NARROWSBURG, NY — The sports court and ball field at 75 Third Ave. were dedicated to former Narrowsburg athletes on Saturday, June 7.

The baseball field has been renamed the Brock-Hankins-Laraia Memorial Field to honor three of the hamlet’s volunteer firefighters, who died in a fire truck accident in 1979 as they returned home from a July 4 parade in Montrose, PA. 

Paul Brock, Brett Hankins and Jay Laraia attended high school in Narrowsburg. All three played Delaware Valley Little Fellows League baseball on the field in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Brock was a member of the Narrowsburg Dodgers, and Hankins and Laraia played for the Narrowsburg Braves. 

The sports court adjacent to the field was dedicated to the memory of Bruce Denny, a 1969 graduate of Narrowsburg Central School. Bruce died January 21, 1973, while attending Gettysburg College. During his youth in Narrowsburg, he played soccer, basketball and baseball, and was involved in the development of a summer basketball camp. The court will be known as the Bruce Denny Memorial Sport Court and now carries boundaries for basketball and pickleball.

Coach Bob Bunnell kept the passion for these memorials alive. His devotion was clearly contagious during the touching ceremony, during which representatives from each family spoke lovingly of those lost. Stories of the men as boys playing ball were shared. For each tear there was a moment of laughter. One person in the crowd even admitted to hitting a line drive into the mouth of one of the honorees. 

The event was made possible by the hard work of the Narrowsburg firefighters who helped set up the event and provided a fire truck for kids to pose next to and perhaps dream of how they might serve the community.

The ceremony itself was a celebration of what Narrowsburg was, is and has the potential to be in the future. While people lovingly spoke of their hometown, it was easy to picture the kids playing on the field. Thriving in a place in which one can play safely, make lifelong friends and know that the spirit of the community will lift them up. 

A community sharing in celebrations and carrying each other through the hard times. 

A community that knows, and remembers, that which matters.

Previous Next