The Spolars revisited – www.spolarstudio.com

 

A few weeks ago, I posted an article about my family friend Gene Spolar and his recent write up in the Racine Journal Times regarding his love the NFL Cardinals and trip to the Super Bowl.  The article briefly mentions his three sons: Tony, Tim, and Toby.  As friends, we refer to them as the  “Three Ts.” 

We played sports, attended church and grew up together in Racine,  Wisconsin.  The ages of the boys in general mirrored the ages of the three Jackle kids with Tony and my brother Dave being the oldest, Tim and me being second in line, and Toby and my sister Sue being the babies.  

I moved to North Carolina back in 1981 and finished in both high school and college here in the south.  In general, my time since then has been since primarily in North Carolina where as my siblings have mainly have stayed in the Midwest.   Apparently, besides our ages , this is another thing that we the Jackle kids hold in common with the Spolars, the middle child has flown from the Midwest coop.   Tim now works and resides in the Orlando, FL area.

On Friday, there was a reunion of sorts between the original Jackles and the Spolars in Racine.  My mother invited the Spolars over to the house for pizza. As typically the case with these types of reunion, I was the not able to attend due to the distance involved, but I was there in spirit.  My brother came up from Chicago and both Tony and Toby came in from Milwaukee.

Jackie and I were busy doing last minute preps to get ready for the 45 RSVP-ed  guests we had coming for Sophia’s seventh birthday on Saturday. So as you can imagine, things in our household were a bit hectic. 

We just had gotten the girls into bed so we could do some real work when the phone rang.  It was my brother Dave calling me to make some final arrangement on the birthday presents for Sophie’s big date from her distance cheese head relatives.  He mentioned that he was sitting with the Spolars  eating pizza at mom’s house.   Though the timing was the not best, I could not resist the opportunity to talk the Spolars again for the first time in over 25 years( in most cases).

 

First up was Gene “Skin” Spolar.  When we were going up, he always claimed that he had the secret to producing sons.  In fact, he was always willingly to share this secret with any male that was having issues producing sons and seemed to be only able to produce daughters.  Being the card(no pun intended) that he is, he brought this subject up again as we discussed the fact that I have two children which are both girls.  Since we run a family show here,  I will let your imagination run wild  to obtain the details of the secret.  We continued on with normal conversation that people have when they have not spoken for many years.  It was a great pleasure to get caught up  with the Racine famous  Spolar patriarch and hear his great sense of humor.

Next, I talked to Toby and Tony.  Since 1988,  they have been serving the Milwaukee and Chicago area with excellent artwork.  Their Spolar Studio  client list includes(not inclusive):  Miller Park/Milwaukee Brewers,  Master Lock Corporation,  Schlitz Park,   Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, Bank One, CBS channel 58, Racine Country Club, St. Peters Catholic church, and 2003 Breast cancer house.   Their murals, finishes, restoration, and digital artwork is truly amazing.  Tony informed me that they currently  working to upgrade/update  their current www.spolarstudio.com web site.   I strongly suggest that you take a minute and visit their site to see some examples of their truly amazing work.  Also, check back later on to see any site upgrades.   

I personally can not wait to get to Miller Park(for example)  to see the work in person like so many other Brewer fans have already.  The conversations ended with recollections of watching “creature features” in the basement of our houses and promises to not wait 25 years to touch base again.  I have a feeling that my next visit to Wisconsin to see my dear mom with incorporate some time with the Spolars.  I sure hope so.

PS.  The pictures from my Sophie’s bash will be coming shortly. 

Gene Spolar finally gets a chance

 

Photo Credit: Scott Anderson – Racine Journal Times

As I pointed out in my previous posts, I grew up in Racine, Wisconsin as a Green Bay Packer fan.  In Wisconsin, both my older brother “Intense Dave” and I played YMCA youth football.  My brother played one season for the (in)famous “Cardinals”.  The Cardinals were led by coach, family friend, and devote NFL Cardinal(St. Louis at the time) fan Gene Spolar.   The YMCA cardinals, like the NFL cardinals, were not really successful in the YMCA league. 

In fact, the team was winless for several seasons. 

At the beginning of the season the year that my brother played on the team, Gene Spolar provided the team with a little inspiration.  He said that if they could win just one game, he would then shave his head completely bald.  The 70s was a time when bald was not in fashion.  Yes, the team did win that one game that eluded them for the past several seasons and Gene was a bald man.  I would like to think that my brothers effort on the field was the straw that broke the win-less camel back.  That was my recollection anyway and I will stick to it.

Today, it another David and Goliath story with the under dog Cardinals playing the favored Pittsburgh Steelers.  When I think of the Cardinals(now in Arizona),  I always think of our friend and coach Gene Spolar who never wavered or gave up on his beloved Cardinals.  It takes a lot of guts to be a Cardinal fan in Packer country.  Well,  yesterday, the Racine Journal Times paper columnist Peter Jackel wrote an article about Gene Spolar.  His sons Tony, Tim and Toby are taking Gene to Raymond James Stadium for the Cardinals- Steelers  Super Bowl.  Gene celebrated his 70th birthday on Friday.  What a present for you Gene!!!  I wish you the best on Sunday.