By: Nick Buglione
Tinnerello, 55, has long been a driving force in the community, a largely unheralded volunteer who years ago almost singlehandedly resurrected the disorganized and moribund East Meadow Little League.
Over the years he has dedicated virtually all of his free time to the league, attending board meetings, planning fund-raisers, courting sponsors and the like. "I've done every job from field maintenance to purchasing all the uniforms and trophies," he said proudly during a recent interview. "Every job you can mention."
Thanks to Tinnerello's hard work, generations of East Meadow kids have been able to take to the diamond and learn the invaluable life lessons of hard work, discipline and cooperation, while making close friends and having tons of fun while they're at it.
It's for his tireless dedication to this noble cause that Tinnerello has been named the East Meadow Herald 2003 Person of the Year.
"I love being around children," said Tinnerello, who moved to East Meadow with his wife, Angela, and son Chris, 27, 26 years ago. "It's a sense of accomplishment for me to see them succeed."
It didn't take long for Tinnerello to become an active part of the East Meadow Little League. He volunteered to umpire after his son joined a team in the early 1980s, and the rest, he says, is history. "The next thing I knew, I was on the board," said Tinnerello, a data manager at AT&T for 21 years and an adjunct professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.
At a time when the Little League was grappling with money problems and lagging registration, Tinnerello was asked to join the 35-member board that oversees operations, and he accepted. It was a decision that would benefit the league immensely.
"We were bankrupt, we had maybe 400 kids playing and no girls playing," Tinnerello said. "The fields were dirt piles. We weren't computerized. We never knew who was registered and who wasn't registered."
Often months behind on its bills, the league could have folded at any time. "Nobody took control of the paperwork," Tinnerello said. "The snack bar wasn't making any money. The fund-raising wasn't up to snuff. There was no real organization."
Tinnerello's first job on the board was to streamline league registration, making sure every child on the field had paid to play. In order to make it easier to track delinquent accounts, Tinnerello computerized the system, which made all the difference in the world.
With registration checks rolling in and a newly assigned director of fund-raising, the league quickly lifted itself out of its financial quagmire. It soon began revitalizing its playing fields, installing sprinkler systems, new fences and other amenities.
Registration shot up and, with more than 1,600 kids on its rosters, the East Meadow Little League is now the largest on Long Island.
When Tinnerello joined the board of directors some 20 years ago, the league's budget was a paltry $30,000. Today, it hovers around $245,000. "We've grown because of his enthusiasm and dedication to the league," said Janet Mangano, league president. "East Meadow has become a baseball town because of the things he's done."
Tinnerello is also credited with extending league play into the summer and fall and organizing its traveling teams. "Baseball used to end June 1," he said. "Now we're using the fields right up until November."
The Dugout News, the league's quarterly newsletter, is a Tinnerello creation as well.
Aside from his work in the Little League, Tinnerello has become a trusted friend in the community. He often helps kids find jobs in their adult years, and counsels the top players on choosing colleges.
His efforts have not gone unrewarded. In recognition of his dedicated service to the league, Tinnerello was named an honorary life member three years ago, a distinction shared by only a handful of others. "I was surprised," he said of the honor. "I thought, if I ever had [any reasons] to get out, I can't now."
While his presence at board meetings isn't mandatory anymore, Tinnerello still doesn't even think of missing one. "He hasn't had a child in the league in how many years, and every board meeting he's down there," said Dr. Rich Meoli, a fellow board member. "It would definitely be a loss to the league if Dom wasn't there. If there's a job to get done, he gets it done."
Tinnerello shows no signs of slowing down, either. Last year he organized the league's 50th anniversary celebration and the creation of a journal, a mammoth undertaking.
More recently, he was influential in the installation of new state-of-the-art batting cages at the Merrick Avenue ballfields. He has been working as well with a skin cancer prevention organization to install more shading over league dugouts.
A member of the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis and the Council of East Meadow Community Organizations, Tinnerello is also the Little League's community liaison.
With all the meetings he attends each week, he's hardly ever home, said Angela. "And if he is home," she added, "he's on the phone."
