St. Mary’s 1939 Basketball Team

Former newspaper reporter C. Weston Dash donated this picture of the 1938-1939 Sandusky St. Mary’s basketball team. Notes on the original picture indicate that the photograph was taken on March 19, 1939. This team was runner-up for the Class A High School state championship in 1939. Coach Lee Zierolf is on the right, in the back row. Team members were: Leroy Riedy, Howard Thompson, Art Link (team captain), Ken Smith, Wayne Stamm, Joe Riccardi, Charles Stanley and John Thompson. You can read more about this team in the March 19, 1939 issue of the Sandusky Register. Coach Lee Zierolf was a teacher and coach at St. Mary’s from 1932 to 1953. Under his leadership, the St. Mary’s basketball team won the state championship in 1936, and were state runners-up from 1937 to 1940. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to read more about your favorite local sports teams in issues of the old Sandusky newspapers, now on microfilm.

F.A. Riedy, Manufacturer of Fine Cigars

Frank A. Riedy was born in Baden, Germany in 1843 to John and Frances (Webber) Riedy. As a young man he came to the United States, and settled in Sandusky, Ohio. On August 12, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company L in the Third Ohio Cavalry. During his military service in the Civil War, he was promoted to Full Farrier, a specialist in equine hoof care. On August 4, 1865, he was mustered out with his company. After working briefly as a blacksmith, Mr. Riedy went on to work in the cigar business in Sandusky for thirty years. The 1880 Sandusky City Directory listed F.A. Riedy as employee of Diehl and Riedy, a cigar manufacturer located at 1025 Market Street; by 1886, he was sole proprieter of this business. He also sold cigars, pipes, and tobacco at his store. In an advertisement which appeared in the 1908 Sandusky City Directory, F.A. Riedy stated that he was “the only pipe doctor in the city.” Smokers came from miles around to have their treasured pipes repaired by Mr. Riedy.  After 1915, when Sandusky changed its street numbering system,  the address of the business became 807 West Market Street.

Frank A. Riedy died on February 20, 1922. He was a member of the McMeens Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, and St. Mary’s Church. Mr. Riedy was survived by wife, a son, Leo; two daughters, Mrs. Leo A. Sacksteder and Mrs. Leo A. Butler; and seven grandchildren. Funeral services were held at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Leo A. Butler, with Father W.C. Zierolf officiating, and burial was at St. Mary’s Cemetery. Mr. Riedy was involved in a business that has a rich history in Sandusky. To read more about the manufacturing of cigars in Sandusky, see this blog post.