Hall of Fame

Antonina "Antoinette" Blazonczyk was born and raised in the southern mountainous part of Poland in a village called Chocholow.  Also known as "Gazdzina z Chocholowa" - Antoinette was a "goralka" and extremely proud of her Polish Heritage. Antonina "Antoinette" Blazonczyk was born and raised in the southern mountainous part of Poland in a village called Chocholow.  Also known as "Gazdzina z Chocholowa" - Antoinette was a "goralka" and extremely proud of her Polish Heritage. Back in the 1940's Antoinette Blazonczyk recorded four 78 rpm records as a vocalist featuring authentic "goralska" music on the Podhalan Record label.  In 1948 she had purchased the Pulaski Village located at 17th & South Ashland Avenue.  It was here where Antoinette began promoting and strictly enforcing polka music exclusively.  Music, dancing, and polka lovers filled Pulaski Village five days a week.

Musician and ballroom owner  Cliff Hermel was born March 18, 1918 in Mankato, Minnesota.  He graduated from high school in 1934 and entered the wholesale business with his father A.H. Hermel.  He was on the road in that business for 17 years, all the while though being very active and well known as a drummer.  He worked with most territorial bands and started his own in 1945.  Cliff was best known for his unique and entertaining style of drumming including his trademark "marching cadence" between polkas and rudiments on woodblocks, rims and even walls.

Li'l Wally has been one of the most important and influential polka musicians in America. He was responsible for creating the Chicago-style polka, a slower, more danceable, more improvisational sound, whose core appeal lay with Polish-Americans.

Vi Johantgen was born on September 24, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents, Stanley and Marie Patla were born in Rzesow, Poland. Her father was a violinist and her mother was a singer of Polish Folk Songs. At the age of five, Vi started to sing and at the age of 11 joined the choir at St. Casimir's Church on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois. Vi was the only "alto' with 22 sopranos in the year 1926. She graduated in June 1930, took a two-year commercial course at Harrison High School and still kept singing in the choir. By then they had four more altos, so it made it easier for Vi.

Edward Chester Kutas Sr. was a well-known and important promoter of polka music in Buffalo and Western New York.  He was the owner and operator of the historic Warsaw Inn on Broadway in the heart of the Polish East Side.  For many years, Ed had a vision for a polka convention to be conducted in Buffalo and urged his friend Johnny Hyzny of Chicago to bring his International Polka Convention to the Nickel City.  His dream was realized when in 1965, the largest polka organization of its time, conducted an unbelievably successful convention in Buffalo with over 8,000 people attending.  Ed was instrumental in proving a polka event and organization of national scale was possible.

Since 1968, Marge Machay and her predeceased husband Chuck, owned and operated Polonia Ballroom and Grove.  A Chicago landmark, its name was changed to Polonia Banquets in the 1980's as renovations were made to broaden the business and better accommodate its patrons.  For almost a half century, Marge leveraged the facility to help sustain and promote polka music and dancing. 

Ted (Thaddeus) Okrzesik was born in Chicago on July 29, 1937, to Joseph Okrzesik and Emily Scieszka Okrzesik. Ted's dad played the violin and both of his parents enjoyed polka music. His mother said Ted spoke fluent Polish in his early years. Ted was the youngest of three boys. His brothers were Joe and Bob, who also entertained in the polka field. He attended St. Pancratious grammar school and Holy Trinity High School, where he also participated in the school band.

Chester Pala started off his musical career in 1958 with accordion lessons at the Monarch School of Music in Hammond, Indiana. Here, Chester acquired keen musical knowledge and developed many music abilities which enabled him to excel quickly with playing the accordion. It was at this point where Chester Pala started going down the road to become a Professional Musician.

The Dick Rodgers International TV Recording Orchestra was organized in 1945 when Dick formed a band comprised of high school students.  Within a few years the band was doing live radio broadcasts and made their first recording in Chicago.  From recordings and radio the next step in promoting the band was TV.  In 1955 the first live telecast was made over Station WLUK, Green Bay, Wisconsin.  The program was later expanded from a half hour to a full hour.  In 1969, because the TV. show was so successful and popular, other Stations in the Midwest carried the show.  The TV. show was taped at Danceland Ballroom, located 6 miles north-west of Green Bay on different Wednesday nights throughout the year with live dancers.  It is then broadcast on various TV stations in the Midwest on Sundays at noon.  In 1976 it was the 21st consecutive year the Dick Rodgers Show had been on TV.