39 Evanston Ave.

The University of Dayton is known for its love of euchre, but it was one gang’s admiration of three-handed pinochle that brought together the 1974 residents of 39 Evanston Ave. 

While a floor full of card-playing science majors formed in the halls of Stuart, Class of 1976’s Greg Tamer, Ron Steinkirchner, Kenneth “Flash” Flischel, Al Dybeck, Larry Woerner and Mike Sweeney opted to live together their junior year at the cream-colored house on the corner of Evanston and Lowes. 

The six would switch off who would make dinner for the house each night. Tamer said a favorite meal of his to make had a peculiar name: chicken and hockey pucks (baked chicken and potatoes in a mushroom gravy sauce). The kitchen table, however, served a much more important role than a place to gather at dinnertime. 

“We had plenty of three-handed pinochle games at the kitchen table, often with two games being played simultaneously,” Tamer said. “Penny-a-point was the price, and we kept the tally through the year. I believe Al had the biggest loss, and I had the second biggest, which was about $10.”

Despite being fans of rival MLB and NFL teams, the ’76 guys are forever faithful to Flyer basketball. They rarely missed a home game. While the house on Evanston Avenue was their “home away from home,” Baujan Field was occasionally their bed when they’d camp out overnight for basketball tickets. To avoid missing class, the group would trade off who stood in line throughout the day. 

“Any location other than the first two rows behind the basket were unacceptable,” Sweeney said.

Tamer found a loophole that got him out of queuing for the tickets when he tried out for and made the cheerleading team. He was a yell leader for the squad, which secured him a front row seat to all the games and a lifetime of teasing from his former roommates and grandchildren.  

“I came with no brothers to UD. I left with seven.”

The Evanston gang even rented a car and took the 36-hour drive to Tucson, Arizona, where they witnessed the triple-overtime loss to UCLA in the second round of the 1974 NCAA tournament. 

The six of them — plus a couple of adopted housemates, Mike Hripko ’76 and Mike
Reifsteck — still get together every year to catch a UD basketball game. 

“I came with no brothers to UD,” Sweeney said. “I left with seven.”

Illustration by Kevin Johnson