‘Sign’ of hope
Street named for dad who honored his slain cop son
TED BUCZEK’S way was to put others first, to give something back, to help those in need.
On Saturday, the Ted Buczek Way became something else: The name of a Washington Heights street honoring the man who turned his police officer son’s murder into a cause — founding a local Little League.
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill served as master of ceremonies, joined by members of the Buczek family, friends and kids in their baseball uniforms as the ceremony began.
“So now the road leading to Michael Buczek ballfield is Ted Buczek Way,” said O’Neill. “And this, too, is the perfect way to honor a man who gave so much to the people of this community for so long.”
O’Neill said returning to the Manhattan neighborhood where Michael Buczek was killed on Oct. 18, 1998, was no easy task for the cop’s dad.
“After that day, it would have been easy to for Ted to turn his back on this neighborhood,” said O’Neill. “And I don’t think anyone would have faulted him if he never stepped foot in Washington Heights again.”
Ted Buczek instead started his baseball program for local youths the next year, with the Michael J. Buczek Little League drawing hundreds of kids each spring — and 35 ex-players becoming police officers.
“He called you all his little munchkins,” Ted’s daughter Mary Jo Buczek said to the assembled kids. “When you children play in the field this year, this beautiful field, respect your teammates, your coaches, your parents.”
The City Council kicked in $10,000 for this year’s program, said council member Ydonis Rodriguez, whose district includes Washington Heights.
The elder Buczek, a World War II veteran and retired accountant, died of prostate cancer in December 2010. He founded the baseball league in 1989, only months after his son’s death.
League president Sgt. Johnny Moynihan credited the launch of the league for bringing the neighborhood together at a time when crack cocaine fueled a surge in citywide killings.
“I really do believe this league, led by Ted Buczek and the Buczek family, members of the 34th Precinct and the community getting together as one — I think that’s what really changed it here,” he said.
Michael Buczek, 24, was mortally wounded as he and his partner chased several suspects wanted for robbing drug dealers in the neighborhood.
State Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa (D-Manhattan) paid homage to the Buczek family’s efforts and the thousands of local youths who took the field over the last three decades.
“The Buczek family has touched (so many) through their work in the Little League,” she said. “We are eternally grateful for the sacrifices that they have made, sacrifices that we will never know the pain of, that we are here to celebrate the legacy of.”