Everett Square Sporting Goods Inc

Information may not be reliable

by James D. Mitchell - Everett Advocate
To define someone’s life in an obituary, a eulogy, or a remembrance takes patience because it’s a difficult task no matter how well you think you know the person. To write a story of someone you fondly remember from passing moments in your life - that can be easily done – you just let your words tell the story and provide the meaning.
Anthony “Tony” Ventura, founder or Everett Square Sporting Goods in Everett Square, passed away on March 1 at the age of 91.
“Tony” as he was known by many, co-founded the famous sporting goods store with former partner, Anthony Lucci in 1948, growing what is now the last of the downtown sporting goods stores that still to this day, refuses to fall to the chain stores thanks to sons, Paul and John, both of whom keep Everett and the surrounding communities in sports uniforms and athletic equipment. But that’s just the beginning of a great story.
Anthony “Tony” Ventura was born in the Village section of Everett on December 24, 1919 and attended the city’s school system.
Following his Everett High School graduation, Tony attended ophthalmology school to become an optician, grinding lenses for his uncle the optician.
But in 1941, following the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor, Tony would change history as history was changing the world.
In 1942, Ventura began his stint in the U.S. Army Air Corps at aeronautics school in Pratt, Kansas with technical training on the secret project; the B-29 Super Fortress Bomber, a 90-foot long behemoth of an airplane that could barely fit in the largest of airplane hangers.
In the earliest stages of production, the B-29 Super Fortress bomber, with its massive 18-cylinder engines, would constantly leak excessive amounts of oil which would only allow an average of 31 hours of airtime – when the normal airtime would be 2-300 hours.
Despite numerous efforts to fix the problem – and numerous efforts to scrap the bomber, it wasn’t until Technical Sergeant Ventura decided to take 50 cents worth of asbestos to ultimately fix the problem.
According to the 346 Bomber Group website, a story entitled, “The Unsung Plains” and authored by Tech Sergeant Anthony Ventura (retired), reads: One of the major problems that continued plagued the B-29 was the engine oil leaks. The pilots, engineers and ground crews were very frustrated by the amount of oil lost during each flight. The loss of engine oil was decreasing the life of the engine to as little as 20 hours! Back in Pratt, Kansas in the two weeks before the arrival of the new group from Dalhart, Texas, I worked on an idea for overcoming this problem. First issue was trying to find where the oil leak was located since no crack could ever be found.
Each Wright R3350 engine had 18 cylinders which had two push rod housings attached to each cylinder base by two hose fittings. After many flights, I would check the massive oil leaks, since the engines were hot. All four engines always showed heavy oil leaks at the rubber hose fittings. I noticed that after a few hours of cooling off, the rubber fittings would harden and close back to their shape and hide the leak. The rubber hose fittings were softened from the heat of the exhaust manifold stacks. I discovered as they softened, the hoses flared open and oil would escape under engine pressure.
My suggestion was to wrap the 36 hose fittings on each engine with metallic inserted asbestos. This piece of asbestos would act as a heat baffle. The cost per cylinder would be about 50 cents. I experimented with one cylinder to see if this 50 cents would save a very expensive engine. The engineering officers and officials from Wright Engine Company were ecstatic when the cylinder was found to be bone dry after the test flight. My idea worked! This was an improvement that would affect the whole B-29 force around the world.
Everyday during the next five months I did one engine test at a time with close scrutiny by the high command. I was ordered to Command Headquarters one day and told by the excited officers that my idea had been accepted. A military telegram (TWX) was immediately issued to all B-29 worldwide. The TWX grounded all B-29 bombers until my 'Ventura' asbestos shield was applied. My friends joked that I had single handedly done what the enemy was unable to do, keep the B-29s from flying. However, when the modification was made, the B-29s could fly harder and longer to the joy of all, except our enemy!”
And that, as they say, is history.
Could anyone imagine that Everett’s sporting goods king and philanthropist single-handedly saved the B-29 Super Fortress Bomber, an aeronautical marvel that gave the US air supremacy and help bring about the end of World War II?
It’s amazing to think about.
The “war to end all wars” was now over, and Tony would return to his beloved Everett to open Everett Square Sporting Goods with Tony Lucci in 1948 – building their sports empire in the square.
In 1960, Tony would marry Lillian Allessandrini living in the Belmont Hill section of Malden, close to the Everett line.
Tony Ventura was never one to boast about his contributions. He was a man who always gave back to Everett in so many ways, year after year, through decades of sports fundraisers; bring NHL hockey stars such as Hall of Famer Bobby Orr, Major League baseball all-star George Brett; Celtics great Henry Finkel; or USA “Miracle on Ice” Capt. Mike Eruzione to Everett Stadium for charity softball games to benefit the American Cancer Society, the Kidney Foundation, and so many more.
But what hits home to anyone and everyone who ever stepped through the front door at Everett Square Sporting Goods, was that indelible smile and warm heart, as he gave away a baseball glove to a needy kid or donated uniforms to a start-up team; or approved a “payment plan” to a cash-strapped dad for his son’s first goalie pads – that was the Tony Ventura everyone knew.
Always personable – welcomed everyone by name, generations of customers from Malden to Arlington to Charlestown and Revere – if you played sports, then you, at one time, went to Everett Square for your first baseball glove or hockey skates.
Everett being the sports town that it is – it was no wonder that following his retirement in 1999, “Tony V” would leave the business to his two sons, John and Paul – who still operate the business the same way their dad did, knowing your name and offering a smile and a chat – with hockey and baseball shirts dangling on a line – uniforms, jerseys and sporting apparel were displayed on steel rings throughout the massive store; hockey sticks line the side walls, as does bats and golf clubs.
Tony may have passed on, but his memory will remain with all who knew him. This wonderful human being wasn’t just passing through; he left a long-time legacy of helping kids, supporting community spirit and service to his country.
May he rest in peace.

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