This post was written by guest contributor, Keith Wood. Mr. Wood is a teacher, historian, and author: https://www.keithbwoodauthor.com/
Henry ‘Hank’ Bozzi, owner of the Schenectady Mohawk Giants, was described by the Schenectady Gazette in 1963 as “the promotional genius for pro and semi-pro sports here in the Golden Era before World War II.”[1]
Henry Bozzi was born on January 21, 1892, in Italy, to Mary and M.B. Bozzi.[2] The Bozzis arrived in Schenectady in 1901, with Henry as a nine-year-old. He grew up in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood. At twelve, he dropped out of school and began working for General Electric.[3] Bozzi decided to leave the plant and began serving as an apprentice at his father’s barber shop at 137 South Ferry Street. This gave him the freedom to promote local sporting events.[4]
Schenectady Gazette, 1923
In 1920, he became the booking agent for the Knights of Columbus, and over the next four seasons, his notoriety as a local promoter grew. By 1924, when Chappie Johnson brought his Colored All-Stars to Schenectady, Bozzi stood as the obvious choice as promoter for Johnson’s club.[5] Bozzi expanded his regional connections, while Johnson acquired Bozzi’s knowledge of local semi-professional teams. At the onset of the 1927 season, Chappie Johnson headed north to Canada to promote baseball in Montréal. Bozzi retained ownership of the team and rebranded it as Buck Ewing's All-Stars. Bozzi's relationship with Buck Ewing solidified his ability to continue the all-Black professional baseball team. At the end of 1928, Ewing received an opportunity with the Homestead Grays.[6] Without Ewing, Bozzi reincarnated the Mohawk Giant moniker from the 1913 club.
By 1929, the Pittsburgh Courier described the Mohawk Giants as "the best club thereabouts since the great aggregation of 1914. 'Men were men in them days,' and that was a team."[7] Bozzi began receiving national attention. When Schenectady opened its Twilight League in 1931, Bozzi’s club became the primary focus. The Mohawk Giants stood as the standard by which semi-professional teams judged themselves. The 1932 season also saw the establishment of an Eastern New York Semi-Professional League. Many of the clubs that considered joining this semi-professional league were mainstays on the Mohawk Giants’ barnstorming schedule.[8] Once again, Bozzi’s club was sought out to strengthen a local league.[9]
Crowds at Mohawk Giants games at the A-Diamond in Central Park looked like “a huge bowl of overflowing humanity,” according to Dan Duval, the Union Star’s sports editor.[10] Bozzi collected admission for the bleachers behind home plate, but those fans willing to stand or sit along the baselines or in the outfield enjoyed free admission. Bozzi passed the hat around, but in the middle of the Great Depression, the hat often came back less than full.[11] For Bozzi, booking the club at the A-Diamond was an act of civic boosterism. Bozzi often brought his Mohawk Giants to Saratoga in August. His club’s popularity ensured solid crowds as they played games under the lights, allowing fans to see games after a day at the track.[12]
Two Mohawk Giants players posing in front of spectators gathering for the game.
Bozzi’s club played the House of David bewhiskered nine in front of over 3,000 fans at Central Park’s A-Diamond.[13] They also traveled to the home of baseball and played at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown against their town’s nine, and in 1932 they took part in the first night game ever played in Cooperstown.[14] The club barnstormed throughout the state and in the neighboring states of Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Massachusetts. The most coveted games were against Negro major leagues teams like the New York Black Yankees and the Brooklyn Royal Giants, including a 5 to 1 defeat of the Black Yankees in 1934 at the A-Diamond.[15]
By the early 1940s, holding on to the club for Hank Bozzi became more arduous with each passing season. Bozzi publicly announced that 1941 would be his last year in charge of the Mohawk Giants.[16] The following May, Bozzi sold the Mohawk Giants outright to McDonald Lewis, an African American business owner in Schenectady.[17] After a one-year hiatus, Bozzi brought the Mohawk Giants back for one last abbreviated season.[18]
From 1929 to 1940, the Mohawk Giants went 690-259 (.727), making them one of the strongest semi-professional teams in this era, white or Black.[19] The Mohawk Giants stood as a standard of excellence, providing entertainment for the region’s sporting communities.
Related reading:
WMHT The Mohawk Giants: Schenectady and the Negro Leagues
Guide to the Frank Keetz Baseball Collection at SCHS
The Walter Johnson -- Frank Wickware Showdown
Works Cited:
1 “Things You Ought to Know.” Schenectady Gazette. November 29, 1963.
2 "United States, Census, 1910", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MRQZ-STB : Wed Aug 13 18:10:23 UTC 2025), Entry for M B Bozzi and Mary Bozzi, 1910.
3 Keetz, The Mohawk Colored Giants of Schenectady (Schenectady: Schenectady Historical Society, 1999), 23.
4 “Barbershop Ad.” Schenectady Gazette. July 25, 1972.
5 “Tonight’s Ballgame Called Off.” Amsterdam Evening Recorder. July 29, 1924.
6 Gary Ashwill, “1928 Homestead Grays,” Seamheads Negro Leagues Database, accessed July 23, 2025, https://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/team.php?yearID=1928&teamID=HG&LGOrd=4.
7 “Sports Shorts.” Pittsburgh Courier. June 20, 1929.
8 “Local Semi-Pro Baseball League to begin play in May.” Troy Times. April 5, 1932.
9 “Mohawks play all Dorp team in mix tonight.” Schenectady Gazette. May 31, 1932.
10 Keetz, 71.
11 “Games book by Incarnation.” North Adams Transcript. August 3, 1932.
12 “Buck Ewing and Mohawk Giants to play here today.” Hartford Courant. September 4, 1933.
13 “Mohawks beat House of David in close game.” Schenectady Gazette. September 6, 1929.
14 “First night game draws record crowd.” The Otsego Farmer. September 9, 1932.
15 “Mohawk Nine halts rush of Yankees.” Syracuse Journal. August 25, 1934; & Lester, 67.
16 “Dressing Room Chatter.” Amsterdam Evening Recorder. August 12, 1941.
17 Keetz, 138.
18 “Pros defeat Mohawk Giants 10-3.” The Saratogian. July 26, 1943.
19 Keetz, 4.