Valley Stream Colts & Hawks: History

The Colts were founded in January 2007 when Bob Inzerillo, who founded the Valley Stream Hawks in 2001, teamed up with John Tufarelli and Rich DeAngelis of the Valley Stream Baseball League to form the Valley Stream Colts. Inzerillo chose Colts because there were very few teams that had the name in the baseball world. 

As the opening of the 2007 season approached, there were 10 new Colts teams from ages 9u-18u taking the fields.
Throughout 2007, the Colts were run by Inzerillo, DeAngelis, and Tufarelli. Beginning in 2008, there was a new Board of Directors that was formed on May 21. The first board included Rich Graves, Vito Friscia, Al Bilello, Mike Barsky, and Inzerillo, while still working closely with then VSBL President DeAngelis, and past President, John Tufarelli, as the Colts moved forward to provide year-round baseball to players who wish to reach their maximum ability.

The original 2007 Colts Teams and Coaches:
10u - Coach Vito Friscia
11u - Coach Russ Brodsky (Fall)
12u - Coach Lee Bogner
12u - Coach Chris Vesely
13u - Coach Al Bilello
14u - Coach James Tomaszewski
16u - Coach Steve Bruno / Rich DeAngelis
16u Babe Ruth- Coach John Tuffarelli
18u Connie Mack- Coach Matt Rocchio
18u FABL- Coach Bob Inzerillo

The ORIGINAL 1999 VSLL TOMORROW'S STARS TEAM
(From VSLL, Diamondbacks, Hawks, and Colts)
Back Row: Joe Schinco, Matt Caputo, Mike Tripodi, Ryan Kearney, Steve Maroshick, Ricky Andersen.
Front Row: Jeff Andersen, David Maroshick, Rob Inzerillo, Matt Padilla, Jeff Lopez, Mike Miller.
Coaches:  Jon Maroshick, Bob Inzerillo, Frank Tripodi.

2007 - January - After many discussions, negotiating and planning with Mail League president John Tufarelli, and VP Rich DeAngelis at "Wheeler Deli Headquarters", new travel organization is formed as an extension of the Mail League. Inzerillo choose the name Colts.

2007 - January - Nick Vecchione becomes the first official Colts registrant

2007 - April - Lee Bogner's team takes the field as the first Colts team in uniform. 

2007 - Original Colts teams take the field.  New teams include: 10u Coach Friscia;  16u Babe Ruth Coach Tufarelli; 16u LICM Coach Steve Bruno; 14u LICM Coach Tomaszewski;  12u Cooperstown Coaches Vesely/ M. Labeck;  11u NCYAA Coach Brodsky - joining with previous Hawks teams: 18u FABL Coach Inzerillo; 18u LICM Coach Rocchio; 13u Babe Ruth Coach Bilello; 12u Coach Bogner.

2007 - Colts 16u team coached by John Tufarelli wins Nassau Babe Ruth Championship.

2007 - Bob Inzerillo's team wins FABL 18u Division Championship.

2007 - Fall - Coach Friscia's 10u team goes undefeated to win NCYAA championship.

2008 - May - Colts Board of Directors is formed with Bob Inzerillo, Vito Friscia, Al Bilello, Mike Barsky, and Rich Graves. 

HAWKS HISTORY ARCHIVE...
That "H" Hawks logo you see out there  was originally drawn on a piece of plain white paper by Bob Inzerillo. Under pressure to get a logo done for new uniforms, he sat and drew it at his kitchen table using a car window ice-scraper as a ruler to get the lines straight. The design was inspired by the "W" logo of former Beatle Paul McCartney's '70's band, "Wings".

The original 15 jerseys for the original team were done at an embroidery shop in Franklin Square. After twice returning the uniforms due to glaring mistakes, the 3rd batch was used, although the logo for the jerseys still came out too small. There are still some out there somewhere.

In 2002 Inzerillo re-drew the "H" on graph paper, brought it to Baxter's in Valley Stream, and they embroidered the exact copy on the new uniforms. Much nicer job. To keep Scott Baxter extra busy, he has since drawn a 3rd and 4th "H", this time on a computer.

In the travel leagues, his team was listed as just "Valley Stream", and in the Mail League for 2000 they were the Diamondbacks. For 2001, Coach Inzerillo began pondering some possibilities for a permanent nickname. After a fall practice at Barret Park, he brought up several names to his son Rob, and Matt Caputo - maybe Eagles, maybe even Ducks (Caputo's older brother Tom was on the LI Ducks).
Rob didn't care as long as the colors were black & red, "black hats, red socks, black sleeveless jerseys, red t-shirts, white pants"...obviously he'd given this some thought. But, what about the name?
Matt then suggested "Hawks",  Valley Stream Hawks.
That seemed perfect.
We have the Falcons of South HS, the Eagles of Central HS and North HS (the Spartans, no way to connect that one, sorry).
From that moment on, they were the Hawks.

In an ironic twist, Coach Inzerillo's dad, Joseph Inzerillo, played for the Corona Hawks in the '40's, and later went on to play pro ball in the Braves (Boston at the time) minor league system. His baseball career was cut short when he was drafted into the Army in 1951. He served 3 years, including a year and a half fighting in Korea. In 1953 he was badly wounded, spent 1 year in the hospital and received a purple heart. That purple heart turned into a broken heart, though, because by 1954, there was no going back to baseball.
From there, he worked his whole life in the advertising business and he coached baseball. Sadly, he passed away at 52.  He always wondered where he might have ended up if he was able to continue playing. But, he always spoke fondly of his days as a player, most of all, playing for the Corona Hawks.

To say the least, calling the team HAWKS seemed like a fitting tribute to Bob's dad, and Rob's grandfather (who, unfortunately, he never got to meet).
So there you have it.
It was actually a dream come true. 

1999 - Coach Inzerillo forms 9/10 year old team to play in Tomorrow's Stars fall league representing Valley Stream Little League.

2000 - Team joins Mail League as the Diamondbacks for summer 2000 and win 12u championship.  Team plays in FABL for the fall.

2001 - Coach Inzerillo decides to change team name after winning 2nd consecutive Mail League championship and chooses Hawks - because his dad played for the Corona Hawks in the 1940's.

2003 - 10 new Hawks teams are formed, making the VS Hawks a travel organization. Original Hawks play final year in Mail Legue winning 3rd championship in 4 years. 

2003 - John Kehoe joins and heads new Hawks team in fall.

2004 - Al Bilello comes on board with Tom Koebel.

2005 - Matt Rocchio takes over for Doug Cantelmo as coach of 14 year old team. VSC Coach Chris LoPiccolo coaches at 18u level in summer.  VSC coach Tom Caputo joins staff in fall.

2006 Jan- Hawks team up with Coach LoPiccolo's new East Coast Sports Academy to expand operation.

2006 - Lee Bogner brings in new team from VSLL.

2006 - South HS coach Frank Alesia joins coaching staff. 

Valley Stream Red Wings 1988
(Team played from 1987-91)
Back Row: #29 Sal Gargano, #24 Pat Dilena; #41 Bob Inzerillo; #19 Joe Inzerillo; #20 Tom Bianco
Front Row: #25 Paul Layden; #1 Tommy Lee; #31 Mike Ansley; #26 John Selle; #14 Joe Bowler
The team that led to the Hawks...to the Colts...
As you can see from this team picture of Bob Inzerillo's Valley Stream Red Wings, he already had a vision for the look of the Hawks when he started this team back in 1988.
The Valley Stream Red Wings played in the Men's Independent League and featured former Milwaukee Brewer  Tom Bianco, (in the back row with the Yankee hat). Bianco hit almost .700, and played shortstop (he claims he actually played the entire left side himself).

Bianco, whose nickname is Toby, worked at Inz 41 Sports Cafe at the time, but he had made his mark as a professional baseball player. Bianco was drafted #3 in the nation by the Milwaukee Brewers in 1971, right out of Sewanhaka High School in Elmont. He made it to the big-leagues with Milwaukee in 1975 and continued to play professionally for 10 years. He spent his final AAA season with Rochester (ironically the "Red Wings") under manager Frank Robinson in the Baltimore Orioles system. 
He  is currently an instructor at Dave Lemanczyk's in Lynbrook, and works with Bob Hirschfield at NY Baseball Academy. 

This is North High School's Freshman team in 1976. This team posted a 14-0 record that year. The Coach is Tom Baxter, co-owner of Baxter's Sport Shop on Merrick Road, the ones who make our uniforms, hats, jackets etc.  Colts coach Bob Inzerillo is in the back row. The uniforms were 100% wool!

The East Coast VS Hawks are pleased to announce the addition of
 Valley Stream South
Varsity coach Frank Alesia
to our staff. 
He adds another experienced, knowledgeable local coach to a staff that includes returnees
Matt Rocchio,
John Kehoe (St Francis Prep, VS Central),
Chris LoPiccolo (VS Central, ECSA, South Shore Baseball Academy), Tom Caputo (VS Central),
Bob Inzerillo (VS Central),  
Al Bilello (Malverne Angels, MLL). 
Additionally, Carl Campagnola is back for a 4th year with Coach Kehoe, and Tom Koebel for a 3rd with Coach Bilello. 
Several other newcomers to the Hawks staff include
Coaches  Lee Bogner  teamed with David Romero (VSLL),
and Artie Meltzer (VSLL) with Luis Gandasegui (VSLL),
coaching our two 11u teams.
Vic Sabino & Tracy Baldessari have joined Al Bilello's staff.
We could not be more proud than we are having this outstanding, dedicated staff working with our young Hawks players.