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.
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.
Back in California, where Hank was born, there was a family that played Mexican music called "Los Taconazos." About 1970, Gus Guzevich, who was Hank's father, realized that all of his kids adapted very easily to singing and playing music. Their style was different than everyone else, maybe because when they were kids they listened to all kinds of music, Mexican, Polish, jazz, classical and rock.
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.
Engineer, producer. announcer and owner of Peppermint Productions, Gary Rhamy has engineered four Grammy winning albums. He has produced over 500 albums for more than 175 polka artists alone. While at Ohio University where Gary (seated at right) received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in broadcasting he produced a live jazz program called "Campus Jazz" which aired weekly on WLW Radio in Cincinnati. After college, Gary went to Youngstown in 1967 to work for WBBW Radio as well as for United Auto Recording as an engineer. Following two years as a producer-director for the US Army's Television Division at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he received the distinctive "Hell on Reels" award for outstanding service and returned to Youngstown in 1970 to form Peppermint Recording Studios.
Born on November 3, 1956 in Buffalo, NY, Mark Trzepacz was 15 years old when he started taking trumpet lessons. Remarkably, he was performing in his first band only seven months later. Growing up in Buffalo's heavily-Polish East Side, Mark's passion for polka music was a foregone conclusion. First playing in smaller combos, he quickly became an in-demand commodity, graduating to some of the nation's biggest bands. It was during his tenure with The Dynatones, however, that he truly made his impact on the polka industry. Armed with a combination of crisp horn work, solid yet heartfelt vocals, and an ability to connect with the audience, Mark endeared himself to crowds at most of the nation's premier polka clubs, dances, and festival for decades.