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Olean Times Herald Reviews Baking Second Chances!

Haut's book links Olean's baseball and baking past

By JP Butler - Olean Times Herald - August 9, 2024

Icky’s Cookies wasn’t supposed to be there.

They were the plucky upstart who’d begun the 1955 Amateur Baseball League season on the back end. Yet, they’d done enough, rising to third place in the standings, to not only sneak into the playoffs, but reach the championship final, where the powerhouse Moose Lodge was waiting.

“I didn’t think we’d even be in the playoffs,” team sponsor Edward “Icky” Haut said just prior to that Game 3 winner-take-all battle at Marcus Park in Olean, “so just getting to play is a win for Icky’s Cookies.”

Nearly 600 fans had gathered for the last of the day’s three ABL championship games. WHDL radio broadcast the contest over its airwaves while the Times Herald covered it for the following day’s paper.

And their question to excited spectators was a simple one: Moose Men or Cookie Men?

Haut was never actually able to play in these classic contests that used to dot small-town America. He was too busy learning the bakery trade and building his business, Haut’s Cookie Shoppe. On those sticky summer evenings, however, he was always in the stands, cheering on his guys.

And on that night nearly 70 years ago, his guys gave him something to cheer about.

A young Jim Snyder was a stud on the mound, tossing a shutout. Icky’s out-hit the heavily favored Moose Lodge. And by the end, they left Marcus Park with a resounding 3-0 triumph and an ABL title.

Afterward, team members charged to Haut’s first bakery, which happened to be located across the way at 14th and Sullivan Streets, for a “couple of cold ones.” But the celebration was slightly short-lived as most had to be back the following morning for work.

ICKY’S UPSET of Moose Lodge — and the essence of local ball leagues — is the subject of a new book called Baking Second Chances, written by Ann Haut (nee: Bradford), an author who 10 years ago married Icky’s son, Mark. Well, it’s not the subject, but it has a place in Haut’s genuinely enjoyable 267-page piece of local history, which is factually based but reads like a novel.

The real focus is on Haut’s career as a cookie baker, from his humble origins in the family’s Quonset hut, to the red-brick building that became his first real bakery, to the sprawling locations he oversaw in both Olean and Salamanca.

Haut’s Cookie Shoppe, as readers from a certain era will surely remember, baked large, soft sugar cookies — the kind packaged in 12-count cellophane wrappers — and sold them across the northeastern United States. And the tale that it ultimately inspired is a reflection of the baseball team that Haut sponsored:

An underdog that improbably, in many ways, becomes “champion.”

IN THAT era, “times are good, and 1950s moms are hungry for pastries to serve their baby boomer families,” a provided book description began.

Haut had created a product that was popular at local grocery stores while simultaneously filling Olean’s west end with the enticing aroma of Saigon cinnamon, ginger, vanilla and molasses. Eventually, Icky’s Cookies exploded, becoming a coveted commodity for dozens of national grocery chains and distributors.

At that point, Haut thought he’d “made it big” in the commercial baked goods market. He was, for all intents and purposes, the Cookie King of Olean. But that’s where the book’s real drama originates.

“Just as he’s ready to expand his bakery, an editorial in the local newspaper suggests cookie ‘fumes’ could pose a danger to nearby Marcus Park, (threatening the Common Council vote on his plan),” the description continued.

“Will all good things crumb to an end? Perhaps.”

BAKING SECOND Chances is a “local-guy-bakes-good” story about a faithful man who follows his calling even when the world seems stacked against him. It’s about the family and friends, particularly his wife, Millie, who help him along the way.

And for this writer, it struck a personal chord — I grew up on North 14th Street, between State and Washington, and spent much of my childhood (and softball playing days) at Marcus Park and the corner of Sullivan and 14th Streets, where that original red-brick bakery building still stands.

Of course, there’s also the sports element.

Haut ultimately grew his business large enough to where he could pay for the installation of stadium lights at Marcus Park, which allowed neighborhood teams (including Icky’s Cookies, whose roster featured names like Snyder, Jim Padlo, Lou Nicol and Ray Haberly) to finish their games after sundown.

Those lights, as we know, remained on for nearly the next 60 years.

Upon his retirement in 1971, Haut was honored by the Amateur Baseball League for his lifetime support of the game with the nickname “Mr. Softball.” Millie later noted that it was the high point of his career.

“Baseball has always represented the American dream at its core: the belief that hard work and fair play are the keys to success,” said the author, Ann Haut, whose father, Doug Bradford, covered the Detroit Tigers for The Detroit News in the 1960s and 70s. “Icky Haut lived by those ideals.”

Haut’s book can be purchased by visiting www.annhaut.com.

 

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