Euchre Club: The Hottest Thing at Moeller
My Experience
Gavin Poetker’23 playing with other men of Moeller
I walked into the art room after school to play some euchre. This was my first time coming into euchre club but they meet every other week. Walking in I saw two different tables with four people each, joking around and playing some euchre. One of these guys playing some euchre was Mr. Marshall Hyzdu '96 playing with two Moeller students and a student from All Saints. Mr. Hyzdu, an obvious experienced card player, was teammates with the All Saints student and playing against Joshua Radloff and Andrew Marek. Within 15 minutes Mr. Hyzdu had swept the floor with his teammate and beat the opposition 4-10.
After that game, Mr. Hyzdu had to leave and I decided to take his seat. I sat down in that seat not knowing anything about euchre other than it involved cards. My table then took the time to talk about what I had to know for the game and slowed down for me to catch me up to speed in the game. Everybody was willing to help me out and make sure I knew what I was doing. Since this was my first game, the game took 45 minutes with a final score of 6-10 (the 10 being the winning score) with my team losing. Even though the game took awhile and I still lost, the vibe of the place was relaxed. Everyone just hanging around and playing some cards. Beyond just my card game there was another table with a first time student playing with Mr. Whitacre, Mr. Anthony J Corder, and another All Saints student. Everybody was joking around and just talking about life and just catching up on life.
The History of Euchre Club
Before learning about euchre club, it's important to understand the background of euchre. In the early 1800s German immigrants had come to the United States, in the midwest, with knowledge of several card games. It was there that the game euchre had begun to take place under the name "Juckerspiel". It's essential to keep in mind that this version of euchre was an early one that has evolved over time. It's in keeping in Zinzinnati's German Catholic heritage that euchre is a popular game among the midwest.
Lucas Hoffman ’22 playing some euchre with the men of Moeller
On the Navajo summer service trip, Joshua Radloff, Logan Horst, Cole Davis, and a couple of other guys had decided to play euchre during their spare time. It was then that euchre had begun to take root with guys at Moeller and the idea was sparked to start a euchre club. "I was like, why don't we try and create a club at school to play this because we had a lot of fun playing it on the trip" Says Joshua Radloff, founder of the euchre club. With the help of faculty moderator, Mr. Anthony Corder, the euchre club became a reality for these regular players.
In a short amount of time, the club had gain popularity with 16-20 people showing up weekly with even girls from MND coming to the club. On the topic of who runs euchre club, Joshua said, "it's started and ran by students". The euchre club isn't a club that teachers thought up for students the euchre club was started by students for students.
As for euchre club's future, Joshua said he wants the club to grow even more because it's fun watching people learn euchre and advance in a club. "I would love to have more participants and grow the club… yes, more participants would be incredible" says Joshua. In addition to this, there is even a possibility of euchre becoming a Marianist cup activity for students to compete against one another.