Handball has a long history at the Amsterdam Family YMCA. Since 2002, the YMCA has been on Pawling Street in Hagaman. However, handball players started regular games at the former YMCA on Division Street in Amsterdam in the 1950s.
Some of the early players were Marshall Leach, known as Mr. Handball, and dentist Harry Berkman, teacher John Naples, German Perfetti and bus driver Bill Stanley. Another player was YMCA athletic director, Bill Jennings.
The local competitors play single wall handball and they play doubles. Years ago, over 30 men regularly participated in Amsterdam and there were tournaments against a group from Gloversville’s YMCA, including glove mill owner Frank Vertucci.
Paul Lazarou of Amsterdam, a retired toolmaker, has played handball at the YMCA for 45 years. Lazarou always loved sports and said he went from playing softball to handball.
The group needs four men to play and occasionally has trouble getting enough participants for their regular Tuesday and Friday sessions that start at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s very competitive,” Lazarou said, adding that handball requires eye and hand coordination and there is a lot of running. At his age, 85, Lazarou said he relies on finesse more than power.
A powerful player in the group years ago is today a powerful person in local politics—Amsterdam town supervisor Thomas DiMezza, a detective lieutenant in the city police department. DiMezza gave up the sport when he went on the night shift and when he became more involved in government. He was known for his ability to serve the ball both to the left and right.
Today there are six regulars—Lazarou, Sam Boschelli, Joe Ippolito, Bruce Raila, Carm Sinicropi and John Sollecito. Sometimes, Don Mackey comes from Gloversville.
Sollecito, retired from Knolls Atomic Power Lab, said he too always loved sports. When he joined the YMCA as a teen in the late 1950s, he wanted to play basketball though and saw handball as a sport for older men.
The Amsterdam YMCA handball players used to have regular banquets and club dues. Today the men get together more informally at Christmas for dinner at Bosco’s, an Italian restaurant on Division Street. Sollecito said some of the retired players also attend. Lazarou said members share the cost of buying handballs and over the years have donated to the YMCA.
In case you’re wondering, the Amsterdam YMCA did pre-date the handball players. A Young Men’s Christian Association formed in Amsterdam in 1858 and the former Division Street building was dedicated in 1914.