NEWS AND VIEWS: Chornomorska Sitch is celebrating its 80th anniversary (09/19/04)

NEWS AND VIEWS: Chornomorska Sitch is celebrating its 80th anniversary

by Omelan Twardowsky

December 21, 1924, was the date of the birth of the Ukrainian Athletic-Educational Association Chomomorska Sitch in Newark, N.J., an institution that is well known both in America and in Ukraine. The founding of the Sitch society in Newark was initiated by Ivan Hrynyk, a veteran of Ukraine's war of liberation. Twelve people took part in the first organizing meeting: Mr. Hrynyk, Lev Mular, Theodore Kowalyk, Volodymyr Kuzma, Ivan Bakun, Stan Prysiazny, Michael Shkilny, Ivan Lobur, Lev Machenko, Maria Kozakevych, Anna Popaca and Maria Mytowynsky. Many of these became members of the first governing board of the Newark branch of Sitch.

The main goals adopted by the first governing board of Chornomorska Sitch were to attract into its ranks as many Ukrainians as possible, without regard to their political or religious convictions, to promulgate Ukrainian national consciousness, to cultivate physical fitness and sports, and to conduct cultural-educational activities. Furthermore, one of the main objectives of this Sitch chapter was the continued support for the liberation struggle in Ukraine.

The first few years of the new Sitch chapter were marked by dynamic activity, which was followed by a period of temporary lull. A resurgence of activity occurred after the seventh general meeting, at which the association's by-laws were changed. Sitch acquired over 100 new members. A strong baseball team was formed, which competed successfully in a semi-professional league. Sitch members received uniforms. A mixed choir and a dance ensemble were organized, which represented the Ukrainian community before wider audiences.

ln the early years, Chornomorska Sitch used to rent its club rooms on Court Street in Newark. After Sitch moved to more spacious quarters on Springfield Avenue, in 1932, the idea of acquiring its own home was born. A fund-raising drive was launched, which in 1938 resulted in Sitch's joyous purchase of its own large building on 18th Avenue. After some remodeling, that building served not only the needs of Sitch, but those of other Ukrainian community organizations as well.

Prior to World War II Sitch boasted a membership of over 300, had active teams in baseball, basketball, bowling, wrestling and swimming. In addition, Sitch members were engaged in various political actions on behalf of subjugated Ukraine. World War II sharply curtailed the activity and further development of Sitch. A significant number of Chornomorska Sitch members, including its prominent activists, were drafted into the U.S. armed forces. Nevertheless, our society did survive the war. Although not all Sitch members returned home alive, the society's activities were gradually renewed.

A new era of the rebirth of Chornomorska Sitch occurred thanks to new immigrants - Ukrainian displaced persons - who came to America toward the end of the 1940s. A good number of the new arrivals, which included many athletes and sports organizers, joined the ranks of the Newark Sitch branch of the organization. Already in the 1950s several new sports divisions were added to Sitch, namely soccer, chess, tennis, table tennis and volleyball. This happened thanks to the following activists from among the new immigrants: Lev Blonarovych, Bohdan Huralechko, Yaroslav Kryshtalsky, Lubomyr Rudzinsky, Dr. Volodymyr Huk, George Iwankiw, Omelan Twardowsky, Julian Helbig, Roman Boyko and others.

The increased sports activity quickly attracted to Sitch new cadres of sports leaders and athletes, among them: Myron Stebelsky, Ivan Hamulak, Adrian Lapychak, Bohdan Hayduchok, Bohdan Fedasiuk, Joseph Stashkiw, Joseph Trush, Ihor Olshaniwsky, Yaroslav Pyndus, Zenon Snylyk, Ivan Oryniak, George Chranewycz, Alexander Napora, Volodymyr Bakun, Nadia Bakun, Volodymyr Poteznyj, Volodymyr Klapishchak, Walter Wasylak, Dr. Stepan Parubchak, Michael Palivoda, Gregory Palivoda, Volodymyr Markus, Oleh Dutkevych, Ivan Nahorniak, Ivan Sawycky. There were scores of others, whose names are recorded on the pages of the histories of Chornomorska Sitch - the almanac issued on the occasion of the society's golden jubilee and the bilingual book "Sichovymy Shlakhamy" (in Ukrainian) and "Ukrainian Sitch - A History" (in English), published on the 75th anniversary of Sitch in 1999 - as well as in the annual magazine "Our Sport."

Thanks to these new activists, Chornomorska Sitch has expanded significantly its range of activity. It organized numerous sports reserves and junior teams in the existing sports divisions, and created new divisions, in the areas of hockey, golf and bridge. Most Sitch teams have participated in championships of their respective U.S. sports federations, and over a period of decades have won hundreds of championship trophies, which are displayed at the Sitch home in Newark; some of them have been transferred to the Museum of Sports Glory of Ukraine in Kyiv.

Over the years, many Sitch members have been selected to all-star teams representing their state or country: Mr. Snylyk, Walter Chyzowych, Volodymyr Kazdoba, Andrew Bakun, Lev Wilchak, Volodymyr Wilchak, Roman Solchanyk, Oles Chayka, Walter Tkacz, Ivan Palivoda, Peter Palivoda, Michael Farmiga and Ihor Pankiw - in soccer; Nestor Paslawsky and Melanie Panko - in volleyball; Andrew Slysh, Mark Slysh, Markian Kowaluk, Andrea Kushnir and Ron Carnaugh - in swimming. Mr. Carnaugh was several times' U.S. champion, a member of the U.S. Olympic team, and even managed to win the championship of independent Ukraine. In tennis, Zenia, Luba and Roxana Matkiwsky made the New Jersey state all-star team; in table tennis this honor was achieved by George Chranewycz.

Over the decades, Chornomorska Sitch teams took part in all the championships of the Ukrainian Sports Federation of the U.S.A. and Canada (USCAK) and have won a number of them. Many of the best Sitch athletes enumerated above were members of the USCAK all-star teams that represented Ukrainians in the two Free Olympiads in Canada as well as those who went on a tour of Western Ukraine in 1991.

For a long period, major successes in chess have been registered in New Jersey and throughout the U.S. by the chess players who represented Chornomorska Sitch, namely the masters Mr. Blonarovych, Dr. Orest Popovych, Steven Stoyko and Peter Radomskyj, and the master candidate Dmytro Kulyk. Dr. Popovych played in many international tournaments, including in Ukraine. In the year 2000, Dr. Popovych established an all-time record in the history of New Jersey chess by winning the state title for the fourth time.

Chornomorska Sitch is distinguished by the following unique achievements: it is the only active Sitch chapter that has survived out of almost 100 such chapters once active in the U.S.; it is the only sports club in the Ukrainian diaspora that is publishing its own magazine (Our Sport) for the last 40 years; it is the only sports club in the Ukrainian diaspora that for the last 35 years has been running its own summer sports school.

Throughout its history Chornomorska Sitch has remained committed to the fate of Ukraine. In order to conduct actions on behalf of Ukrainian causes, it has formed political clubs, which culminated in the creation of the organization Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine, which has been active to this day. The latter was formed due to the efforts of Sitch activists Ihor Olshaniwsky, Bozhena Olshaniwsky, Ivan Oryniak and Walter Bodnar.

Sitch members on the Ukrainian sports arena

In addition to their work within the Sitch club, several Sitch members have been holding leadership positions within USCAK for more than two decades. They are: Mr. Stebelsky, Mr. Twardowsky, Mr. Napora, Dr. Popovych, Marika Bokalo and Roman Pyndus. These activists were the main initiators of the cooperation between USCAK and the sports authorities of Ukraine, such as the National Olympic Committee, the State Sports Committee and the individual sports federations. They also established the Fund for the Rebirth of Sports in Ukraine, from which significant financial support was provided to give the athletes of newly independent Ukraine their start in the world arena. This included partial funding of Ukraine's participation in the Winter Olympiad in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994, and in the Atlanta Summer Olympiad in 1996.

Throughout its history Chornomorska Sitch has worked closely with other patriotic Ukrainian organizations, in particular the fraternal associations in which Sitch branches have remained active to this day, namely Ukrainian National Association Branch 214 and Ukrainian Fraternal Association Branch 259.

On the occasions of its anniversary celebrations in previous decades, Chornomorska Sitch has received numerous greetings and expressions of appreciation for its successful work from the mayors of the cities of Newark and Irvington, as well as U.S. senators and congressmen. Furthermore, Chornomorska Sitch is probably the only Ukrainian American sports club to receive anniversary congratulatory letters from U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, as well as Vice-President Al Gore. Similar greetings came from New Jersey governors. To date, congratulations on the occasion of the 80th anniversary have arrived from New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey, Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., Essex County Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura, as well as a proclamation from U.S. Sen. Jon S. Corzine.

In the last few years, some Chornomorska Sitch officers have been awarded certificates by the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine for their efforts on behalf of sports in Ukraine, and by the Lviv State Institute of Physical Culture for their work in the area of Ukrainian sports in the diaspora. The all-Ukrainian Prosvita Society of Kyiv honored Mr. Stebelsky, Mr. Twardowsky and Dr. Popovych with gold medals, presented to them as "builders of Ukraine." Mr. Stebelsky, the former long-time president of Chornomorska Sitch, received from Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma a certificate of thanks for his "significant personal contribution to the development and strengthening of the Ukrainian state."

Information about the festive program celebrating the 80th anniversary of Chornomorska Sitch will soon be published in the press.

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