Are You On It?
by Bea Peterson
It’s funny how the germ of an idea can take root and grow quickly into something unique and special. Take nicknames for example. Ask folks in Hoosick Falls and they will rattle off several nicknames in short order. Some folks don’t even know the “real” name of a person with a nickname that’s lasted him or her a lifetime. If that person has remained in Hoosick Falls, the nickname has stuck.
Kevin O’Malley has a Facebook account. “It’s great,” he said. “I can keep in touch with people all over the country.” On one occasion he was on the computer with Kirk Brewster in Indiana,
George Colegrove in Connecticut, Lori Marsh Gardner in Arizona, Mike Bersastri in Albany and Steve Bradley here in the Village. They were discussing the “old days” and nicknames they remembered, and they thought of coming up with a list of these nicknames. When Ronald “Raider” Eddy passed away from cancer recently they devised a way to put those nicknames to good use for a good cause.
They created a Hoosick Falls Nickname Hall of Fame with 500 nicknames and the people called by those names. Posters with the nicknames and names were made up and placed in T-Bones and the Firehouse Tavern for all to see. Then an arbitrary list of the top 50 names was put onto a T-shirt. The front of the shirt states the Hoosick Falls Nickname Hall of Fame, when the Village was established and the population. It also has a picture of Edward (Mal) (McGoo) McGuire on it. The back of shirt has a picture of Jack (Goober) Leonard and all the 50 names listed. O’Malley said half the shirts have been pre-ordered. Others will be on sale starting this week from Jim (Toots) Monahan at Thorpe’s Pharmacy or from Kevin (The Big O) O’Malley by calling 686-9460. The shirts are $15. Proceeds from the shirts will benefit the Karen McGovern Fund. By the end of this week small posters of the 500 names will also be available for sale. O’Malley has been amazed at the pre-sale. “Response has been great,” he said. “I believe Hoosick Falls has more nicknames per capita than any other village in the U.S. Some families had six to eight kids in them with nicknames.” A few people have been upset or disappointed because a nickname wasn’t on the shirt. “Most of them on the shirt are well known, and we wanted to honor them,” O’Malley said. “If there is a large enough demand, we will do another shirt for 2010 with different names. We’ve already revised the poster adding 20 more names.”
Some of the nicknames on the shirt include Babe (Albert Waytkus), Chopper (John McGrath), Ersel (John Hickey), Frog (Frank Gorman), Knuckles (Charlie Fabiano) and T-Bone (Tim Dwyer). Just the nicknames are on the shirt. The poster has both the nickname and the owner of that nickname.