There are volunteers, and then there are people like Notre-Dame-de-Grâce’s (NDG) Lionel Geller.
Geller was honoured, Saturday, for his 37 years of volunteer service to the NDG minor baseball program.
The baseball diamond at Loyala Park now bears his name.
From winning provincial titles to the House League Championship, Geller did it all.
He is the only person to have performed every job in the league from coaching to serving as the league’s president several times.
His favourite group to coach was the novice group, made up of four-and five-year-olds — a group he helped start in the mid-1980s.
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For over 30 years, Geller or “Grandpa Lionel” as he is affectionately called by many, could be found every Saturday morning coaching his crew of little ones.
Geller has even had the pleasure of seeing some of his former players come back to the field with their own kids in tow.
As busy as he may have been over the years, the former Dawson math teacher found time to found a skating program for intellectually challenged kids that ran for 16 years.
He also coached minor hockey and was founder of the Dawson College Women’s hockey team where he served as GM for ten years.
Geller also tutored students who needed academic help — something he still does today.
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On Saturday, many of his former athletes were on hand when a plaque in his honour was unveiled and the field renamed.
He even put his pitching arm to good use for the first pitch of the Major House League Championship Game.
According to NDG Mayor Russell Copeman, honouring Geller was a “no-brainer.”
“We thought it was a great gesture to recognize a person who’d been so involved in this community and helped so many young people,” he said.
“He’s kind of the epitome of an involved resident in this community and that’s, in my view, what makes a community special.”
As for Geller, he’s taking it all in stride.
“I am deeply honoured,” he said. “Usually, I think you have to die before that happens, but in this case I’m still alive.”
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