When Chris Kuczynski needed a project to meet the requirements for his becoming an Eagle Scout – the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve – he didn’t have to look far.
An active member of the Bayonne Little League, he was well aware of a dilapidated and unused baseball field in the shadow of the Bayonne Bridge, something that the league needed, but could not afford to restore.
While the field beside it had been rebuilt a few years ago as a gift from Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, who filmed a portion of War of the Worlds there, the second field remained mostly unused, partly because the league did not have the resources to restore it.
“I thought this would be a good thing for me to do.” — Chris Kuczynski
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Eagle Scout is the highest rank a scout can achieve, and requires not only a history of achievement through the earning of merit badges in areas of knowledge (which include everything from citizenship and first aid to communications and environmental science), but the rank also requires a demonstration of leadership through a service project, something that shows the scout can lead others to plan and carry out a specific plan.
In the history of scouting – which started in 1910 – only about 2 percent of all scouts have achieved Eagle rank.
Chris Kuczynski enlisted fellow scouts Joseph Del Guidice, Ian Gill, Andrew Burbank, and Sear Burbank and began a six-day adventure in early spring that filled several containers full of turf. He and others stripped off the old uneven soil and turf to make way for new turf and the opening of a desperately needed field.
“I thought this would be a good thing for me to do,” Kuczynski said.
Little League Commissioner Bruno D’Avella said the new field would be used to help provide space for instructional and other programs that are currently sharing other fields in the complex.
A former student of Horace Mann School, Kuczynski has been involved with the Little League program since he was 8 years old.
He got help from local organizations and companies, who lent equipment and tools to help make the restoration possible. IMTT gave the scouts the safety equipment they needed. Control Demolition supplied the dumpsters and the cost of disposing of the old turf. Resinick’s Hardware supplied some of the tools. Even Momma Rosa’s restaurant donated to the cause, as did Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell.
“I am always happy to support scouts who are achieving their Eagle Scout designation,” said Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell.
This is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Bayonne Little League program. It is one of the key sporting programs for local kids.
The Bayonne Little League program was started when W. Vincent Cook – who later became a columnist for the Bayonne Community News – and a handful of others organized a four-team program. The volunteers contacted local merchants who agreed to supply uniforms and equipment for 90 kids. A year later, the program added 12 more teams, and a year after that 20 teams. By 1962, the program was so successful that the league established 24 major league teams and 12 minor league teams, and by 1965, moved into a new stadium that was built with the help of William Rosenthal.
One of the fields in the local complex located near First Street and Kennedy Boulevard was named after Commissioner Gene Klumpp, who was a huge influence on the Little League and other sports programs.
In 2005, Spielberg agreed to rebuild a nearby field after using a portion of the property for several scenes in his film War of the Worlds. He and lead actor, Tom Cruise, also paid for the scoreboard sign near that field.