Pennsylvania's Prince of Polka
by Jeffrey Allen Federowicz
"My father worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines when I was a kid, and he told me if I learned how to play eight songs, well, I would never go hungry. So I decide to learn 10 songs." Those two extra songs paid off for John "Stanky" Stankovic, whose musical career has spanned 60 years, 40 original songs and performances around the world, including performing in front of a million people in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China. "Not too many people can say they have made a living doing something they deeply love. Or that job has taken them to amazing places around the world to play happy music and to make people happy." Often referred to as the "Gentleman of Polka,"
Stanky first started playing the accordion as a child after his father, Joe, insisted he learn the instrument. Joe Stankovic, a Czech immigrant who came to America at the young age of 16, immediately began working in the harsh world of coal mining to have a better life than what he left behind. Wanting more for his son than a life of working underground, Stanky's father insisted, rather wisely so, his son practice music one hour a day before being allowed to play. "My dad was a hard worker, and like most able men during that time, he worked hard in the mines. He made a lot of sacrifices for his family."
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