In the last issue of the Pitchburgh Press, I had a "Guess Who" quiz with a picture of a little two year old guy with his dog "Stubby" but I didn't tell you who he was. I can now tell you it was our long time show ticket man, John Kirwan. (Stubby was the one with the pointy ears). Here is a more recent picture of John.

John Kirwan was born October 5, 1931 in Monroe, Michigan midway between Detroit and Toledo, Ohio. John was the first born of John Kirwan of Gratiot, Wisconsin and Lucille Cliff of Oberlin, Ohio. As an infant he moved to Oberlin where his father founded his own insurance company and his mother, who graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, pursued a career in music, teaching music in several school districts in the Cleveland area.

While in fifth grade (1941), John's family moved to Detroit which pleased both John and his father (both died-in-the-wool Tiger fans) as it took them away from their "arch-enemy" Oberlin in-laws who were stalwart Cleveland Indian fans. In Detroit, John's father founded a home construction company and his mother continued her career, first as a music teacher; then as assistant to Dr. Harry Seitz, Director of Music for the Detroit Public Schools.

Young John never went to Cleveland Indian games while in Oberlin, but in 1941 his father took him to his first major league game in Briggs Stadium in Detroit. This was the 1941 All-Star game which was won in the bottom of the ninth by the American League when Ted Williams hit a home run over the right field upper deck (the first time this had ever been done). After that first game, baseball became a very important part of John's life. He played a lot of sandlot ball, high school and college ball, but he never made it to the big leagues.

Throughout elementary school and St. Mary of Redford High School, John sang in the school choirs. Actually, it was strongly recommended by the pastor that he forget about being an altar boy and confine his efforts to the choir when, after serving Mass for the first time, he filled the chalice with all wine rather than a wine/water mixture! In his senior year of high school he was introduced to Barbershop singing by Ed Easley, who had purchased an apartment built by his father. Mr. Easley sang barbershop in a chapter in Detroit and John found it a very pleasant experience, but it was short-lived when John went off to college at Spring Hill College, a small Jesuit College in Mobile, Alabama. However, the seeds had been sown and would be nurtured years later when he met Bob Cavanaugh while singing in the choir at St. Margaret Mary church in Moon Township.

After graduating from Spring Hill in 1953, John spent five years as a credit analyst in the Manufacturer's National Bank in Detroit, which became Comerica Bank, and now owns the naming rights for Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers. Coincidence or not? At about this same time, John's father had purchased the nation's first motel on a turnpike system; a small motel, which had originally been a one room school house, at the Somerset exit of the Pennsylvania turnpike. In 1958, John resigned from his bank job and moved to Somerset where the motel had expanded to 85 rooms, two dining rooms and a commercial laundry. The motel was named the Roof Garden Motor Hotel and was located at the present intersection of US219 and the Turnpike access drive, currently the location of an Eckerd Drug store and a MacDonald's.

Operating a motel and attending to the needs of travelers is very time consuming and did not leave John with much time for a social life. But he did find time to sing in the St. Peter's Church choir and at the Lion's Club annual variety show. There was no barbershop chapter in Somerset at that time. (It is interesting to note that the current Barbershop chorus in Somerset is called the Roof Garden Chorus). Soon the very best thing that ever happened to John appeared out of the blue when he saw a lovely girl who lent her soprano voice to the all men's Lion's Club annual show - a girl named Phyliss Moore who answered the question asked by many returning motel guests: "when is John going to find the right girl and settle down?" John and Phyliss were married on June 6,1970 (D-Day).

In 1972, the Somerset motel was sold and John cast his lot with the Hilton Hotel Corporation, mainly at the Pittsburgh Hilton after a short stay at the Atlanta Hilton. His positions included Director of Housekeeping Services, Inventory Control Specialist, Assistant Manager (all shifts) and Night Manager, a position he held for the last 9 of his 24 years before retiring in 1996.

All through his working years, John never lost his love for baseball. As mentioned previously, John lacked the raw talent to make it as a big league player but he found another way to live his baseball dream. He collected autographed baseballs of major league players, past and present. He did so in such a BIG