There are many people in Manhasset who make personal sacrifices and dedicate their time to serve the community; the school trustees, the library trustees, the park district commissioners, the civics, the veterans, the Girl Scout leaders, the Boy Scout leaders, the leaders of the school and sports organizations. This letter focuses on one of those groups, the Manhasset Baseball/Softball League.

There are many of us who coach a team because it gives us a chance to spend time with our own kid(s) and be involved in something we enjoy. However, behind the scenes, there are league officials who spend many hours making things work so that more than a thousand Manhasset kids can have a great experience.

Gary Kucich, the president, oversees the boys' and girls' division to coordinate more than 100 officials and coaches. There are others, such as Bob Miglis, longtime treasurer. Paul Iskyan is (physically) getting fields in playing condition, while some of us are sleeping. There is John Demitroff and his group of commissioners and coaches who do a great job with the boys' program. There is also Bill Heenan, John Kiggins, Scott Levy, Henry Iervolino, Mary Fran Jeffrey, Carolann Ronback, Jim Madison, Steve Rubertone and Tom Emma. And, of course, there is Jim Judge, "retired" president. He is surely still helping out in many ways.

As a coach of one of the girls' softball teams, I experienced the following: During a weekend, another coach and I needed to call Joe Janik, girls' softball director to work out a safety issue on one of the fields. I reached Joe at home at 6 o'clock in the evening. Before I could apologize for calling him, he apologized to me for any noise on his end of the phone (since his family was having dinner). He spent 20 minutes away from his family dinner to make sure the 26 girls on the two softball teams and others involved would be safe. On another occasion, I remember helping Jim Accardi pack up his equipment bag after a game. I couldn't help notice that it was missing a carry-strap and it was in generally poor condition. I didn't say a word, but I looked at him with a look of amusement. He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Yeah, I know." (He is in charge of distributing equipment to all the ball teams. However, he took the least desirable bag for himself!)

Art Molins, John Markham, Anthony Canatella and the other "league commissioners" did a terrific job for the girls.

Of course, I have (unintentionally) failed to mention many others who deserve recognition. But, that is what this letter is about, the many volunteers who are behind the scenes dedicating their time for the kids and the entire community. They don't do it for themselves or for the recognition. They do it for others.

"A coach"

(Name withheld on request)