News story leads to ball donation
VICTOR NAZARIO has one less thing to worry about. Actually, make that eight less things.
The longtime head coach for the Beach Channel HS football team received a phone call from a representative at Wilson Sporting Goods on Friday afternoon notifying him that his program would be receiving a shipment of eight brand new Wilson GST footballs.
Nazario had started the PSAL season with just two balls, which he bought at a local Sports Authority with money that had been donated by the parent of a former player.
After the team’s plight had been reported in the Daily News last Sunday, Wilson reached out to The News via Twitter asking for Nazario’s contact information.
Now, Nazario can look forward to playing the remaining eight regular season games, as well as any playoff games the Dolphins might participate in, without having to worry about the footballs.
The News contacted Nazario last week to speak to him about the condition of high school footballs in general, in the wake of the NFL’s Deflategate scandal. That’s when he mentioned he had only two balls to use in games.
“I have to thank the Daily News,” Nazario said. “First we were talking about Deflategate and one thing led to another. The lord works in mysterious ways.
“This is so big for us,” Nazario added. “We have very limited resources and anything like this really helps.”
Nazario told The News last week that he had been using old practice balls that were too slippery when it was humid out or raining. After he received a check from the father of former Dolphin Justin Zemser — who was killed the Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in May — Nazario was able to buy only two new Wilson balls, which sell for about $80 each.
Now Nazario’s team has plenty of footballs that meet PSAL regulations.
“These are very nice balls, too,” Nazario said.
With the cost of new footballs taken care of, Nazario can now put any additional funds toward other needs. And there are plenty of them at Beach Channel, a school that is still recovering from damages done by Hurricane Sandy almost three years ago.
“That money can pay for transportation, and buses for the kids,” Nazario said. “They do all they can at the school, but at the end of the day, sports isn’t at the top of the priority list.”