North Tonawanda High School

KanJam's visibility, sales take flight around the globe

It started in the early 1990s with a group of guys hurling Frisbees into garbage cans in their North Tonawanda backyards.

Two of the friends, Charles Sciandra and Paul Swisher, thought their quirky pastime would be a hit with others and decided to build a business around the game.

Their invention, KanJam -- a slick plastic version of their backyard game -- is now on the shelves of sporting goods stores around the country, in Canada and Europe. A set goes for $39.95 and includes two goals and a flying disk.

People playing the game can be seen at Bills tailgating parties, cookouts and on college campuses. KanJam requires four players who play in teams of two. One teammate throws the disk, while the other deflects it into the goal to earn points.

"It's a very interactive game that anyone can play," said Sciandra, 50, inventor and co-founder of the company. "With the instant-win scoring, anyone can [come] back at any time and win. And people really like that."

The making of KanJam has been spread across many local companies.

"Everything is made in Western New York," said Mitch Rubin, 54, who bought Swisher's half of the company in 2006. "We tried to get everybody involved."

The North Tonawanda-based company has sold hundreds of thousands of game sets, Sciandra said. Games have even been shipped to Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 2,000 schools nationwide use the game in their gym classes.

A KanJam mobile application was launched last month, and it has been downloaded by about 3,000 people. The company's Facebook page has more than 43,000 fans, and the annual KanJam World Championship attracts hundreds of players from as far away as California.

"Sales have doubled each year," Rubin said. "And this year has taken us to a new level."

But KanJam wasn't an instant success. Growing the fledgling company involved plenty of research, phone calls and pitches to local sporting goods stores and schools. The original partners sold game sets out of their homes.

"We've been 10 years in the making," Sciandra said. "It's been a very, very slow process."

KanJam first debuted in local schools. Swisher, the other KanJam inventor, was a physical education teacher at North Tonawanda High School and realized the game would be perfect for gym classes. It took off in Sweet Home and Starpoint schools, Sciandra said.

Fallen Marine Honored in North Tonawanda | WKBW News 7: News ...

NORTH TONAWANDA, NY (WKBW) - Just a few days shy of Memorial Day, community leaders along with the family and friends of Marine Lance Corporal Timothy Serwinowski honored the fallen Marine at Veteran's Park in North Tonawanda.

Serwinowski was killed on June 21 of last year in a sniper attack near the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. He was 21-years old.

Saturday, Serwinowski was immortalized with the dedication of a bench.

"I thought it was a beautiful thing, and my son would very, very proud. I just wish he was here so that he could appreciate everything," said Timothy's mother, Sally Urban.

The North Tonawanda High School graduated attended Niagara County Community College before joining the Marines in 2008. And according to those who knew him, Tim always had a way of making others' smile.

Tim's family plans to head to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia this July, where they will bury some of his ashes next to other American heroes who served their country.

North Tonawanda High School, alumni directory, 2002

Tonawanda and North Tonawanda

Report of the Education Department

Documents of the Senate of the State of New York

The Journal of the New York State Teachers' Association