This year, Bucaria and Mayor Francis Murray joined forces to improve the ball fields in Rockville Centre. A number of the parks, which for years have been in need of repair, are now irrigated and evenly planed, and the much-heralded Hickey 2 field is complete, thanks to a public-private partnership between the village and the Little League.

“Tom spearheaded the whole thing,” Murray said. “It’s like a brand new field … And I have Tom Bucaria’s guidance and strength and ability to get things done to thank for that.”

Yet it is the Challenger Division, Bucaria’s beloved pet project, that has brought him and those around him the most joy. “We knew early on that we had caught lightning in a bottle when, before the very first Challenger game, a Little League player was with his Challenger brother,” Bucaria said. “And the Little League player turns to the Challenger and says something like, ‘Hey, why don’t we have a catch and get ready for the game?’ And the Challenger kid is like, ‘Dave, I’ve got a game.’ … So these kids, who’ve been relegated to watching their brothers and sisters play for years — now their brothers and sisters and grandmas and grandpas are coming to their games to watch them play.”

Bob Klein, a former Little League president who tried to start a Challenger team in the 1980s but was unable to get it going, has been to a few of the games and, he said, found them extremely moving. “I’ve seen the smiles on the kids’ faces,” Klein said. “Tom had Mr. Met come down for one of the games! The kids were crying, I was crying. It meant so much to these kids.”

Bucaria’s sheer generosity and commitment to others touches everyone around him — not least his children. “He’s a very social person, and he’s also a very thoughtful person,” said Michael. “He genuinely cares. He’s very committed to the community, and dedicated to it.”

Catherine concurred. “He’s never met a club or organization where he hasn’t dove right in and said, ‘What can I do to help and make this better?’” she said. “I always admired that he just throws himself into these things expecting nothing in return, and it just makes everything so much better for everyone that’s part of them.”