Legacy of family, commitment, hard work and service ‘at the drop of a coin’
By: Neil Rudel
Like many businesses that began shortly after World War II, DeLeo Games of Altoona, Pennsylvania started with very humble roots. It opened in 1945 at 411 7th Street in a small building right behind the family’s home. Today, DeLeo Games is closing in on 80 years and working on its fourth generation, but at the beginning, there were just two employees – Joe DeLeo Sr. and his wife, Josephine. They bought, filled and delivered peanut machines to local bars and clubs. Josephine and their son, Joe Jr., cleaned the machines and kept them stocked. “It wasn’t very big, but he didn’t need very much, either,” Joe DeLeo Jr. said.
Before too long, Joe Sr. began acquiring pinball machines and jukeboxes, and hired a couple more family members, including his younger brother, Anthony “Shorty” DeLeo, to help the growing business. Joe Sr. was the marketer, Josephine kept the books, and Shorty – who lived next door with his wife, Millie — serviced the machines. “My dad was hands-on,” Joe Jr. said. “He had a good relationship with the community, good relationship with the banks. He liked being around people.” Joe Sr. left school in the eighth grade and began working. He was employed by Allen Amusements in Altoona, checking machines and learning about vending and service. “He liked the business, and he saw an opportunity and took it,” Joe Jr. said. Later, Joe Sr.’s brothers, Danny and Herbie, and his sister-in-law, Millie, would help out. They opened a record shop opened in the early 1950s, selling albums and 45s and eventually record players – then called victrolas. When he was in high school at Bishop Guilfoyle High School, Joe Jr. would work after school and on weekends. “Business was very good,” Joe Jr. said, adding the company would keep records stocked from national supplier RCA Victor. “You’d be surprised at the inventory that little shop held … Music meant something back then.” In addition to selling records, DeLeo Games was the go-to outlet for bars and clubs to purchase jukeboxes, pinballs and pool tables. Joe Sr. marketed the company’s motto, “Service at the Drop of a Coin.”
Nephew Tony – Shorty and Millie’s son — started working when he was 14. “Uncle Joe would keep track of the machines,” Tony said. “We’d pull the old machine out and put a new one in to keep them varied. Different family members helped as you grew up. My dad would go with us until we were able to drive. Uncle Joe had a pick-up truck and then a trailer.” Tony worked with another cousin, Frankie Imbrenda (the son of Joe Sr.’s sister Theresa). “You nurtured and took care of it because it was a family business, and that’s what put food on the table,” Tony said. There were many laughs as well. “Uncle Joe was famous for selling a machine and not knowing where exactly it would go,” Tony said. “Frankie and I would take a pool table down 14 steps, around corners, having to take it apart and put it back together. We’d get back and he (Joe Sr.) would say, ‘What took you so long?’ My dad (Shorty) would go through the roof.’’
After graduation from Bishop Guilfoyle High School in 1954, Joe Jr. enrolled in pharmacy school at the University of Pittsburgh. After a few years in Pittsburgh, he returned to Altoona to open his own business, Downtown Drug, and spent the next 30 years in the pharmacy business. But all the while, he maintained his ties to DeLeo Games and now deep into his 80s, he enjoys working a few hours daily in the office. It kept him in touch with his roots as his son, Tom, grew the business and expanded the company’s workforce to about 25 employees. “It’s evolved through the generations,” Joe Jr. said. “It’s great to have a family history for a business like that and have it handed down from my father, to me, to Tommy.”
Under Tom’s leadership, DeLeo Games has flourished and become a leading distributor of the popular Pennsylvania Skill Games. “Tommy is who has made the business,” Joe Jr. said. “His skills and maintenance and his business acumen … and he was always willing to pound more nails than anybody else.” Tom, the current company president, is a 1977 Bishop Guilfoyle graduate. He’s tried to take something from his predecessors. “I learned from my grandfather, my dad, my uncle, my mother, my grandmother … everybody,” he said. “My grandfather taught me to watch what you spend, and my dad taught me to be appreciative and fair to people.” Tom said he’s proud to have helped sustain the business and often recalls his early days of “playing pool with my Uncle Shorty when I was 12 or 13” and working with his grandfather, Joe Sr., who passed away in 2003. “I think he’d be happy it’s still going,” Tom said. Tony DeLeo followed his cousin Joe Jr. into the pharmacy business and now lives in South Carolina, but he’s never forgotten where he came from. “I’m extremely proud – of our family name, of what we built and how it’s being carried on today,” he said. “I can’t say enough about Tom and how he’s stepped in and nurtured the business. Our name is very well known and respected in Altoona, and it all goes back to where our roots started in that business.”
Over the years, the technology has changed communications. Service calls that were once at the drop of a coin now come at the beep of a text. “The cell phone has changed everything in our part of the entertainment world,” Tom said. “The staples are pool and darts and PA Skill Games and pinball,” but some bar business isn’t what it once was because, he said, “there’s internet gaming, and people can duplicate slot machines right in their living room.” As to the company’s commitment to service, Tom said: “When somebody calls, whether it be an A location or a D location, we try to get there as soon as possible. I always joked that we need a helicopter to lower ourselves into the place and just go.”
Tom credits his wife, Colleen, for her support and contributions. “Even when she wasn’t on the payroll, she was an employee – her thoughts, ideas and giving me support,” he said. “She’s definitely been a big help – whether driving or picking up something for the business or anything we need.” Colleen often represents the company in the community as DeLeo Games, in partnership with Pennsylvania Skill Games, charitable gifts for giving has contributed significantly to a number of area non-profit organizations. “Helping people has been the icing on the cake,” Tom said. He’s gratified that his daughter, Katie, is also working for DeLeo Games, marking the fourth generation. “I’ve learned many things from my parents about the business,” Katie said. “I admire them personally and professionally. They taught me the value of a good work ethic and the importance of trust in yourself and in the people around you. I feel a great sense of pride as I’ve watched my family take risks, make sacrifices and put countless hours of hard work and dedication into the business. To be part of the fourth generation of DeLeo Games is truly an honor.”