A newsmaker you should know: Oakdale's 'Huck' heard call to public service early
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Ron "Huck" Gamble
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He was born Frank Ronald Gamble, but most people know him as "Huck." Here's why:
He was in a playpen at his grandmother's house in Oakdale when he apparently overheard two uncles talking about a movie based on Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
"I hadn't said a word yet," Mr. Gamble recalled. "My first word was 'Huck, Huck.'"
That first word became his lifelong nickname, and even Huck himself wasn't sure how he'd earned it until years later, when he asked his dad's side of the family and his Grandma Grace, Uncle Bud and Uncle Dean told him the story.
Since then, the moniker has been on state election ballots, in newspaper articles and on the lips of locals who don't know him by any other name. Mr. Gamble has held one public office or another for more than 50 years.
Mr. Gamble, 79, is serving his sixth term on Oakdale council, and in January, fellow council members re-elected him president.
The Democrat has served Oakdale as a Justice of the Peace, a councilman and a state legislator -- during which time he earned a reputation as a social conservative who liked a good battle.
The oldest of four brothers, Mr. Gamble was born and raised in Oakdale, a small town where everybody knew everybody. Young Huck -- or "Ronnie," as his mother, Gertrude McGuane Gamble, called him -- amused himself with friends by splashing around in a stream.
It was muddy, but the nearest swimming pool was in Canonsburg.
At West Allegheny High School, he played quarterback and running back on the inaugural football team and was among the second class to graduate, in 1951, following the merger of the Findlay, North Fayette and Oakdale schools.
At age 20, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps intending to fight in the Korean War, but a treaty redirected him to a base in Japan for 14 months.
First Published February 2, 2012 5:05 am
