Memories, tall tales, pancakes draw men together every Friday
They remember the Great Depression’s affect on Butler, walking to St. Michael Catholic Church at 6 years old to serve as altar boys, playing sports on Butler YMCA teams, having a few belts at one of the four bars on Center Avenue, and shipping out to fight in the Korean War.
And every Friday morning, they gather to reminisce about it all.
Geno Mariotti said a group of men, mostly from Butler’s South Side, began meeting about 20 years ago for breakfast at 8:30 a.m. every Friday at Days Inn.
While the group has changed restaurants five or six times, they now have settled on Mac’s Cafe on Route 8, where their table is set up in a private room each Friday.
Mariotti said the group started out with four men and eventually grew to about 24.
These days about eight to 10 regulars enjoy the weekly breakfasts together.
This Friday 14 men gathered around a large table at Mac’s to chow down on the breakfast foods of their choice and spin a yarn or two.
“It’s important because it’s the only vehicle we have,” Mariotti said. “We are up in age now and we don’t go too many places.”
He said most of the diners are Korean War veterans, and many had golfed or played basketball together in their youth.
As very young children, Mariotti said South Side kids saw movies downtown for a dime, built dams on the Connoquenessing Creek off Ziegler Avenue to swim in, chipped ice off the neighborhood basketball court to play a few chilly games in the winter and romanced neighborhood girls.
“It’s about the old days in Butler,” Mariotti said of the breakfast conversation. “It’s amazing the things we recall.”
Vic Galante, 96, is the group’s senior statesman.
“We’ve known each other for a long time and we appreciate each other’s company,” Galante said. “And the food is always good here.”
Dick Rider, 90, grew up on Institute Hill, but knew many of the guys as a youth.
“All my friends started doing this and I didn’t want to be left out,” Rider said. “We’re here every Friday lying about what we’re doing and how well we are.”
Sam Muto, 86, also joked about his participation in the weekly breakfasts.
“We don’t have a heck of a lot more to do,” Muto said. “It’s good camaraderie and we find out how everyone is doing and who is left.”
The pair of Jacks at the breakfast are Jack Killmeyer and Jack Gibbs, both 90, who grew up together on the South Side and graduated from Butler High School in 1950.
Because the draft was active for the Korean War, the men enlisted in the Army together.
The day before they were to leave for boot camp, Gibbs was involved in a car accident and broke his back.
That meant only Killmeyer went to Korea, but he said the fighting was largely over at that time.
Killmeyer said the Friday breakfasts allow the men to swap old stories and “B.S.” together.
“We try to solve all the world’s problems when we get together, but so far, we haven’t,” said Gibbs.
Kim Morris, manager at Mac’s Cafe, said the waitstaff enjoys the men and looks forward to seeing them each Friday.
“It makes us happy because they are a wonderful group of guys,” Morris said. “They are always polite and very funny. We just love them.”
She said several groups of men come to Mac’s for breakfast gatherings, but Mariotti’s group has remained the longest.
She feels the atmosphere at Mac’s brings the men back week after week.
“I believe this place is like a family,” Morris said.
She said the mens’ children will sometimes surprise them with a cake or other confection if there is a birthday.
This Friday the men enjoyed poring over old pictures and memorabilia brought in by Mariotti and David McKivigan, who owns Mac’s Cafe.
Mariotti hopes the Friday breakfasts will continue as long as possible.
“This is the only thing that keeps us together,” he said.
