Optimists celebrate 75th anniversary

First published Monday, Oct. 21, 2024 in the Dundalk Eagle.

Seventy-five years ago, on Oct. 14, 1949, the Optimist Club of Dundalk was born.

Back then, Harry Truman was the president, the minimum wage was 75 cents per hour and a gallon of gas cost 27 cents.

The club, which sponsors everything from the local Boy Scouts to scholarships for high school students and organizes the Dundalk Heritage Parade, celebrated its three-quarter century anniversary on Saturday with a party at the Sparrows Point Country Club featuring performances by Patapsco High School musicians and the Baltimore-based Days of Vinyl band.

Local politicians lined up to congratulate the club, including Del. Ric Metzgar (R-Baltimore County), Del. Bob Long (R-Baltimore County), Maryland state Sen. Johnny Ray Salling (R-Baltimore County), a representative for County Executive Johnny Olszewski, U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Baltimore City and County) and Baltimore County Council member Todd Crandell (R-Dundalk, Sparrows Point and Essex).

All congratulated the club on its tenure, but Crandell’s speech stood out.

“I don’t know if I’d be here without the Optimist Club.” said Crandell, who represents Dundalk, Edgemere, Sparrows Point and Essex.

He told the crowd of roughly 100 people about his formative days wrestling for the Dundalk Hawks. In the late 1970s, when two staples of the business and community landscape — Bethlehem Steel and General Motors — were struggling, pulling much of the community into a destitute state, the Hawks needed a new wrestling mat, which cost $6,000.

The program couldn’t get the money — until the Optimists stepped up.

“I grew up in my teen years wrestling on a wrestling mat that had the Optimist International logo on it,” he said. “That was special, and I still carry that with me.”

Decades later, the club is still helping the community.

“The Optimist Club for 75 years has truly meant something to Dundalk. And it’s a blessing to have that,” Salling told the crowd. “And we’re looking for the 75 more years of this going on in Dundalk.”