The current COVID-19 pandemic is not the first crisis in Poly’s 166-year history. The nation has endured through the Civil War, World War I, the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918—which killed more than 20,000 New Yorkers and 600,000 Americans—the Great Depression, World War II, and 9/11. In the 1950s, a polio epidemic struck fear in the hearts of Americans because there was not yet a vaccine.

Alan Kane ’54, who resides in Florida now, can empathize with our disappointed athletes this spring. In his senior year at Poly, the fall sports season was cancelled. Kane had scored 11 goals in seven games tying a Poly record, in what was supposed to be an 11-game season, but he never had the opportunity to break that record when a fellow Poly athlete, Andy Gurley ’55, contracted polio and the remainder of the sports season was cancelled.

Kane said students were shocked by what happened to Gurley, who had been a star athlete in football, basketball, and baseball when he was stricken with polio in November 1953, just two days after leading his Varsity Football team to victory over Horace Mann. Kane, also a member of the basketball team, said that sports at Poly eventually resumed that winter.

Alan Kane ’54, who resides in Florida now, can empathize with our disappointed athletes this spring. In his senior year at Poly, the fall sports season was cancelled. Kane had scored 11 goals in seven games tying a Poly record, in what was supposed to be an 11-game season, but he never had the opportunity to break that record when a fellow Poly athlete, Andy Gurley ’55, contracted polio and the remainder of the sports season was canceled.

Kane said students were shocked by what happened to Gurley, who had been a star athlete in football, basketball, and baseball when he was stricken with polio in November 1953, just two days after leading his Varsity Football team to victory over Horace Mann. Kane, also a member of the basketball team, said that sports at Poly eventually resumed that winter.

A 1954 Polygon article spoke of Gurley’s tenacity during his recovery. He assured his peers he would return to school that September. A fellow student remembered Gurley returning with a car specially fitted with hand controls. “It was in Andy Gurley’s car that I learned to drive,” recalled Chuck Kaufman ’56, who passed away in 2019.

Gurley, who worked as an investment banker in the municipal bond business, was a lifelong friend to Poly, as well as a trustee. He passed away in 2013.