi; the other for a group called the senior leaders corps. The thick, midnight-blue knit sweater fits Quickel perfectly, as if it has wrapped itself around his body for decades.

The YMCA gave him the sweater in 1938, when he became a member of the senior leaders corps. Before World War II, the senior leader corps ran twice-weekly gym classes. He joined the Y in 1932 after graduating from William Penn Senior High School after a friend suggested it as a place to cure the summertime blues.

"There was a connection there. In the Depression, we didn't even have 10 kids that could

afford to go to college in my class of 145," he said. "It wasn't a matter of dollars at the time; it was a matter of cents."

He remembers the Y as a social hub: hanging out with his fraternity brothers, listening to a volunteer orchestra during monthly board meetings and eating in the makeshift banquet hall in the gym and attending Saturday night concerts.

He remembers the Y as an educational facility: learning management skills from the York Foreman's Club on weeknights, and flipping through magazines and newspapers in the reading room.

He remembers the many calories he burned at the Y: lifting weights, shooting hoops, playing handball without gloves and rolling strikes at the Y's bowling alley.

He remembers what he paid for membership in 1932: $1 a month, which he paid for by delivering newspapers.

"You learn to live, work and play with each other," Quickel said. "What's more important than that?"

He didn't need to wear his vintage sweater to recall those memories. Perhaps he wore it because words weren't enough to describe how and why his loyalty to the York Y is so deep.

"In a sense, it's like you join a church and keep that earnest sense of commitment you would never give up if you were forced to," he said. "That's why I'm still involved with it, especially for this 150th anniversary."

On June 4, 1844, the first YMCA was started in London, where George Williams and 11 others discussed strategies to evangelize to the many young men seeking employment and recreation. Eleven years later, the York YMCA was founded at 122 W. Market St. for the same purpose.

Evolving doors

Larry Richardson, president and CEO of the York YMCA, said there are a handful of members such as Quickel at every YMCA in the country. He credits this to several aspects of the Y that other fitness facilities don't have as much of: more circles of friends, community-active board members and a strong outreach program.

The combination of those makes the Y a charity and fitness center for its members, he said.

"It's not something that was developed by a marketing team," Richardson said. "We are a grassroots-based community organization. It's true in every sense of the word."

Before Quickel joined, the Y was mainly viewed as a vehicle for prayer, Sunday school, night school and guest speakers. An elevated emphasis on physical fitness began in 1891, when James Naismith invented the game of basketball at the YMCA of Springfield College in Springfield, Mass. The sport was designed to keep YMCA members active in the winter, but it revolutionized how YMCAs were designed, both in a physical and administrative sense.

"At the time, there was no such thing as an indoor pool," Richardson said. "Wellness and health started to become bigger and bigger."

Other indoor and outdoor sports evolved from trends. New strength- training and fitness equipment were set up in the gym. Baseball leagues developed as professional baseball defined itself as America's pastime. Volleyball became a popular sport for groups of downtown workers on their lunch breaks; Quickel said they were called the "noon timers."

Meanwhile, on the outside of the building, York's makeup was changing accordingly with the Civil War, Industrial Revolution, World War I, Great Depression, World War II, the civil rights movement and the women's liberation movement.

Throughout all the internal and external change, the Y held true to its mission statement and remained in the heart of York.

"There was never a time where we thought about leaving downtown," Richardson said.

Branching out

But that's not to say the Y is a static operation. For the past 150 years, a new Capital Campaign has been drawn up every eight to 10 years to address the changes the Y would make to sustain itself through trends in fitness, child care and community service.

The 2005 Capital Campaign seeks to raise money to install a new aquatics center at Farquhar Park, where the Y has been managing the outdoor pool for three years.

Lauren Moore, development director of the York YMCA, said the new aquatics center will host competitions and events for thousands of swimmers and be a resource for county schools that do not have swimming pools.

"Plus, we're saving a city asset because (the park pool) is in disrepair," Moore said. "When it closed after Labor Day, the pool was empty within two days. There was a leak somewhere."

In addition, the campaign wants to raise money to help finance the York City Little League Baseball program, build a 9,600-square- foot facility at the Eastern York County YMCA in Springettsbury Township, replace the roof of the Bob Hoffman YMCA in Dover Township and fix many parts of the almost 80-year-old York Branch YMCA on Newberry Street in York.

The ambitious campaign will cost the Y an estimated $10,200,000. The Y expects to receive about $4 million from the commonwealth, making $6,200,000 the fund-raising goal through February 2006.

"There's so much community support for this project it's unbelievable," Moore said. "The pool will have a good economic impact on the city, and the venue itself is a really neat project."

The campaign officially kicks off on May 18 at the Y's annual business meeting at the Valencia Ballroom in York. The meeting is also the official 150th anniversary gala.

The William Penn Senior High School Junior ROTC Color Guard will open and close the event with a presentation of the colors. The York Honors Choir will perform and help the York Y's local version of the Village People perform the disco hit, "Y.M.C.A."

Al Ernst, a professional comedian who grew up in a North Carolina YMCA, will spout off a few inside jokes about life and culture at the Y. And Nathan Toone, a York native and freshman at Brigham Young University, will sing the national anthem. Two weeks later, he will leave on a two-year mission in Russia.

Richardson said the reception is where the Y's past, present and future will align in front of its longtime members and contributors.

"Part of it is celebrating the 150 years, launching those ambition goals, remembering the resources we've had and taking a look into our future," Richardson said. "Looking at the longevity of the organization, many things have been accomplished slowly in the last 150 years."

Reach Mike Caggeso at 771-2051 or mcaggeso@ydr.com.

PIC: DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS PAUL KUEHNEL

Jim Quickel, 90, wears the sweater the York YMCA gave him in 1938 when he became a member of the York YMCA's senior leaders corps. The patches on the front are for the senior leaders corps and Sigma Lambda Chi. When he joined the Y in 1932, his membership was $1 a month.

PIC: SUBMITTED

The senior leaders corps was a group of men that ran gym classes at the Y twice a week. This picture of Quickel is part of a group shot taken in 1942.

PIC: DAILY RECORD / SUNDAY NEWS PAUL KUEHNEL

Dan Meckley, 82, looks at photos of Camp Minqua hanging on the York YMCA's walls. In the 1940s, he helped build the swimming structure he is touching with his finger. TOP LEFT: Camp Minqua, sponsored by the YMCA, is pictured in this 1920 photo. TOP CENTER: Jim Quickel in March 1942, in a group shot of leaders at the YMCA. TOP RIGHT: Dan Meckley in a 1940 Camp Minqua staff group photo.

PIC: SUBMITTED

Members of the YMCA work on their balance in this 1950 photo.

Source: York Daily Record

More News in this Category