Schools

Mepham dedicates baseball field to coach

Posted

Thanks to a $50,000 donation, Mepham High School’s baseball and softball fields were recently refurbished, complete with new cinderblock dugouts. Last Thursday, school officials and players dedicated the baseball field in honor of legendary Mepham baseball coach Mike Lurel.

The field revamp was made possible by a donation from the Oxley Foundation, which was started by John Oxley, an energy-industry executive and U.S. polo champion. Robert Tritsch, Mepham class of 1952 and a ’52 Chicago White Sox signee, is married to Oxley’s daughter, Mary Jane.

Tritsch, a star on the Mepham baseball squad, wanted to give back to his alma mater by redoing the fields. He asked only that the baseball field be named for Lurel. “Bob Tritsch credited his baseball coach, Mike Lurel, with shaping and molding him as a young man by teaching him lessons and giving advice that would guide him for the rest of life,” said Bill Murphy, Mepham’s baseball coach for the past decade.

“Now we stand here more than 60 years after Bob wore his Mepham baseball uniform,” Murphy continued, “and honor Mike Lurel for the positive role he played in so many of the students’ and athletes’ lives.”

The Mepham varsity and junior-varsity baseball teams were on hand in full uniform for the dedication ceremony, along with Bellmore-Merrick Central District and Mepham officials. Veterans from North Bellmore American Legion Post 1749 served as the color guard.

During his tenure as Mepham’s baseball coach, from 1949 to 1958, Lurel won two league championships and 113 games, and he led the squad to a county championship appearance in 1952. He also coached at Calhoun and Kennedy high schools and served as the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District’s athletic director, in an education career that spanned four decades, from the late 1940s to the early 1980s.

Lurel, who is now 96 and living in Bethesda, Md., could not make the trip for the field dedication ceremony. His wife, Gladys; three daughters, Patti Cook, Mary Beth Solazzo and Laurie Bonello; and granddaughter Annie Cook attended.

The field naming “is a testament to his legacy,” said Bonello. “It makes us feel great.”

The dedication shows that “he’s touched a lot of lives,” remarked Solazzo.

According to Lurel’s children, his favorite mottos are, “Glory lives in the struggle, not in the prize” and “Repetition is the father of intelligence.”

Mepham Principal Michael Harrington said the ceremony is “a reflection of the impact that coaches and teachers have on students.”