Joseph Aloysius Albi (October 5, 1892 – May 8, 1962) was an American attorney and civic leader in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

Early years

Born in Spokane, he was the son of Garibaldi and Louise (Ottoboni) Albi, immigrants from Italy who arrived in the city several years earlier. Garibaldi (1861–1923) was a railroad contractor, banker, and one of the founders of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

colony in the city. He and three brothers (James, John, William) arrived in Spokane in 1887. The eldest of seven children, Joe Albi was educated in Spokane schools and graduated from

Gonzaga College Gonzaga College SJ is a voluntary Catholic boys' secondary school in Ranelagh, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1950, Gonzaga College is under the trusteeship of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), one of five Jesuit secondary schools in Ir ...

in 1911. He was accepted to the

Georgetown University Law School Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment, with over ...

in Washington, D.C., and graduated in 1915. He returned home to Spokane where he continuously practiced law until his illness, except for two years of military service in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

flying corps during World War I.

Athletic Round Table

Albi was a founder of the Athletic Round Table (ART), which led the effort to expand the presence of sports in the Spokane area. The fun-loving group was launched in 1920 (the start of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

) and the fast-talking Albi was its continuing president for 42 years. The ART was best known for funding the construction of Memorial Stadium, built in 1950 in under four months, and renamed

Joe Albi Stadium Joe Albi Stadium was an outdoor multi-purpose stadium in Spokane, Washington, United States. It was located in the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River. The stadium was primarily used for high school football, as a secondary ...

by the city council in the spring of 1962, several weeks before his death. In

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

, the ART brought the

PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. The PGA is one of the four men's major golf champi ...

to Spokane in

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

at Manito Country Club and the Esmeralda Open, which debuted in 1943 at Downriver and was a PGA Tour event at Indian Canyon in 1945 and 1947. It also helped establish the

U.S. Women's Open The U.S. Women's Open is one of 15 national golf championships conducted by the United States Golf Association (USGA), is the oldest of the LPGA Tour's five major championships, which includes the Chevron Championship, Women's PGA Championship, ...

, the first edition was played at the Spokane Country Club in 1946, won by

Patty Berg Patricia Jane Berg (February 13, 1918 – September 10, 2006) was an American professional golfer. She was a founding member and the first president of the LPGA. Her 15 major title wins remains the all-time record for most major wins by a fem ...

. The ART was also key to the construction of the Esmeralda Golf Course; it bought the land in east Spokane and deeded it back to the City of Spokane. The Spokane Women's Open on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekly ...

was held at the new course. The group also promoted senior golf, paving the way for the future U.S. Senior Open and

Champions Tour PGA Tour Champions (formerly the Senior PGA Tour and the Champions Tour) is a men's professional senior golf tour, open to golfers age 50 and over, administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. History and format The Senior PGA Championship, f ...

Congressional primary

In 1942, the 5th congressional seat was vacant, following the resignation of Democrat Charles H. Leavy on August 1 to become a judge on the

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

in western Washington. Albi, 49, announced his candidacy in late July. In the three-man Republican primary in September, he was runner-up to

Wenatchee Wenatchee ( ) is the county seat and most populous city of Chelan County, Washington, United States. The population within the city limits in 2010 was 31,925, and has increased to 35,508 as of 2020. Located in the north-central part of the stat ...

fruit rancher

Walt Horan Walter Franklin Horan (October 15, 1898 – December 19, 1966) was an American politician, a congressman from Eastern Washington for 22 years. First elected in 1942, he was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for ele ...

, who went on to serve 22 years in

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. Horan's victory in the general election was the first by a Republican in the district in twenty years.

Personal

Albi married the former Mazie Lyons (1896–1967) of Washington, D.C., in 1918 in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

, while he was in the Army. They had four children, Joseph A. Albi, Jr. (1920–1932), John Lionel Albi (1921–1923), Jaclyn Albi Flaherty (c.1923– ), and Jean Joseph (J.J) Albi (1927–2011). At the time of his death, Albi had eight grandchildren and his five surviving siblings all lived in Spokane. He was the Italian consul agent for

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

and eastern Washington from 1929 to 1941, and was active in many local organizations including the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is an Voluntary association, organization of United States, U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It comprises U.S. state, state, Territories of the United States, U.S. terr ...

Kiwanis Kiwanis International ( ) is an international service club founded in 1915 in Detroit, Michigan. It is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, and is found in more than 80 nations and geographic areas. In 1987, the organization ...

Elks The Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset (ELKS), formerly known as Linux-8086, is a Linux-like operating system kernel. It is a subset of the Linux kernel, intended for 16-bit computers with limited processor and memory resources such as machines pow ...

, and

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...

Death

Albi was afflicted with

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...

(ALS), commonly referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease." He was hospitalized for his last seven weeks at Sacred Heart Hospital, and died at age 69. His widow Mazie died less than five years later in 1967; they are buried in Spokane in the family plot at Fairmount Memorial Park, adjacent to the west side of

Statue

A bronze statue of Joe Albi as a sports fan was unveiled in 1997 at Joe Albi Stadium. Seated several rows above the field in the southwest corner bleachers (), the slightly-larger-than-life Joe is often adorned in the school colors of competing teams.

References

External links

Historic Spokane.org
– Joe Albi's residence – 523 E. 12th Ave.
Gonzaga University Digital Collections
– Junior Yard Association baseball team 1909 – Joe Albi * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albi, Joe Lawyers from Spokane, Washington Gonzaga University alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni Washington (state) lawyers American people of Italian descent Neurological disease deaths in Washington (state) Deaths from motor neuron disease in the United States 1892 births 1962 deaths 20th-century American lawyers United States Army personnel of World War I United States Army officers