2015_badyna | Woodward HOF

Joseph S. Badyna Inducted 2015 - Class of 1948

Joe could always be found with his buddies Robert Powell, Henry Kimple, Jack Rose, and John Delucia hanging out at the Mom and Pop stores that were at every corner of the old neighborhood. On Friday and Saturday nights when practice or sports didn't interfere with Joe's after school activities, the gang would walk to the movies at the Alan Theater on Stickney or the Savoy and Ohio Theaters on LaGrange. Known as Whitey to his friends because of his hair color, Joe could always be found on school days in the Woodward Auditorium enjoying the latest lunch time movies along with his apple-turnover from Feldman's Bakery on LaGrange.

However, there was another draw on Joe's high school calendar and it was basketball. With all the Boy's Club basketball team's scheduled games in the win column, only one game remained. The Ohio - Michigan Championship game was slated to be played in Alpena, Michigan and without his parents or Woodward's permission, Joe found one of his buddies to cover his paper route, skipped school Friday morning, and attended the game. You'll have to ask Joe who won the game and

whether Mr. Meek, Woodward’s Dean of Boys, ever found out.

Joe credits Mr. Joseph Stobinski as one of the best teachers he had at Woodward. "....because of his youth we all thought he was one of us. His personality won our respect and friendship and we all tried harder so he would be proud of us."

After leaving Woodward and the confines of North Toledo Joe attended the University of Toledo for two years before serving his country in Korea with the 5th Marine Corps. Discharged in 1954, Joe started his 37 year career with LOF, retiring only to find a second career with Anderson's for ten years. Joe married Davida Elaine Moldawsky in 1959 and their 56 year union provided them with three children, two of which were stricken with Cystic Fibrosis. In 1964 they joined and helped promote the local C. F. Chapter here in Toledo. Coupled with the social and financial success of the Golden Harvest Ball, they instituted one of the first summer camps for kids with C. F. at Camp Courageous.

Joe received in 1977 the honor of being "Man of the Year" from the Y.M.C.A. for his tireless work in rebuilding the Toledo Area's Indian Guide Program into one of the largest and strongest in the United States. In his spare time Joe coached Little league Baseball and was a member of the Mediation Board for L.O.F. and the Rossford local 9G of the AFl-CIO. Honored by Toledo's Old Newsboys in 2010, Joe walks or jogs 3-5 miles every day, or . . . . . almost every day.