By Laura Lane
"He showed me that morning that he could finally do a pushup right," said Craig. "We'd been working on it, and he couldn't get it. Robbie wanted to do well on the physical-fitness challenge they had at his school. Robbie always tried his best to get where he needed to be."
The Merrick community remains stunned by the Levy-Lakeside Elementary School fourth-grader¹s death Sept. 27. That evening, at around 8 p.m., Robbie collapsed on a ball field at the school, after running the bases during a Little League baseball practice.
Craig, a Bay Shore oral surgeon who coached the team, tried to revive his son by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. But Robbie never regained consciousness. Autopsy results are pending.
Now a small memorial stands at the entrance to Levy-Lakeside's front ball field. A placard reads, "Heart of the team." A handful of Mets balloons are tied to the chain-link fence. The Mets were Robbie's favorite major league team.
Robbie loved sports. When he wasn't watching sporting events on TV or playing himself, he was reading. "Robbie read biographies about all of the popular sports figures," said his mother, Jill Levine. "He'd read them over and over again."
Robbie's greatest passion was baseball. Last summer he enjoyed a great season, playing on the Merrick-North Merrick Little League travel team. He had started playing baseball when he turned 5, and was a versatile player. He began as a shortstop and pitcher, but recently, his father said, he became a great first baseman. On the travel team this summer, he played outfield.
"Robbie never stood around in the field. He learned every position," said Craig. "He knew the importance of being in the outfield, and was honored that he was on the summer team."
Butch Yamali, president of the Merrick-North Merrick Little League, said the entire league was heartbroken by Robbie's death. "He was a wonderful kid. It's a tremendous loss," said Yamali. "Robbie was the kind of kid that you could put anywhere. He never complained. He was a good, all-around kid."
The Levines are astounded by the number of children Robbie touched. "We knew he had a million friends and everybody loved him, but children are coming out of the woodwork," said Jill. "Like this boy who went to Hebrew school with him who said Robbie was his best friend. So many children have said that about Robbie."
The Levines have received many letters from children. "Robbie was nice to everybody. We always stressed values like that you don't have to always get what you want, and to respect others," said Craig. "We just didn't know how much he followed what we taught him once he wasn't at home, but we keep finding out from the children that what we were teaching him, he was doing."
Robbie made friends with all sorts of children. "He never made kids feel bad if they weren't good at sports," said Craig. "Robbie would even get kids that weren't interested in sports to play baseball with him. He had a lot of friends that were girls, too."
Robbie befriended 9-year-old Joanna Greenberg of Merrick, whose brother, 14-year-old Jacob, died in March while tossing a football around with classmates at the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway. Like Robbie, Jacob simply collapsed.
"Robbie befriended my daughter on the bus to Coleman [Country Day] Camp," said Hope Greenberg. "She was having a difficult time losing her brother. She felt different than everybody else."
Robbie became extremely important to Joanna. "She said she wanted to marry Robbie," said Hope. "I said, 'What about David?' He was another boy she already said she wanted to marry. Joanna said, 'David will like Robbie too. He's a nice boy.' Joanna is devastated by Robbie's death."
At Levy-Lakeside, a number of students were so shaken by Robbie's death that they had to take time off from school last week. Mental-health counselors from Levy-Lakeside and Chatterton elementary schools were on hand to speak with children who were struggling with his death. Counselors were also on call at Birch and Camp Avenue, because there were children at those elementary schools who were at the field when Robbie died.
Dr. Ranier Melucci, the Merrick School District superintendent, said, "Robbie was, by all accounts, a wonderful young man, and we're all saddened by his death."
Most of all, of course, Robbie's family feels his loss. His younger brother, Josh, 6, looked up to Robbie. "Josh is lonely," said Jill. "He keeps asking me, 'Who am I supposed to play with?' They were best friends."
Jill said Robbie adored his family and loved their outings together, like going to a Mets game or vacationing. He was especially good with his sister, 6-month-old Samantha. "He was a huge help with the baby," said Jill. "He always lifted her up, and if she was crying, he always tried to make her laugh."
Robbie was a healthy child. Last June he had a dizzy spell. His parents took him to a pediatric cardiologist, who had the youngster undergo an echocardiogram. The doctor said Robbie's heart was strong. He gave him the green light to keep playing sports.
Now the Levines want to make sure that what happened to their son won't happen to another child. They believe that having a defibrillator on the ball field might have made a difference for Robbie. As required by state law, Levy-Lakeside has a defibrillator, which school officials said was available in the building. Craig wishes one had been on the ball field. "The amount of time it would have taken to run from the ball field to get into the school would be the same amount of time to get the ambulance there," he said.
Craig and Jill are thankful that New York state Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. of Merrick has secured a $30,000 grant to purchase defibrillators. They'll be at the 10 Merrick-North Merrick Little League fields, in the green lock boxes at home plate or in the dugout. The Merrick Fire Department will train all coaches to use the defibrillators and perform CPR.
Craig worries about children who play other sports, however. "Something could happen at a soccer field, too, and there aren't any lock boxes on those fields," said Craig. "There need to be defibrillators somewhere on the soccer fields, too, maybe where they store the goal posts."
Last week, Jill and Craig placed Robbie's baseball bat in the casket beside him, along with photographs of his friends and family and children's letters. Robbie was buried in his summer travel uniform and cleats.
"After I mourn my son, I'm not going to stop," said Jill. "I'm proactive, and this will be my passion. I'm going to work to make sure this doesn't happen again."
Comments about this story? LLane@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 236.
