Hall of Fame

Steve Adamczyk was born in Chicago, the eldest of four children of the late Stephen and Lottie (nee Kazanecki) Adamczyk. His parents introduced Steve to music at an early age, enrolling him as a student of piano, his first teachers being the Felician Sisters of SS. Peter and Paul Parish. When a school was organized, Steve turned his attention to the saxophone and clarinet.

Tommy was born and raised on the north side of Chicago near Humboldt Park. He attended Bernard Moos Grade School and Lane Technical High School. Shortly after graduating from high school, he served an apprenticeship in the lithography trade, became a journeyman and spent most of his adult life employed in that field.

Adam Barthalt was born in Ridgewood, Queens, NY on June 11, 1935. Adams's deep-rooted interest in music began unpretentiously at the age of three with a toy accordion he received from his grandparents while on a visit with his mother to Europe. By the time Adam was seven, he had graduated to the "real thing" and began his formal musical education. At the age of twelve he earned his first pay, which was $5, when he performed with a local band. At the age of ten he heard a recording by Frankie Yankovic which inspired him to go into the polka field. At the age of 16, he formed his own polka band, which had a series of constant engagements at leading resorts in the Catskill area.

Kenny Bass (Peter Bastasic, Jr.) was considered one of the all time polka greats that made Cleveland the great polka center that it is.  Since 1948 he had hosted radio programs on local area stations including former WSRS, WJMO, WBKC, WELW, WLYT and currently on the Chardon station.

Billy Belina has spent a major part of his life playing and promoting polka music. Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1947, Billy has his parents to thank for much of his success in the polka industry. In his early years, Billy often joined his parents on the two-hour drive to Connecticut to watch the local polka bands. He endeared himself to accordion greats such as Ray Henry and Al Soyka and soon desired to try the instrument on his own. At the age of eight, Billy convinced his parents to buy him his first accordion and sign him up for lessons. By his mid-teens, Billy's practice and dedication began to pay off as he started a band of his own, known as the BelAirs.

Rich was born and raised in Norwich, Connecticut, and fell in love with the accordion after attending numerous Polish functions with his parents, Walter and Sylvia Bernier.  At the age of nine, he started taking private lessons on the accordion.  Rich remarks that during his seventeen years of instruction, his teacher had to give him a polka or oberek to keep up his interest along with the lessons he was given.  Since then, Rich and his instrument shared a musical career together that took them from a small New England town to performances at venues throughout the United States.  His early training on the accordion, coupled with his fascination with polka music, gave him the drive and inspiration to someday perform among the best of the best in his genre.

Eddie was born in Toledo, Ohio to a musical family.  Mother Gina is a trained clarinetist and vocalist while father, Dionysius "Danny" Biegaj played trumpet and sang.  With the help of "Busia" Helen (his maternal grandmother) at a young age Eddie started his love for polka and Polish culture and heritage by singing along to the 78 RPMs and 45's of such greats as Frank Wojnarowski, the "Connecticut Twins" and "The Naturals".  He started formal training on drums in 2nd grade.

Michael "Mitch" Biskup born in Montreal Canada, joined a new polka band back in 1969 called the Golden Brass, which soon became one of the top five polka bands in the nation and in 1971 captured the "Triple Crown" by winning the IPA Awards for Best LP, "Let The Sunshine In," Best Instrumental Group and Best Single Recording.

Eddie Blazonczyk was a native Chicagoan, son of Fred and Antoinette Blazonczyk, who for years operated the Pulaski Village Ballroom and later the Club Antoinette in Chicago. Eddie started playing polkas in the early fifties with a four-piece combo known as "Happy Eddie and his Polka Jesters." They performed at many Polish weddings, anniversaries and other engagements in Chicagoland.

Richard J. Bobinski was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, on January 18, 1939, to Mr. & Mrs. Robert Bobinski. Rich began playing the trumpet when he was about nine years old after seeing a Harry James movie. His first instructor was Polish and it wasn't long before he had Rich playing music from the instructor's collection of Polish music. He and his brother Bob started their own band shortly after they were out of high school and played at local weddings and clubs under the name of Bob Bobinski and His Orchestra. Around 1955 they changed the name to Bob & Rich & the Harmony Kings Orchestra. They made a couple of connections and started to travel. Their first job on the road was in Prospect Hill in Brooklyn, New York, and from then on, the road trips kept coming.