March 1979 had a variety of news happening across the region. There were stories about gasoline, sports teams that “ran out of gas,” local business plans and a little bit of patriotism.
Some will likely remember the old 1960s commercial jingle, “You can trust your car to the man who wears the star,” as in the red and white Texaco star. For decades, Oneonta and the area had several of these service stations as well as fuel oil, but the days became numbered in 1979.
As The Daily Star of March 3 informed readers, “Homeowners as well as motorists will change fuel suppliers as Texaco Inc. phases out its sales in upstate New York.
“The three Texaco gas stations in Oneonta will be among the 811 stations affected north of the Southern Tier, according to Top Ingram, northeast regional public affairs coordinator for the firm.
“Oneonta Oil & Fuel Inc. is the Texaco supplier of fuel oil here, and owner of at least one of the gas stations.” Other areas across the U.S. were also seeing the Texaco star disappearing.
Gasoline in general was making plenty of news elsewhere. It was a time of rising prices and short supplies. As Reported in The Star of March 21, “Gasoline prices in Oneonta have risen steadily since December, but not at a pace that would bring the area dollar-a-gallon gasoline this summer.” In a chart accompanying the story, those aforementioned Texaco stations had a gallon hovering around 75-cents per gallon.
While the “man who wore the star” was still at work locally, self-serve pumps had been appearing in recent years, but as Star readers of March 22 learned, “Spawned by one gas shortage, the self-service islands at gas stations may die in what some forecasters are predicting will be a new and greater gas squeeze.
“The self-service pumps sprang into existence following the 1973 gas shortage when prices for fuel tore the tops off wallets. In an attempt to offer customers an alternative o skyrocketing gas costs, stations began installing self-service pumps.” In the end, the self-serve pumps survived.
Like gas prices that month, interest in local basketball teams were on the rise, as playoffs got underway.
Hartwick College had a great regular season, went to playoffs, but to borrow an analogy, “ran out of gas.”
As The Star reported on March 3, “It was too good to be true. Here was Hartwick College with a chokehold on defending champion Cheyney State, holding a nine-point lead after only ten minutes of basketball.”
Cheyney, however, was powered by a higher octane, and soared back to a 72-63 victory over Hartwick in the NCAA Division II Eastern Regionals. Hartwick was then known as the Warriors.
The same was true for Sidney High School, also nicknamed the Warriors. As reported on March 26, it was Dave Lambrecht and Jeri Mirabito who carried undefeated Sidney to a 65-56 win over number-one ranked Mattituck High from Long Island.
The good news was, Sidney was crowned Class B state champions. The bad news was, there was one last speed bump to get across. There was the New York State Federation High School Basketball Tournament of Champions at LeMoyne College in Syracuse on Friday, March 30.
Sidney’s gas gauge hit “E,” losing to St. John Neumann of Williamsville, 69-59. While still Class B champs, the undefeated season ended at 25 games.
On the business side that month, The Star of March 16 reported, “A preliminary plan has been filed with town officials for a K-Mart shopping center to be built opposite the Grand Street Arterial on Route 23.” It was the start of what was to become the Southside Mall, which opened in the early1980s.
At Oneonta High School, as The Star reported on March 3, “The flag at the high school was old and tattered. It had only 48 stars on a fading field of blue.
“Student Senate President Mark Lisa decided that something should be done and did it.
“A letter to Congressman James Hanley expressing his concern was answered with a 50-star flag which had flown over the nation’s capital and a certificate attesting to that fact.”
Lisa and senior class president Dave Henderson presented the flag to principal Lloyd Baker and class advisor Frank Gallucci.
“Gallucci…seemed to sum it up best when he commented, ‘Mark may be just a little more patriotic than most kids are.’”
This weekend, the year might have indicated it was a Great Depression in 1934, but you’d have hardly noticed in in Sidney that spring.
Oneonta City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area before 1950. His Wednesday columns address local history 1950 and later. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is oneontanyhistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/.