Sunnyside Acres

Image courtesy Erie County Auditor Historical Maps

The Sunnyside Acres Subdivision is located in Sandusky, Ohio in an area south of Cleveland Road. Streets in the subdivision include Wamajo Drive, Knupke Street, Dixon Drive, and Judy Lane. Many of the homes in Sunnyside Acres were built by the Wamajo Development Corporation from Milan, Ohio. According to an article in the September 1, 1959 issue of the Sandusky Register, building officials with the City of Sandusky issued three building permits to the Wamajo Development Corporation. The homes were expected to be built for an estimated cost of $8000 each (about $70,000 today). By December of 1959, permits had been issued for the construction of twenty-five homes. Many more would be built as time went by. 

A park located within the boundaries of the Sunnyside Acres Subdivision was listed as “City Playfield” on this map from the Erie County Auditor’s historical map collection: 

When football great Orlando Pace gave his speech at the time of his induction into the NFL Football Hall of Fame, he stated that his dream started “when I was seven years old, playing in Sunnyside Park in Sandusky, Ohio.” That park is now Orlando Pace Park, on Wamajo Drive in Sandusky, named for Sandusky High School’s football legend. Below is a picture of the Junior Varsity Football team at Sandusky High School, when Orlando Pace wore number 75.

Sandusky High School Football

The football team at Sandusky High School is having a successful season this year -- just a few days from a second-round playoff game, at the time this was published. This has been one of many good years for SHS football over the past 120 or so years.

Sandusky students played their first football games in the 1890s, but it appears that these teams were at more of a club-level rather than varsity, playing whatever nearby teams were available; records of those games are not readily available. What we might call varsity football began in 1901, when the team pictured above defeated Norwalk and Cleveland West High Schools, while losing to Toledo Scott in a three-game season. Judging from the picture, they may have been a somewhat disorganized bunch, with no standard uniforms.

Sandusky's first undefeated football season was in 1906, when the team won five games without allowing a single point!

The 1930s was a great time for Sandusky football, with winning records every year, including five undefeated seasons. The remodeled and expanded stadium (Strobel Field) was dedicated in 1936.

Many still remember the "Sensational 60's," when Sandusky football seemed nearly unbeatable, and produced future stars in both the playing and coaching ranks, as well as politics and other professions.

Do you recognize number 75 in the picture below? He is Sandusky's Pro Football Hall of Famer Orlando Pace, with his 1991 Junior Varsity squad.

Good luck to the Sandusky High School football team!