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Ocean City to Name Ballfield After Grimes

By Herald Staff

OCEAN CITY — The baseball field on Sixth Street will be named after long-time local resident and youth recreation volunteer Richard S. Grimes.
“Mr. Grimes’ recent selection as ‘Citizen of the Year’ by the local Chamber of Commerce has brought his decades of volunteer service to Ocean City to the community’s attention. At the awards dinner, a long-time friend of Dick’s suggested this idea and it just seemed to me to be a perfect way to honor this exceptional gentleman,” stated Mayor Sal Perillo in a release.
What will become “Richard S. Grimes Field” is located on Sixth Street near Haven Avenue, directly across the street from where Grimes has resided for many years.
The field was the site where he and a small group of local volunteers first organized the local youth baseball program in the mid-1950’s.
The group became the Ocean City Youth Athletic Association in 1956 and still exists as an all volunteer organization today, providing youth baseball programs to over 250 youngsters each year.
Not long after that, Grimes assisted another group of volunteers that became the Ocean City Hawks Youth Football Association. Grimes’ decades of involvement in local recreational programs also included Babe Ruth Baseball for older children, basketball programs and ski trips for local children.
Over the years, Grimes has coached, mentored and helped hundreds of local youth find their way during difficult times, advance their education or sharpen their sports skills. He can still be found at countless Ocean City High School athletic events cheering the efforts of the student-athletes.
Grimes also remains an active participant in recreation today and is a familiar face at the local tennis courts several times a week throughout the year. Over the years he has worked closely with recreation staff to upgrade the tennis program by spearheading the installation of lights for night tennis and expanded tournaments.
Perillo received unanimous support from City Council Dec. 20 and the field will be formally dedicated at the start of the youth baseball season in the spring of 2008.

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