There are things big and small that make a great community. Some of the best things in a community happen when ordinary people get together and make it happen. A good example of that is the 30 plus year tradition of the Lake Keller Bocce league in Caledonia.

   A group of youth baseball coaches and umpires with time on their hands at the close of the season started gathering on the lawn of what was then Valente Funeral Home, the historic Hamilton house on North Street that is now apartments. That was the early 1970s. The Lake Keller Bocce League history, written by John Ball, states that Tony Valente and the late Buster Brown were the only two men at the time that had bocce sets so they are credited with forming the league, though Valente never played.

   Word spread quickly that bocce was a game easily learned and was a fun night out at much less cost than golf or bowling. Teams soon formed comprised of guys from around the town including the neighbors to the north, the Clifton contingent. By 1976 bocce was in full swing and the league moved from the funeral home to Tennent Park to the lawn at Specialized Printed Forms on Center Street. A 1981 expansion of the business forced the bocce league to move to its present location at the Iroquois Hotel.

   The league history reveals that weather has cooperated with bocce night. Of the 101 bocce nights between 1976 and 1985, only 3 were rain outs. From 1977 to 1984, 82 consecutive bocce nights were held without any weather cancellations. Apparently even Mother Nature doesn’t mess with the Lake Keller Bocce League in Caledonia.

   The 40 man league plays on Wednesday nights on the Iroquois Hotel lawn, along the banks of Lake Keller, a small waterway that flows from there to Spring Creek waters at Tennent Park. Four ten-man teams comprised of a mixture of very young to let’s call them 30 plus year veteran bocce players, throw three games beginning at 6:30 p.m. and end with the last shred of daylight, though they have been known to throw on the flood lights to finish a game. League play begins the first Wednesday in May and after playoffs and a tournament, bocce ends by the late August when the dusk arrives a little bit earlier, cutting short their play time anyway.

   League President Michael Keenan says the guys like it because it’s a fun night out. The comments flying around between the players about which team is the all time reigning champion underscore that there is some friendly competition going on at bocce but Keenan says the idea is to relax, have fun and not get too serious about winning and losing. But if you believe the league treasurer, Terry Donegan, he says the Wildcats are and the reigning champions. A quick dissention from a team mate declared that it isn’t the Wildcats but the Houligans who hold the championship distinction.

   As a young man, Carmine Filio watched his father and the men in the West End play bocce. His nephew, Dick Mancuso, one of the original league members, invited Filio to play. He’s played on a team since 1978 and at 81 years old, is the oldest player in the league. He’s also a two-time tournament winner. He’s still got it.

   "I look forward to it every May. The guys get mad at me sometimes. Once in a while I get hot and throw some good balls," Filio laughs.

   Keenan says he gets calls all the time from guys wanting to add more teams but, he says, there just isn’t room to do that. The regular season is winding down and the tournament is fast approaching. A steak dinner hosted by Donald Estabrooks, owner of the Iroquois Hotel, will close the 2009 season next month.

   The Lake Keller Bocce League originated because a few guys got together to throw the pallino. It’s still going strong 34 years late because it’s inexpensive and easy going fun backed by a healthy dose of Caledonia tradition.

   League founders have preserved the Lake Keller Bocce League history over the years and documented it in an organized narrative prepared by John Ball in 1985 at the league’s tenth year anniversary. Still carefully protected today, the website appreciates that Don Estabrooks and the league president, Michael Keenan, shared it with us for this story.