1970-08-13

              . ti
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FARMINGDALE PUBLIC LIBRARY
274 Main St,
Farming da le, N, Y. 11735 10c on ncwwtands
or $ 6 yearly
by mail locally
POWELL HOUSE 1700
FARMIN6DALE OBSERVER
WHERE THE HISTORY OF YOUR COMMUNITY IS RECORDED WEEKLY
An Of fie. iaf Newspaper of The Incorporated Village of Farmingdale — Serving Greater Farmingdale, Bethpage and Melville
Vol. 7 No. 51 Second Class Postage has been paid at Farmingdale, N. Y. 11735* Thursday, August 13, 1970
GORTON STATUS UNSOLVED;
LIBRARIANS RESIGN_
Patterson Recalls Early Days At State U. Campus
Eric ( Patty) Patterson, long­time
resident of Melville Road,
Farmingdale, graduated from
the State University of Far­mingdale,
a half- century ago, the
« m- i ™ « * rf tfletO. i » » ** » « second
senior class in the Aggies'
history.
Today, as the 70- year- old
Associate Professor and Farm
Superintendent of the State
University at Farmingdale, as
straight asanoak in posture, is
preparing to retire at the end of
this summer, following 44 years
of dedication to the Aggies. All
during this time, Patty and his
charming wife, Geraldine, have
lived at the College campus on
Melville Road.
As Dr. Charles W. Laffin, Jr.,
President of the College, puts it,
" Patty will always remain a
monumental figure in the athletic
and agriculture educational
archives of the college. He ranks
as one of the nation's foremost
experts in the field of farming
and agriculture. His interest in
sports is still very keen."
A rugged and trim figure in his
6ft. 1 in., 170- pound frame, Patty
vividly recalls his football,
basketball and baseball Hays at
Farmingdale from 1917 to 1920;
his semi- professional baseball
career with the Union Course Club
of Jamaica, then with the Bush-wicks
from 1923- 25; his per­formance
with the semi- pro
Freeport Football Club at end
and tackle and playing jump or
center with the pro Madison
Square Big Five during the early
days at the Old Garden.
Before Patty's remarkable
career in the field of farming and
agriculture and the development
of Farmingdale as a result of his
return to his Alma Mater six
years after graduation is
recalled, the Aggies' sep­tuagenarian
tells you of his
athletic days at New York State
Institute of Applied Agriculture-the
first public college
established on Long Island.
" I particularly remember our
Seventy- year old Eric ( Patty) Patterson who is retiring as Farm
Superintendent at the State University at Farmingdale, shows his
grandson Rodger Patterson how he gripped a baseball when he
starred as an Aggie and later in the semi- pro ranks nearly 50 years
ago.
basketball team during my
senior year in 1920. We were slow
in getting started, losing to the
strong teams of the Crescent
A. C., Stevens Institute, St.
Lawrence University and a few
others before the system and
style of play established by Coach
Fred Walker caught on and we
were to win nine out of our last
twelve games played. A won­derful
record, I think, when you
consider that this was the first
intercollegiate season we ever
had, having been brought up
from a high school class to the
class where such teams as
Georgetown, Lehigh, St. John's,
Temple, St. Lawrence and
Stevens were played."
It is to be recalled that
previously, the Aggies had met
such schools as St. Paul's, Blair,
St. John's Prep, Jamaica, Rich­mond
Hill, Flushing and
Erasmus Hall High Schools,
Adelphi Academy... and now " We
were in the big leagues." St.
Francis College, St. John's
College, Temple and the Con­necticut
Aggies were all humbled
by the Aggies.
He points out that the " most
remarkable feature of our first
college campaign at Far­mingdale
was the individual
work of Chester Nichols, stalwart
forward. He scored a grand total
of 317 points, of which 109 were
field baskets, and caged 99 fouls,
in 17 games. This performance
alone stamped him as one of the
greatest players in in­tercollegiate
basketball in 1920."
As further evidence of Nichols'
amazing court ability, Patty tells
how his team mate scored " every
one of the Aggies' 22 points, in­cluding
7 baskets from the floor
and eight from the foul line as we
beat Temple, 22- 14." In football,
the Aggies with Patterson
alternating at end and tackle
trounced a " light " Fordham
eleven, 40- 0; crushed the Conn.
Aggies, 33- 7, barely lost to a
formidable Rutgers team, 14- 0, in
a contest described by The New
York Times as " Aggies Surprise
Sanford's Eleven, Holding New
Brunswick Collegians in a
Stubborn Battle." The L. I. eleven
also routed the Mitchell Field
Aviators of Mineola, 28- 0, and
fought hard before bowing to the
U. S. S. Pennsylvania squad,
champions of the Atlantic Fleet.
- In basebaii, the Aggies also did
very well, the opposition then
being against St. Benedict's
Prep, St. John's Prep, St. Paul's
School, Blair Academy Boys
High, Astoria Athletics,
Amityville, Flushing, Jamaica,
Richmond Hill and Floral Park
High Schools. Patty was an ef­fective
righthander, with a
" strong curve." He also held
downsecond basewhen not in the
box. He was a formidable batter.
Recalling some of his ex­periences
in those machineless
days, the days of horse- drawn
transportation, dirt roads and
long " country miles," Patterson
laughingly describes " getting to
the scenes of sports activity was
really a big problem. We always
sought some mode of conveyance
to take us to the village to play
basketball and other indoor
athletics. We knew it took the pep
out of us to trot down to the Hall
and then be expected to play a
great game. It was a real hard­ship...
but we survived."
The biggest changes on the
Aggies' campus, according to
Patterson, has been the growth in
buildings, roads, parking fields
and the type of students in
number and character. The vast
advancement in farm equipment,
including hydraulically- operated
combines, and the use of fer­tilizer
that has more than doubled
productivity of produce and
makes cultivating un­necessary...
the use of herbicide
and pesticide being tremendous
achievements.
During the Depression Era in
the early 30s, Patterson recalls
the work crew of 80 WPA men
who earned a living toiling on the
campus. " We had lots of timber
on our land and these men, most
of them white- collar individuals,
who were unemployed, handled
axes and saws for the first time in
clearing 50 acres of woodlands. It
was quite an experience for these
office workers as they had to
learn how to handle horses, clear
stumps and wallow deep in the
mud in their Farmingdale chores
three times a week."
Patty has been most involved
in community and agricultural
activities. They include: serving
as financial secretary and
treasurer of the East Far­mingdale
Fire Department,
Farm Bureau, the Grange, the
Meridian Lodge F. A. M., St.
Thomas Men's Club, Far­mingdale
Alumni Association of
which he is a past president, and
the Maywood and the State
University Bowling Leagues.
With retirement " round the
corner," the Green and White
immortal, Patty Patterson, born
a farmer's son, his family
migrated from California to the
" wilderness of Long Island"- and
his charming wife, Geraldine,
are looking forward to their home
in Brightwaters where " I'll be
busy with fishing, gardening,
farming and working with my
carpenter's tools."
100 Deprived Students
At State U. For Summer
Although most of the schools
are in recess, there is plenty of
activity going on at the State
University at Farmingdale,
where two funded projects
designed to help the disad­vantaged
and culturally deprived
to enter the mainstream of the
academic and vocational world.
More than 100 high school
students from disadvantaged
areas of New York's East Side,
Harlem, the Bronx, Bedford-
Stuyvestant of Brooklyn, and
Long Island's Wyandanch,
Lawrence and Inwood, are
participating in the seven- week
Wider Opportunity at Far­mingdale
( WOAF) program. At
this third " Summer- in- the
Country" project the students
working hard on their writing,
( I'- tmtinued on Page 6)