Press-Radio Club celebrating 75 years of sports stars, charitable giving

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The Rochester Press-Radio Club was founded in 1949 with no particular function in mind, other than to connect local sportswriters and sportscasters for occasional lunches and libations. But it didn’t take long for the club to find a purpose that went well beyond socializing. A purpose rooted in gratitude. A purpose that remains its guiding light 75 years later.

Charlie Wagner, a local sportswriter and one of the group’s founders, was so thrilled about his daughter Christine’s miraculous recovery from polio in the late 1940s that he wanted to do something to help other children and parents dealing with similar challenges. When he mentioned his desire to his boss, Times-Union sports editor Matt Jackson suggested the Press-Radio Club stage a sports-themed, charitable, fundraising dinner. Wagner and his fellow club members thought it was a splendid idea, and on Jan. 23, 1950 more than 600 people packed the old Hotel Seneca to honor the players selected in a fan vote to the Rochester Red Wings all-time team and listen to headliner Johnny Lujack, a former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback from Notre Dame.

Several thousand dollars were raised and donated to the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which had paid the hospital bills for Christine Wagner and thousands of other polio patients throughout the United States.

A tradition was born. A tradition that will continue next Tuesday, October 22, at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Henrietta.

“I refer to the Press-Radio Club dinners as Charlie and Christine’s legacy,’’ late master of ceremonies Jerry Flynn told me before the banquet’s 50^th anniversary. “Without them, these dinners never would have happened.”

The following year, the banquet gained even greater prestige when the club joined forces with the Rochester-based Hickok Manufacturing Co., and a national panel of 300 sportswriters and sportscasters to present a professional athlete-of-the-year award. The $10,000, diamond-studded, gold-buckle Hickok Belt Award quickly became the most coveted individual honor in sports. And for nearly a quarter-of-a-century the Press-Radio Club banquet was “the Academy Award of sports,” with the likes of Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Arnold Palmer, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Bill Russell, Lee Trevino, Jack Dempsey, and Yogi Berra coming to town.

Although the Hickok Belt presentations in Rochester were discontinued after 1972, the dinner carried on in Rochester, adding Muhammad Ali, Cal Ripken Jr., Walter Payton, Joe Montana, Gordie Howe, Patrick Mahomes, Mariano Rivera, and Peyton and Eli Manning to its “Who’s Who of sports” roster. And that headliner lineage, which includes Buffalo Bills legends Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, Marv Levy, Steve Tasker, and Andre Reed, continues this year with current Bills offensive tackle and humanitarian Dion Dawkins receiving the West Herr Automotive Sports Personality of the Year Award.

“Those are some huge names you’ve had there,’’ said Dawkins, a three-time Pro Bowl selection and a two-time Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee. “It’s an honor to be in their company.”

Dawkins, whose Dion’s Dreamers Foundation provides clothes, food and mentorship to vulnerable children and their families, is an ideal fit for a club that has donated nearly $2 million to Rochester-area charities the past three-quarters of a century. Over time, the all-volunteer organization expanded its ranks beyond the local media. Its current membership of more than 150 includes people from a variety of professions and walks of life.

For sake of full disclosure, I’ve been a club volunteer for more than three decades, and have attended every dinner since 1985. I was happy to see the banquet revived this year for its diamond anniversary after a five-year hiatus, and am looking forward to conducting an on-stage Q-and-A with Dawkins, similar to ones I did with Rivera, Mahomes, Jim Thome, Eli Manning and other sports personalities of the year.

The banquet has produced its share of memorable moments. I’ll never forget how the 50^th anniversary banquet in 1999 was about to be ruined when New York Yankees pitcher David Wells pulled out as the headliner at the last minute. Fortunately, Howard Bingham, a long-time friend and personal photographer of Ali, called the former heavyweight boxing champion, and the world-famous celebrity made a surprise pinch-hit appearance, prompting chants of “Ali! Ali! Ali!” from the audience of 1,300 the moment he appeared on stage. The big-hearted Ali didn’t charge an appearance fee, and a pair of his signed boxing gloves fetched a whopping $12,000.

I also fondly remember all the times Flynn had us rolling in the aisles. Cancer may have robbed him of his vocal cords, but it couldn’t take away his comedic timing or his robust spirit. Using a vibrating device to speak, Flynn continued to delight us with his humorous monologues year after year after year.

The most poignant moment for me came when I presented the Major Donald Holleder Award to former McQuaid baseball coach Mike Fennell at the 2002 dinner. Although his once strapping body was ravaged by cancer and his days numbered, Fennell delivered a speech sprinkled with humor and pathos that sparked a standing ovation and plenty of tears.

One of my favorite Q-and-A’s was with Rivera, who recounted riveting stories about using sticks as bats and crumpled milk cartons as baseballs during his humble beginnings in Panama. At one point, I complimented the Yankees Hall-of-Fame relief pitcher about his ability to maintain his steely resolve on the mound, regardless how pressure-packed the situation. He smiled and thanked me, then pointed to his bald head.

“I had an Afro when I started my career,’’ he deadpanned. “This is what the pressure of closing did to me.” The crowd roared with laughter.

There have been many riveting dinner speakers through the years, as well as some who gave new meaning to the term “long-winded.” One local honoree, who shall remain nameless, droned on and on and on. After about 12 minutes, dinner officials began panicking because several more awards needed to be presented before the headliner spoke. The emcee finally was able to coax the person off the stage, even though the speaker was nowhere near being finished. Several days later, a dinner official told the local honoree he was sorry about nudging him away from the podium before he was done, but they had no choice because each award winner was supposed to limit his or her remarks to four-to-five minutes. “Oh, I’m so sorry,’’ the man responded, embarrassingly. “When I asked the organizers how long they wanted me to speak, I thought they said 45 minutes.”

At each dinner, before Christine Wagner Welch’s death at age 86 in 2022, the Press-Radio Club took a moment to acknowledge the wonderful woman whose courageous battle against polio inspired her father and his peers to start this dinner way back when. I’ve written about how 11-year-old Christine was initially told by doctors that she might never walk again. She recounted for me the 18 months she spent in Rochester hospitals and convalescent homes, and how her treatments often were tortuous. Therapy sessions included everything from stretching atrophied muscles until they felt like they were going to snap to placing boiling-hot towels on her uncooperative legs. There were times the pain was so excruciating she would scream.

Somehow, through it all, Christine kept the faith. She envisioned a future without crutches, leg braces and supportive corsets. Miraculously, she wound up walking again, and lived an extraordinary life that saw her get married and raise four wonderful children. During the VIP reception before each dinner, I made it a point to introduce the headliner to Christine because I wanted them to know we wouldn’t be feting them if it weren’t for her and her late father. Those introductions always evoked smiles. They provided perspective and context, and reminded everyone what this club and this gem of a dinner was all about.

Best-selling author and nationally honored journalist Scott Pitoniak is the Rochester Business Journal sports columnist.