William S. Sykora

William S. Sykora, usually called "Will" in early fandom, was an early member of science fiction fandom. He attended the First Convention and helped organize the Newark Convention and the first Worldcon.
== Conflicts and Feuds ==
Sykora's focus was on science itself, which left him at odds with fans like Donald A. Wollheim and John B. Michel, who believed in integrating leftist politics into science fiction fandom. Wollheim and Michel joined him as some of the first five members of the New York chapter of the Science Fiction League, but later events would drive the three into two opposing factions.William S. Sykora on Fancyclopedia.
According to Jack Speer's Fancyclopedia (first published 1944), Sykora was at one point chairman of the International Scientific Association. He resigned in 1937 due to his college workload, and also because he felt the organization was neglecting its original purpose to lead sci-fi fans into scientific careers. At that point Donald A. Wollheim assumed control as the sole active club officer. Wollheim obtained consensus from other members to dissolve the club, and while Sykora tried in 1938 to resurrect the ISA, he was unsuccessful. These attempts, along with Sykora's alleged "dictatorial" leadership of the Queens Science Fiction League, led the Wollheim faction to suspect he would try again at Worldcon 1939.ISA at Fancyclopedia.
The QSFL had also broken up in 1938 after clashes between the "Wollheimists" and Sykora.GNYSFL at Fancyclopedia. Sykora now ran it under a revived charter, along with Sam Moskowitz and James V. Taurasi. Wollheim's leftist faction had regrouped as the Futurians, and the longstanding bad blood between the two groups would culminate in the Great Exclusion Act at Worldcon 1939.
In January 1941, Bob Tucker printed a stinging article in Le Zombie accusing Sykora of reporting false rumors in Fantasy-News. He repeatedly called Fantasy-News a "(quote) news (unquote) paper" and said that Sykora had "Sykorized the news" by reporting that at the Philadelphia Science Fiction Conference, the officers of Tucker's Illini Fantasy Fictioneers had been publicly condemned over plans to "pocket" the profits from Chicon I. Fantasy-News had cited an issue of the Fantasy Fictioneer that, according to Tucker, had yet to be printed at the time. He said that contrary to Sykora's report, the members of the IFF had voted and approved a motion to hand over the profits in recognition of their hard work.Bob Tucker: "Following Fanny: The Latest Parlor Game". Le Zombie, issue 36 pp. 10-11. (January 1941.) Tucker later admitted that one of the officers had "persuaded" the vote in this direction.Bob Tucker: The First Chicon, pg. 5. Tau Ceti Reprints no. 2, May 1965.
Jack Speer reports that Sykora faded out of fandom for a while after Chicon I, owing to reports of his arrest for child molestation.William S. Sykora on Fancyclopedia. Text quoted from Speer's original Fancyclopedia I (1944). His name vanished from the credits for the final issue of the clubzine New Fandom. He continued editing Fantasy-News, but it appeared very rarely from 1942 onwards.
== References ==
Category:Deceased
Category:Convention Organizers
Category:1994 Deaths