THE?SARANAC?LAKE?HIGH?SCHOOL?BASEBALL?TEAM in the early 1900s. Front row from left: Vernon Jordan (later Dr. Jordan, a dentist); Duke Ryan, who appears to have three legs, (later husband of Marie Ryan who owned the newsroom in the Hotel Saranac); Walter Kelly, Kerry Kelly’s grandfather (who later played the part of an Indian in the movie, “Perils of Pauline” shot near Lower Saranac Lake); Coach Howard V. Littell, (later Superintendent of Schools for 33 years); next unidentified; Ignatius Neubauer, (John Neubauer’s Dad) and Vic Jordan, Vernon’s brother; second row from left: Bill Calhoun, Leon Kingman and Jack Walker, who participated as a speed skater in the 1924 Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France. Next unidentified. Kerry Kelly provided the picture, Wally Gay the identification.
THESE?TWO?RUGGED?HOCKEY?PLAYERS are Lucien Miron, left, Gilles Miron’s Dad and Doug Bombard, Natalie Leduc’s Dad. Lucien came to Saranac Lake in February, 1940 from Valleyfield, Quebec, Canada with his wife, pregnant with Gilles, to work for the Railroad Express. Mrs. Miron went back to Valleyfield to have Gilles so he would be a Canadian citizen. His parents then became United States citizens and Saranac Lake may have had a Chief of Police Gilles Miron who held dual citizenship. Gilles father was on the 1948 Olympic Bobsled Team. Gilles was driver of a four-man Bobsled Team with Jim LaFountain, Jim Mose and Charlie Hoffer who were pictured coming through the Zag of the Zig Zag curve on the cover of Sports Illustrated back in the 1960’s. They had qualified for the World Championships but could not afford the trip to Europe. Mr. Bombard was a civic leader in Saranac Lake and a member of the Village Board of Trustees. Gilles was given the picture by Natalie.
THE PONTIAC CLUB HOCKEY TEAM pictured on February 12, 1928 taken at the Pontiac Rink located (with spacious bleachers along the lake) in the area of Lake Flower where the ice is cut for the Ice Palace. Most are not identified. The first fellow on the left is Lyle Delamater, the fourth one in is Lucien Miron and to him is Bill LaPan. The others are unidentified.
HOW COOL IS THIS PICTURE? – The handsome guy leaning on his car is none other than Richard Burman who came here from Sweden as a young man. The picture came to me through his grandson Rick after I said in a column that I had never heard of a Marmon automobile. It has a metal tag on the radiator that reads “Saranac Lake.” This is Mr. Burman’s “straight eight” Marmon first manufactured in 1902. I was lucky enough to know Mr. Burman when he was the head chef at Trudeau San and the nicest man you would ever want to know. He married Margaret Laura Ayotte and they had seven children: Dick, Vic, Susanne, Gordon, Ross, Alice and Tom all well known in the area. He died suddenly of a heart attack when he was age 45. Vic told me he was being treated for indigestion. Margaret survives today at age 96.
(All photos provided)
