When Bob Guerriero walks by the Boys Club on West Sixth Street andsmells the chlorine from the pool, it brings back a flood of memoriesand gratitude for the way the club shaped his life.
Guerriero, 55, now a supervisor for the MBTA, has lived in Southiemost of his life. The club, he said, made him a better person andfostered lifelong friendships.
'It kind of forms a structure you can go by ... values andsportsmanship,' he said. 'There were life lessons. You carry thesethings with you the rest of your life.'
For more than 60 years, thousands of South Boston boys and latergirls spent their free time at the club an enormous brick buildingwith a gym, auditorium, and indoor pool. The majority were from thewest side of Southie, also known as 'the Lower End,' where manyfamilies with low incomes lived.
When girls were allowed to become members in the late 1970s, itbecame known as the South Boston Boys and Girls Club Today it hasabout 850 active members, aged 6 to 18, about 270 whom go through itsdoors each weekday afternoon, according to club executive directorRonnie Millar. The club, which charges $25 annually, has 18 full-time adult staff and some junior staffers, he said.
This Friday evening, the club will celebrate its 60th anniversarywith a 21-and-over fundraising event. Technically, the celebration isthree years late. The club was built in 1940 with money fromphilanthropist Charles Hayden, whose name is engraved in stone abovethe entrance. The nonprofit, which relies on donations from theUnited Way and other charities, is under the umbrella of the 110-year-old Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston.
Millar and the club's advisory board want to reinvigorate alumninights, which traditionally have been awards events, into moreentertaining evenings with food, drink, dancing,and a chance to shootfree throws and reminisce.
Jack McGrath, 51, a Boston firefighter, is helping to organize theevent. He and Millar say the club's philosophy has remained the samethrough the years: Give kids a place to socialize and find out whatthey're good at.
Many programs are still the same: swimming and cooking lessons,arts and crafts, and game rooms where kids play pool, table tennis,chess and other board games.
New programs that reflect the times have been added, includingcomputer classes and day care services. A 1990 renovation took awaythe club's asphalt softball field, but gave it a new gym and teencenter, he said.
Guerriero and McGrath joined the club at age 6 and played sportslike basketball and softball there almost daily until age 16 or 17.Staff members, he said, provided good role models and the club kepthim out of trouble.
'You don't know what direction I could have gone in or what wayany kid could go to without the proper guidance,' he said.
Like Guerriero, McGrath credits the club for shaping his boyhood.
'The club was good for keeping me busy, keeping me out oftrouble,' McGrath said. 'Plus just growing up and learning thingsabout life.'
The Girls Club, a small wooden building across the street, is longgone, but many women who took cooking, sewing or hairstyling classesthere as girls are also looking forward to Friday's reunion.
Guerriero's wife, Patricia, 52, said she went to the Girls Clubevery day, often making a supper of franks and beans or macaroni andcheese as part of the cooking program. Then Patricia Galewski, sheremembers making friends with girls she would not otherwise have metwhere she grew up, on B Street.
Bob Guerriero and McGrath said they looked forward to talking tofriends at the reunion they haven't seen in years.
'We had some close bonds,' Guerriero said. 'The minute you see aguy you can almost recollect a story you had together.'
Tickets to the South Boston Boys and Girls Club reunion Friday are$20. To reserve one, call 617-269-4301 or stop by the club at 230West Sixth St.
GLOBE STAFF PHOTO/JOHN BOHN
Jack McGrath, left front, and Bob Guerriero, right front, withother alumni of the South Boston Boys and Girls Club. Directly behindthem are Mary Binda, left, and Ruth Ostiguy Meyer, then NinaFitzgerald Hayes, left, and Patty McCormick. At the rear are SteveLampron, Bill Barrett and Bill Meyer.
