Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

Novak, Frank

More than any other individual, Frank Novak was responsible for the button box renaissance of the 1970s which, in turn, bolstered the strength and stability of the Cleveland-Style Polka during that decade. Frank's greatest contribution was in the role of a teacher, multiplying his skills and experience through others and thereby creating a new generation of enthusiastic participants in Cleveland-Style Polkas.
Frank's credentials trace back to the very roots of the Slovenian Cleveland-Style Polka legacy. Frank first played the button box at age 10. Once a member of the Matt Hoyer Trio, the "pioneer" Cleveland-Style polka orchestra, Frank gained early fame as a member of the Novak trio. At the time of his death at age 85, Frank was still teaching and composing.

As noted above, Frank is regarded as the driving force behind the resurgence of the button box as an integral part of the Cleveland-Style movement during the 1970s. He has taught hundreds of students, many of whom make up the 10 to 15 button box clubs active in the Cleveland area. His students include regulars from as far away as Youngstown, as well as students from Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, California, with whom he carried on a cassette correspondence.

Novak wrote over 100 polkas and waltzes, and his music continues to be in demand by recording artists searching for new material. He has appeared with some of the besk known polka artists, including Lojze Slak, both in Europe and North America, and has toured not only America, Canada and Europe, but has brought the Cleveland-style polka to the Orient, the Holy Land and Australia as well. He recorded with Frank Yankovic, Walter Ostanek, and others. His many modern-era recordings, beginning with "Tony's Polka Village" in 1970 and including his 75th Birthday Album in 1981, are essential components of any button box enthusiast's collection. Novak's polkas and waltzes continue to be in demand by recording artists in search of new material. His unique harmonizing style is copied only by the most skillful button box artists.