The Monday After: J. Babe Stearn Center mission returns to its roots

The J. Babe Stearn Community Center – originally the Police Boys Club in the southwest section of Canton – has returned to its roots.

It's a Boys Club again. And it's a Girls Club, too, of course.

In an agreement finalized in May, the Stearn Center, at 2628 13th St. SW, became affiliated with Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

When the Stearn Center, which now offers activities for all ages, was founded on Navarre Road SW as the Police Boys Club, it primarily provided athletic and educational and skills-developing endeavors for young people.

It was established by Canton Police Department and, after initially being guided by the capable leadership of Sgt. Don Bole, the facility was placed under the direction of personable police officer Jack "Babe" Stearn – J. "Babe" in most references and just "Babe" to his many friends – who quickly became a beloved mentor.

Now, under the guidance of Executive Director Dave Miday and Program Director Tim Haverstock, as well as a staff that attempts to see the vision that both Bole and Stearn initiated, J. Babe Stearn Community Center, which opened early in the 1980s, is back to being a club where kids can feel welcome.

"We're going to be the Boys and Girls Club of Canton at J. Babe Stearn Community Center," said Haverstock, noting the original Police Boys Club name had been changed to the Police Boys and Girls Club in the 1970s and moved to the 13th Street building early in the 1980s. The facility adopted the Stearn Center name when it broke ties with the Canton Police Department later in that decade.

"We didn't want to get rid of Babe's name. We didn't want to take it off the building. But, Dave Miday and I and our staff have looked at joining the Boys and Girls Clubs for a number of years. We wanted to develop programing so we could be more focused on students.," he explained. "The concept is that every day after school, they'll have that safe place to go. That's what the old Boys and Girls Club did."

Another piece of the restructuring being put in place hearkens back to the days when the Police Boys Club was staffed by individuals with ties to the city's police. Soon, the Canton Police Department will operate a community police outpost at the Stearn Center.

"They'll have officers located at the Babe Stearn Center," said Haverstock. "They'll be operating as neighborhood community police, with an outreach team going out into the neighborhood to hold special events – cookouts, displays of police cars, and games for the kids – that develop the relationship of the police with the kids and their families."

Club holds a neighborhood heritage

Jim Mitchell, one of the Canton Police Boys Club's charter members and a former police officer, recalls that law enforcement originally got involved with the club by investigating a crime at the original Navarre Road SW building, a vacant structure at that time late in the 1940s that once had been the site of Timken Roller Bearing Co.'s employee basketball program.

"How it all got started was we broke into the building on Navarre Road SW," Mitchell remembered. "There were six of us and we were ornery."

Mitchell, Henry "Hank" Bullough, Jerry "Mo" Mosley, Glen McCully, Ed Clemence and Francis Smith wanted to play basketball in the unused gym of the building that had been closed by the Timken company and put under the management of the YMCA.

"We said, 'Let's go in,'" Mitchell remembered. "There was a window on the west side. We decided to break the window and one of our guys, Glen McCully, got in and went around and opened the doors. But, there was a Timken Company policeman stationed across the street in a substation and he called the (city) police."

Police and YMCA officials reacted to the indiscretion mercifully and creatively.

"The 'Y' said, 'Here's what we're going to do. We're going to leave the lights on and the water running and we're going to allow you to come to use the building. But, you're going to have to get the key from the substation,'" said Mitchell. "We'd have to get it from the Timken Police officer and when we were done we'd have to take it back."

The young boys made the most of their opportunity. They formed a club.

"We organized what we called the Southwest Athletic Club," explained Mitchell. "Most of the members were from the neighborhood and we'd have basketball leagues. Then we invited kids from other schools to come to play.

"In 1949, the Police department was looking for a place to move their boxing program from Schroyer Avenue. They purchased the building and appointed Sgt. Donald Bole as the first director of the Canton Police Boys Club."

Patrolmen Lou Early and Al Rehfus also were sent to the Boys Club to organize activities for young Cantonians. Mitchell and t rest of the "Navarre Road Six" were the first boys to join.

What started out as a break-in evolved into a "positive thing," said Mitchell.

"Until then, we had no place to go," he explained. "Kids didn't have the mobility they have today. We were restricted to the neighborhood. This opened up a new world to us. It was a place we could go to meet other kids and establish relationships."

How programming will change

Bole and Stearn fostered those relationships, with help of their staffs. And now the current staff at the Boys and Girls Club of Canton at J. Babe Stearn Center is reinventing the facility in the image the former directors envisioned.

"It's exciting. I feel like we've come full circle," said Haverstock. "Basically we're going back to what Babe and his guys did."

Haverstock said programming is being readjusted to focus on the needs of kids.

The fee structure is being altered, making membership in the club affordable for youngsters and very inexpensive for adults. Hours also are being changed, giving kids their own time period that fulfills the old Police Boys and Girls Club "after school" mission.

"It's going to be a kids club from about 2:30 until 7," explained Haverstock, who said adult programming would remain a focus before and after that period.

He noted that special programming aimed at youths will continue, such as the low-cost summer camp operated in a partnership with Malone University on the school's campus and the upcoming Thurman Munson Memorial Scholarship Dinner which raises funds for two annual "catcher's scholarships" and provides a forum for recognizing annual enshrinees in the club's hall of fame

Haverstock said that Canton Mayor Thomas Bernabei has been supportive throughout the transition process. "We've kept him updated." And the mayor also played a part in the establishment of the community police substation, which Haverstock said "completes the circle."

"We ended up following in the footsteps of Babe," said Haverstock, who compared that responsibility to "following a legend."

"I know what he would think about this. I can see his face lit up with a big grin and he'd be high-fiving us."

Reach Gary at gary.brown.rep@gmail.com. On Twitter: @gbrownREP.

A related event

What – Thurman Munson Memorial Scholarship Dinner

Where – DoubleTree by Hilton Canton Downtown at 320 Market Ave. S

When – Aug. 17, doors open at 6 p.m.

Why – To raise money for scholarships and award the Thurman Munson boys and girls catcher scholarships

Who – Speaker will be ex-Yankees pitcher Rich "Goose" Gossage, with a Q&A by Gossage and ex-Yankees pitcher Tommy John

How – Tickets are $50, with corporate sponsor tables also available; purchase at J. Babe Stearn Community Center, Davies Pharmacy, and Mike Munson's Tugboat Pub at Meadowlake Golf Club. For information call the Stearn Center at 330-455-3921.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: The Monday After: J. Babe Stearn Center mission returns to its roots