Tag Archives: Summer

Wow! Its great to read…

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Wow! Its great to read about how other’s have played Skelly. I remember spending many summers playing it (as well as kick the can, catch and kill, ringolerio, tops, ….). My block (In Brooklyn, Gratten St, not far from Knickerbocker Ave) had great glass bottle top players. Its kind of sad that with all the high tech games, todays kids won’t have that kind of physical experience. Yeah, I exaggerate. But, maybe not, I wouldn’t let my kids play in the street; not with todays vehicular pace. While dialing a cell phone you could go over many skelly boxes!

Brian and I used to be annoyed…

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Brian and I used to be annoyed with each other. But over the summer we became great friends. But on Halloween that all changed. Lets just say we fell in teen love. That night I gave him a simple peck on the lips.(but that wase’nt even count, the type of kiss you give your mom, dad, or grandmother) but we started going out. I was in 8th grade at the time. He invited me to his house. No one else was there, just the 2 of us. We got caught up in a conversation about are band concert coming up. But after about 3 min. of talk are eyes met. We both quite talking in unison we leaned forward. We kept are eyes open intell are lips toeched. I was in heaven and put my heart into kissing him. When we pulled away he stared in my eyes and runned his hands through my hair. We are still going out and were in 9th grade. The first real kiss was not perfect in since of teniqe but in since of love and shock. We still laughe about it, I will never forget it.

I lived on Stuart St. between…

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I lived on Stuart St. between R & Fillmore and we hung out mostly on the block until we got older and started hanging out in the park near 278 and the handball courts. Played stickball in the spring/summer, touch football in the fall/winter, handball & basketball in the park, weather permitting. Stuart Street boys, at various ages & times, were Danny & Carly Carlucci, Roddy Walsh, Ray Lyons, Chris Dengel, Gene Balise, Robert Russell, Robert “Hoya” Georgia, Jeff & Artie Pearson, John Kennedy, Paul Dutton, Dennis Westbay, Dominic Spatola, Gumpy?, Tom “The Bomb” Carnesee(sp?), Peter Crocilla(sp?), Dominic Montabano, Joey Musso, Palumbo twins, Bobby Hazel, Kevin “MAGOO” McGrath, Kevin Barton, Charly Hurda, John “Johnny Mac” McNicholas Girls: Christine Belici, Dolores Ontario, Pat McGrath, Joanny Hassler, Barbara Dunn, Beth Walker, Kathy Guerin, Georgia girls, Rosalia.

This summer, after locating…

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This summer, after locating your website, I painted 3 skelly boards on some blacktop at a sleepaway camp called Camp Mesorah. I grew up in city hpousing project in Queens (Pomonok)and the last time played the game was 45 years ago. I used the Bronx rules because the 2,4,6,8 trapezoid made the game rules more exciting. The game took off. Kids were playing it at every free moment they had. Pipsie became a respected and revered word in camper vocabulary. We used metal snapple caps for skelly caps, filling them with crayons that we melted with magnifying glasses. The designs and colors in them were elaborate. Campers and counselors formed teams together(as age doesn’t matter but skill does) and a 32 team tournament with trophies culminated the season. This summer, more black top is being added and the number of courts will increase to 12. Lighting is also being added for night games. More tournatments are planned and the game with intercamp challanges. The game has already spread to 5 Towns area of LI where I was hired to paint 3 courts in driveways and backyards. hank you for helping me relive my childhood. This is the game that taught me addition, subtraction and strategy. Maybe one day we will see a skelly court on every basketball court!

Okay, here are the recollections…

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Okay, here are the recollections of a guy from Bedford Stuyvesant in the fifties and sixties. I guess like most of the other Brooklyn Neighborhoods our activities were seasonal. We had a season from roller skating, marbles, spinning tops, etc., but from late spring through the summer Skelly reigned. Never new the game

In 1953, after a summer…

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In 1953, after a summer with relatives in Logan, Philadelphia, I introduced stickball to Williamsport, PA. (Home of Liitle League) My hometown friends took to the game eagerly, but adapted it for local conditions. This meant straight pitching, solid rubber ball and grassy backyards. Attemtping to put them right with the Gospel, I would be taunted “Philadelphia rules.” It was still a gas. By the way, my true moment of glory as an eight year old contestant near Wingahocking St was a towering drive that went all the way from 13th Street to Camac. Once and never again, alas.

We played this game constantly…

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We played this game constantly on summer days in Jersey City during the early 70’s. We called it “Bottlecaps” and what you call the skull was called “poison”. We also carved a board into the street using a screwdriver! I plan on teaching my boys this summer (we’ll stick to chalk since I don’t think the town DPW would appreciate the screwdriver method). Great web site!

Born & raised in the…

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Born & raised in the Bronx and current resident. I was born at St. Francis Hospital on St. Ann’s Avenue. I grew up near Tremont Ave & Southern Blvd area as a child. My teen years were spent on Grand Avenue off Fordham Road. My high school years and current residence is White Plains & E 233rd Street. We played alot of stickball when I grew up on Fordham Road. We’d play in the summer time on the street if we weren’t at a the Stadium sitting in the bleachers. In high school, my love for the game lessened as I found out I could croon a little bit. I met my first (late) wife singing ‘My Girl’ on the first day of school my soph year at Bronx Science (class of ’81). 15 years later after high school I wind up singing with Earl Lewis & The Channels Joe Rivera

This might have been a just…

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This might have been a just a New Jersey game. We used to play “Kick the Can” on a quiet suburban street. The neighborhood was full of kids in 1969 to about 1974. Anyway the game was played by putting a can on the manhole cover in the street, and the kid who won the previos game would kick the can as far as they could. Everyone would scatter to go run and hide while the kid who was “it” would chase the can and bring it back to home base. When the can touched home base, they yelled “freeze”. Now they had to spot all of the kids hiding, (or trying to hide). The “can” kid would say “tap tap tap on Egg Head behind the Fusco’s bush” (or some other nick name and hiding place) Egg Head (real name Bruce who got a really bad hair cut that summer) would go to “jail” and sit on the curb near home base. The can kid would have to venture away from the can furhter and further in order to find more kids hiding. If he got too far, someone can come out of hiding and “Kick the Can” off home base, which frees all those in jail, and the game starts all over. The only way to win is get everyone in jail. That’s it. Has anyone played this one?