Each year, the International Polka Association recognizes select polka professionals, living and deceased, with induction into the IPA Polka Hall of Fame. The Board of Trustees reviews the qualifications of Hall of Fame nominees to determine if they meet the criteria for placement on the ballot. An academy of 195 electors from across the country uses these ballots to determine those to be inducted in the annual voting cycle.
The pages below detail the accomplishments of each of those individuals.
Keith Stras was born in Chicago, on October 9, 1961. At an early age, Stras seemed to be interested in entertaining people. His late Uncle Ned Locke, a 25 year veteran of Chicagoland television and radio, was responsible for Stras being bitten by the limelight bug. Ned, a Circus Ringmaster on WGN's "Bozo Circus" can also be credited for Stras' other love, the circus.
The late Lawrence Welk is no stranger to millions of people. Through his efforts the polka and the accordion have become two items that have always been identified with making people happy. Welk was born to immigrant parents in March of 1903, in a farmhouse near Strasburg, North Dakota. He was one of eight children. Early on, his father taught him how to play the accordion, and by the time he was 13, he was earning money playing at local social affairs. At age 17, he talked his father into buying him his own accordion, and promising to stay on the farm until he was 21, turning over all the money he made playing locally.
Frank Wojnarowski, a resident of Fairfield, Connecticut, was born in Sanok, Poland. He started the Frank Wojnarowski Orchestra thirty years ago; his instrument was the violin. His sister Eleanore was the original vocalist in the band. Their first break, a recording session with Dana Records, came in 1947 - "Bije Mamcia" was their first record.