One hundred years young

About this book

In 1987 the Polish Falcons of America celebrated its one hundredth year of service to the needs and aspirations of five generations of people of Polish ethnic heritage. Founded in 1887 in Chicago as a physical education association promoting both the health of young immigrants along with their patriotic identification with the Polish homeland and its struggle for independence, the organization was itself an offshoot of a movement already active in partitioned Poland. By the turn of the twentieth century, the then "Alliance of Poland Falcons of America" had grown into a nationwide federation of local societies, or "nests." In 1912, on the eve of the First World War, and with its national headquarters in Pittsburgh, the movement had taken on new aims to complement its traditional physical and patriotic education work. These included the mobilizing of a military force to fight for the restoration of an independent and reunited Polish state.^ During the War, these aims were realized; indeed more than twenty thousand men set off for Europe to fight as a separate army under Polish colors, first in France on the Western front and later in Poland, during its war against Bolshevik Russia in 1920. This story is little known, even to this day; yet it represents a glorious chapter in the Polish American community's service to the cause of Poland's freedom. The Falcon's interest in Poland, moreover, has remained a significant facet of its activities ever since. At the same time, the organization has continued its time-honored phyiscal education work among its members, young and adult alike. In the process, the Falcons have enriched the world of American sports and sportsmanship by sponsoring programs in baseball, basketball, bowling, swimming and a variety of other areas of endeavor.^ Ever since 1894, the Falcons have organized regular track, field and gymnastic tournaments on national, regional and local levels; these activities continue to this day and are conducted according to the highest educational standards that are practically available. Of the thousands of individuals who have participated in the Falcons' athletic programs during its first century, two are especially remembered, the Olympic gold medalist and track and field immortal, Stella Walsh, and the Baseball Hall of Fame great, Stan "The Man" Musial. Since 1928, the organization, renamed the Polish Falcons of America, has operated as a fraternal insurance and benefit society, while continuing its other programs on behalf of Poland, in promoting knowledge of the Polish heritage in America, and in sponsoring participation in sports, gymnastics and physical education.^ In 1987, it included more than 30,000 members and had grown to become the fourth largest of all Polish American fraternal insurance associations. -- from dust jacket.