Renfrew Field Dedicated to Longtime League President
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| Margaret Balardini throws out the first pitch.
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Balardini's widow, Margaret, tossed out the first pitch, opening the field for Babe Ruth League play in front of dozens of family, friends, town officials and players.
Balardini was president of the Adams Babe Ruth League for 31 years.
"He really deserves it. He did a lot for the community," Lisa Albareda of Adams, Balardini's granddaughter, said on Monday.
Albareda said the event started out under cloudy skies but "all of a sudden the sun came out as though it was meant to. It was just beautiful. Everything just went perfect."
Balardini died Jan. 9, 2000, at the age of 84. He served on the Parks Commission for eight years and was a town meeting member. Along with his work in youth sports, he was the announcer for the Hoosac Valley Hurricanes' home games for more than 30 years.
<L2>A ceremony was held at the ball field honoring the World War II veteran back in 1993. But after nearly six years working on the field, it was decided to officially dedicate the field to the longtime league president.
"We did a multiyear, multiphase project of renovations," said Community Development Director Donna Cesan, who had been instrumental in the project's success, on Monday. "The rededication was a celebration of the completion of Renfrew."
The field reopened last spring after a new announcer's booth, concession stand and dugouts were constructed and the fields reconfigured and re-sodded. The dedication was supposed to occur last year but a delay in getting a new scoreboard postponed the ceremony until this spring.
Many of those attending Sunday's event had looked to Balardini as coach and mentor. "Some of our futures were molded on this diamond because Ugo was a pioneer at Adams Babe Ruth. It is because of him that after all these years, kids still have a place to play and be proud of on this new diamond and field," said a dedication speech provided to iBerkshires.
Among those speaking, said Albareda, were Keith Hayden, a Babe Ruth graduate whose father, owner of Hoosac Valley Coal and Grain, had been among the first to sponsor a team; Charles Pansecchi, a longtime coach and friend, and Mike Koperniak, who had also grown up in the league and become a good friend of Balardini's. Also speaking was Balardini's grandson, John Gelheiser of Lake George, N.Y.<R3>
"My brother made the most beautiful speech," she said, adding it had been quite emotional. Other family in attendance included Balardini's daughter, Margaret "Peg" Gelheiser, and his three grandchildren Steve and Zach Albareda and Charles Gelheiser and several other relatives.
A plaque with Balardini's face will be placed on a prominent rock in the park; the plaque hadn't been ready for Sunday's event. A photo of Balardini at the ceremony shows him holding a brass plaque, the one that had been made back in 1993.
<L4>That dedication 15 years ago hadn't been quite official, said Albareda, but the plaque was placed in the old concession stand at the far end of the field. Unfortunately, when the stand was taken down, the plaque was forgotten - and hauled away with the debris.
"That really broke our hearts," said Albareda. But the family is looking forward to seeing the new plaque installed in their grandfather's honor.
It probably won't be placed soon enough for Albareda's son Steve, who'll play one of his last games as a Hurricane senior on Thursday at the field named for his great-grandfather.
