Over time, it no longer was unusual to see their team statistician aboard a scissor lift, hours before a game, doing repairs to the scoreboard.
Gerr Park often was unprompted, discovering glitches and faults even before they became noticeable and taking it upon himself to fix them.
He was a computer specialist, described as a “whiz” with electronics, and a man devoted to quietly solving problems and sidestepping any credit he was due.
“He was incredibly gifted with that,” said Pat Mealy, coach of the Roy C. Ketcham High School baseball team. “Gerr would do a lot without even being asked to. He would show up early and set the gym up for basketball games. He made athletic directors look good because you’d get there and everything was ready to go.”
Mike Paino called him “a genius,” describing Park as brilliant and well-versed, though always reserved, and shunning the spotlight.
To those who didn’t know him, a seemingly gruff demeanor sometimes disguised his kindness. But after more than a half century spent dedicated to youth sports, Park became well known to many throughout the Hudson Valley — the Poughkeepsie and Wappingers Falls communities particularly.
Ketcham’s ‘grandfather’: Gerr Park quietly contributed to the baseball program
Family man, funny man: Basketball coach McLaurin remembered for humor, resolve
“He was a top-notch human being who’d give someone the shirt off his back,” said Matt Paino, who had known Park since playing for him in middle school on a youth baseball team. “He was a wonderful, selfless kind of person who’d do anything to help the kids.”
Now, perhaps, is the only time he can be the center of attention and accept praise without protesting it.
Park, a beloved fixture in local sports, died on Saturday in his hometown of Poughkeepsie after a months-long illness. He was 87.
“Gerr was one of the most fun-loving people I have ever known,” said Mark Bickel, who knew Park since 1977, having played on two of his Town of Poughkeepsie-based Little League and Junior League baseball teams. “He gave so much of his time, and I’m sure his money, to supporting youth baseball programs in the area. He really deserves ‘legend’ status in that community.”
In addition to coaching, Park was the longtime announcer of the Ketcham baseball and basketball teams, playfully nicknaming himself “The VOK,” as in the voice of Ketcham. The school, Mealy said, will work to get its press box and tower named in Park’s honor.
“He’s got his biological family in Pennsylvania,” said Mike Paino, coach of the Ketcham boys basketball team, “but his sports family is here.”
Park was predeceased by his brother, Kingsley, and is survived by his sister, Faith, and her children. A private funeral service will be held for him in Poughkeepsie.
“The baseball park was like his second home,” Bickel said. “He loved coaching, announcing or just being there as a fan. I’m lucky to have had him as my coach and he will be greatly missed.”
Park was born in Pennsylvania but moved to Dutchess County as a child, eventually graduating Poughkeepsie High School and going on to SUNY Farmingdale. He began working at IBM in 1956, later helping design computer products, and retired as a senior engineer in 1991.
It was there his expertise in electronics was harnessed and, Mealy said, the company often had Park travel to different countries to troubleshoot software.
But athletics always was his passion. He became a volunteer Little League and Senior League coach in 1971. He did that until eight years ago, playing a role in the development of countless young athletes for more than four decades.
A highlight, Mealy said, was Park being with his team on its journey to the baseball state championship in 2005. As the team captured the crown, Park was present, in the Stetson hat that became his signature, and was “elated.”
Mealy, a native of Mahopac, said he learned a lot about youth baseball in this area from Park when he moved to Wappingers Falls in 1994. Park would become a de facto assistant for the Ketcham teams, Mealy said, unafraid to criticize his strategies or point out mistakes.
“That state title was such a victory for Gerr,” Mealy said. “He was thrilled, and it was such a joy for us to have him be part of that success.”
Park also volunteered as a scorekeeper with the Town of Poughkeepsie Cal Ripken/Babe Ruth youth baseball team that Mealy coaches.
He joined Ketcham in 1976, first as the football public address announcer, and then calling baseball and basketball games. Matt Paino knew him well, first as a player on his Moose Little League All-Star team in the 1980s and then as an athlete at Ketcham.
He still remembers vividly having “Yellow Submarine” blaring from the speakers during his batting practice session. Park operated the music for the baseball team and insisted on playing tunes about 20 years older than his players.
“You had teenagers practicing and our warmup music was The Beatles,” Matt Paino said with a laugh. “We asked Gerr to play some newer stuff, but he wouldn’t allow it.”
Mike Paino, Matt’s younger brother, first knew of Park through his brother and then got to know him as a Ketcham student and later a coach, and the two developed a friendship.
Park, in addition to calling the games and keeping stats, was a mentor to the kids and someone willing to help with anything, from subtle advice to restringing baseball mitts. And, whenever a scoreboard or shot clock malfunctioned — as they often do, Mealy said — Park sprang into action with his toolkit and knowledge of wiring.
“He was the smartest guy,” Mike Paino said. “He didn’t talk a whole lot, but when you were speaking to him and got to know him, you realized he was brilliant and had a great sense of humor. That guy knew how to bust chops.”
He and his former high school teammates remember well how Park used to keep a stopwatch to time their 90-second batting practice rounds. Fighting back a laugh while impersonating his friend, Mike Paino shouted brusquely, “TIIIIIME!”
“I have a video of him saying it and it still cracks us up,” he said. “Me and my friends have had that as a running joke since back then, doing Gerr’s voice and yelling, ‘Time!’ Little things like that kind of become sentimental and mean even more to you now.”
Their relationship endured. Last spring, Park often called Mike Paino at 7 a.m. the morning after basketball games to discuss what happened. The season was delayed and shortened because of the pandemic, and spectators were limited, but Ketcham was among the better teams in the county and Park followed closely. Paino joked that Park awoke at 3 a.m. and waited to make the phone calls.
When Matt Paino’s son, Owen, committed last fall to play baseball at Ole Miss, Park called to congratulate the family. He ended each of those calls with a “Cheerio!”
Park announced baseball games through the 2019 season. The 2020 spring sports season was cancelled because of COVID-19 and, this past spring, he became ill and couldn’t attend.
Matt Paino called him “the heartbeat of Ketcham baseball.” The team attempted several times to honor Park with brief ceremonies or even a recognition on his May 14 birthday. He refused each time.
Skip Rottkamp, the president of the Dutchess County Baseball Hall of Fame, had tried for years to get Park to fill out paperwork to begin the process of inducting him. After all, he figured, Park deserved recognition for those decades of work and the lives he positively impacted.
But, a hall of fame for a man who ducked praise and cherished relative obscurity? That, too, was a no.
“He always wanted the spotlight on others,” Mealy said. “For as much as he did, he tried to keep it behind the scenes and didn’t want attention for it. He was one of the most caring people I’ve ever come across. Words don’t do justice to the person he was.”
There exists the saying that people should be given their flowers while they can still smell them. Park didn’t need a bouquet presented to him, though. Instead, he was content in having planted seeds that eventually bloomed.
Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4826, Twitter: @StephenHaynes4
