Village Ballfield Should Be Named For Late Beloved Coach, CB Says

GREENWICH VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — The ballfield where beloved late coach Raymond "Ray" Pagan taught hundreds of Village kids could soon be named after him, community board members voted Thursday.

Community Board 2 decided this week that they will ask the Parks Commissioner to name the James J. Walker Park ballfield after Pagan, a longtime coach and director at the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center who died in 2017.

The request comes after those who knew Pagan came to the board with the idea of honoring him at the ballfield, which he used for many of his coaching years.

Pagan was influential in switching the James J. Walker field from primarily a site for teams from local bars to a spot where young athletes could play, residents said.

"We used to have a saying, 'Take the 'A' to Ray and everything would be okay,'" said Dave Crenshaw, a Washington Heights coach who used to work with Pagan at the Recreation Center. "We love Ray and we appreciate him."

Pagan worked as the director of the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, which sits on Clarkson Street, for 39 years until he retired in 2015.

He passed away in September 2017 due to complications from Parkinson's disease just shy of his 65th birthday, according to a profile in the Villager.

The board said they decided to support the proposal for the ballfield, which doesn't currently have a name, to honor Pagan after hearing passionate stories from those who worked with, played for or organized alongside Pagan.

Council Member Carlina Rivera, who played for Pagan, also submitted a letter supporting the naming of the field.

Crenshaw said Pagan wasn't only a significant part of the young athlete's lives, but of the other staff he mentored as well.

"He trained so many people how to coach, how to referee and how to help out — when other people would just leave you out there [and] you didn’t know what you were doing, he would give you advice," Crenshaw said.

The ultimate decision on whether the field will be named for Pagan lies with the city's Parks Department. Parks staff told Community Board 2 that they would have the Parks Commissioner weigh the proposal and take the community's support into consideration.