Trustees Honor Roll

Champa, Ray

Accordionist and Bandleader (1928)
Inducted on November 25, 2000

Ray Champa has been playing the German chromatic accordion and leading orchestras for more than 50 years. He joins his father, Frank, on the Trustees Honor roll. Ray Champa and the Polka Champs were the house band, playing each weekend from 1943 to 1960 at the familly's Glen Park Cafe in Cleveland. In 1949, Ray hosted a weekly, half-hour polka radio show - one of the first - performing live music with his band. The Champa band featured Ray and his father on chromatic accordions backed by a bass and a banjo. Both were named Musicians of the Year by the Collinwood Slovenian Home. Ray's recorded compositions include "Sweet Dreams" and "The Penguin Polka." The orchestra appeared at ballrooms and nightclubs such as the Aragon, the Green Darby, the Twilight Gardens, Euclid Beach Park and Youngstown's Avon Oaks. Ray and his musician friends formed a close association, the Pol-Kats Social Club, for which he served as the first treasurer.