Billy Zimmatore

[Ron Hill]

Wayne, your Billy Zimmatore story rocked my brain. Seems when I was a kid, my dad suspected that POLIO and water were connected. I always thought my dad was just too cheap, was why he said we'd probably just get polio...if we had a pool.

I do recall, every time I'd get sick, especially in the summers, I'd hope like crazy it wasn't polio. And I was sick a lot for the first twelve years of my life.

When Jimbo McConnell and I started Junior College, together, we had to have polio shots...(1962)...Jimbo and I were so elated that we didn't have to worry about polio anymore..

When I started teaching in 1966, Norita Scavarla was our school's music teacher. She could sing like the wind. She carried more stuff around with her than I could believe. Her daughter was quite an ice skater. The Scavarla's and Hill's spent a lot of time together. Norita had a bad limp, one day I asked what had happened. She said she'd had polio.

Norita had to have suffered much pain from her leg, but she was always the most up beat person I ever knew.

Chet Herbert, in the MOD VP days, got to be pretty good friends. Doug Herbert got Chad Hill into BMX racing. I got Doug into 20 SS Hydro. I asked Chet, one day, how he happened to be in a wheel chair. He said, "Polio. He was playing in the gutter water and contracted polio."

If you know Chet Herbert or of his cams, you know Chet never let polio get him down.

People like Billy, Norita, and Chet are the type of people that really make this world go around. As I know, I would not have been as strong as these three!!!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

You know you just rocked my brain too Ron. I had never heard of a connection between water and polio. It just so happened that 1957 was the year a 6 or 8 year drought ended for us. We were in George West at a parade for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the city and it was held on my great aunt's 100 birthday. It started raining as we walked toward Main Street and no one complained. I remember us all being drenched and very happy as my great aunt rolled by in the limo. It rained non stop for two weeks. I remember my Mom and Dad driving us to her parents house that night during a flood. My Dad talked the cops into letting us cross three flooded bridges. I guess they wanted to get us out of the way so they could celebrate. The water stood about 4 inches high in our yard for about three weeks. There was no storm water drainage then. Behind our block was about 100 acres of trees and brush. By the time the water was gone we had sheets of algae on the ground. I'm sure it was about the same at Billy's who lived 5 houses to the east of us. What a tragedy if the water that brought life to South Texas also brought the polio to Billy. But then it is really a bittersweet story because would Billy have affected so many lives like he did otherwise? Like you say Ron, people that have that kind of inner strength give some to everyone around them.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Another year has passed since I did this story about Billy Zimmatore, and I was looking for something else when I came across these slides. I didn't remember earlier, but I was in error when I said Billy only entered their boat one time. They also ran it in the Pan American Regatta at my Dad's house in 1974. Kenny Tipps drove it once again. Some day I will post a pic of that painting he gave my Dad when I find a better closeup.

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I didn't find that photo yet. It is in a family photo album hanging on a wall in the back of some some family holiday gathering photos. I didn't look long enough back then, but in the last couple of weeks I have had two people that knew about Billy Zimattore that brought him back to the forefront. A lot of members have joined BRF since I first posted this thread, and I am like most to check in on what's new and never look at the archives. Believe me, there is so much to check out in the archives it is unbelieveable. The extra special thing about new members that sign up for BRF to find things you will not see anywhere else is that only a few weeks ago, we thought EVERYTHING was lost. But no! Thanks to heroic efforts....and people who knew what they were doing....it's all still here.

Back to Billy Zimmatore. I found some stuff on the internet regarding a top level Golden Gloves champ that went to higher glory and credited Zym's Gym for his success. I never posted that, but I will see if I can find it.

About six weeks or so ago I was on a job about an hour south of Joe's shop and had to wait on pipe as usual. While talking to the Company Man I found out he was from Alice, Texas. He was much younger than me. Somehow we got on the subject of Billy Zimmatore while waiting for the pipe. He not only instantly knew about Billy, but was a very strong advocate of him. I was very happy to hear that because he was so much younger than me, and very much younger than Billy himself, but had a huge respect and feeling for Billy like those who had known him from personal experience. He told me that there had been erected on the high school grounds a monument with names engraved of all the people that had been considered to have had a positive and long lasting impact on the community. It was placed at the high school so that the students might walk by every day, and it might sink in to them that people that do good things are respected in the community. It's not for self important political refugees.

I have not been on the high school grounds (which was built right after I graduated in '67) since picking up my young sister from class sometime around 1973. As this company man and I talked, he wondered to himself whether Billy's name was engraved or not. They add names whenever whatever committee meets to consider the additions. The guy I was talking to has seen the monument, but never thought about whether or not Billy's name was on it, and he was concerned that whenever the monument was conceived, installed and implemented anyone was old enought to know or remember anything about Billy. He told me he would check into it, and I told him I would send him a link on the thread.

Only two problems. Right after that....I didn't know how to do a link....but I didn't know how to try either. Then BRF disappeared for awhile, but fortunately was rescued. I wanted to post this to not only remind all of you about how much boat racing history could be lost while we were sleeping, working, or doing things we shouldn't be doing, but also about how much there is in the archives you don't even know about. We don't want to lose that either.

More about Billy Zimmatore to follow/

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I started this thread over 10 years ago. A lot of new members have joined since then and this thread has been dormant a long time. Billy Zimmatore was such a unique and inspiring and one of a kind of guy that I wanted new members to read about him, and to honor his memory.

[Lykinsfamily]

This link is to a video article done on Billy Zimmatore painting done by a Fort Worth TV station in the sixties.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67...adc1781423/m1/

Dale Lykins

[zul8tr]

This link is to a video article done on Billy Zimmatore painting done by a Fort Worth TV station in the sixties.

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67...adc1781423/m1/

Dale Lykins

It always amazes me when people overcome their health problems and produce such wonderful works with their limitations. Very inspiring, indeed. Thank you for posting about Billy a person I never knew until your post.