|
Math Sladky
Pioneer Category - Inducted
2005
Math Sladky grew up on a farm near Wahoo, Nebraska. With the love
of polka music in his heart, when his folks would go to a dance, he
would head straight for the stage where he would sit all evening
watching the musicians.
 Sladky
always wanted to play drums but his father tried early on to
convince him to play the accordion. At 14 years old, with his
father’s suggestion, he tried accordion lessons for a while in
Fremont, Nebraska, but fall harvest came and that was the end of
accordion playing. As a young lad, Sladky acquired a small set of
drums from an aunt as a Christmas present and began his drum
practice listening to a Yankton, South Dakota radio show program at
6:15 every evening.
As a teenager, he was able to buy his first real drum set and
played with a group of friends with whom he attended Catholic Youth
Organization meetings in his hometown. In 1952, he bought some band
equipment from a defunct band and his career began to jell. Soon
after that, his band began playing “live” every Sunday on KLMS Radio
in Lincoln, Nebraska for over 7 years. During the week his music was
taped. With playing on the radio, his band popularity flourished
that there were some weeks he played every night and several years
he played over 300 jobs. At the height of their popularity,
“BillBoard” magazine rated Math Sladky and his KLMS Polka Band as #1
in Nebraska.
In 1960, Sladky began to tire of the frenzied pace and gave up
his band to farming. Little did he know that farming wouldn’t last
as being a member of the National Guard, he was called to active
duty in 1961. After his service call-up, he began missing his
playing polkas, so he started another band. Sladky has released 21
recordings of polkas and waltzes with his band. His band has played
from Canada to Texas and Ohio to Wyoming. Sladky has even taken
polkas to the pulpit. In the late 1970s, he and a priest from
Brainard, Nebraska, Fr. John Ludvik, developed a polka mass
patterned after one in Minnesota. He was privileged to play the
polka mass with the Bishop of Grand Island, Nebraska in Farwell,
Nebraska. He also did a polka mass with the Archbishop of Omaha,
Nebraska and the Archbishop of Mitchell, South Dakota.
In November of 1987, Sladky was inducted into the Sokol Omaha
Polka Hall of Fame and in January of 2002 he was inducted in the
Musicians Hall of Fame in Milligan, Nebraska. “He’s paid his dues in
the polka music business”, said Ron Nadherny, master of ceremonies
of the Omaha Polka Hall of Fame. “He’s worked hard for his success”.
Nadherny himself a musician who has known Sladky for many years,
tried long ago to figure out what made his band tick. “It was
amazing how people responded to him”, Nadherny said. Sladky’s
secret, Nahderny discovered, was the way he related to his audience.
Billed as the friendliest band in Nebraska, he and his colleagues
reach out to their audience on a personal level, dedicating tunes to
individuals and couples between numbers, Nadherny said. Wearing his
trademark black vest with yellow and red trim, Sladky leads his band
from behind his drums with an occasional whoop to the audience.
“Nice to see you, Anton”, he yelled out to a dancer and his partner
as they danced by the stage.
The dancers like the beat, the tempo and the accordion
variations. Mostly though, they love to dance. Also, there is
Sladky’s singing. “He’s one guy that can sing any song that there
is, whether it be in Czech or English” are the comments heard from
the various people. A full blooded Czech, he speaks his language
very fluently.
“When I started school, I didn’t know a word of English,” he
said. “Good thing the nun at school was a Czech so she helped me
learn English”. Sladky remains proud of his Czech heritage. He has
taken 21 tours to Czech Republic and Europe since 1982 and has a
cousin still living in the same house his father was born and raised
in. His part time job is organizing tours to European countries. His
favorite tours are the family tours that he arranges for folks to
try and find their roots in the Czech Republic.
Sladky added, “In his younger days the ballrooms were filled with
people of all ages”. On weekends, family entertainment meant polka
dancing. Now he feels there is too much emphasis put on sports and
this has taken away from the family polka dancing. If the young
folks would just try it a few times, they’d realize it is very happy
music and a lot of fun.
Now at 75, Sladky and his wife Dorothy live in the little Czech
town of Valparaiso, Nebraska. His five piece band and also his combo
mainly play in taverns, small town dance halls and ballrooms.
Sladky’s comment is, “His love for playing his drums and good old
polka music will always remain in his heart”. |
