10.18.2017 - Manny Papoula Basketball Court Dedication at Ruggles Park

good morning good morning all if I could have your attention for a few minutes as we dedicate this beautiful basketball court to a well-deserving person who has given so much to our community Manny Pula there are a few dignitaries here that I would like to mention and I hope I saw you all but uh Bernard McDonald a register of deeds Bernie where are you Bernie I think I saw Steve camarra

Somewhere In The Crowd Oh there he is Steve and uh also I uh I I will be having a couple of others come up so I won't recognize them now we'll be recognizing them later uh but I hope I oh superintendent and I'll tell you what a great job he's doing Matt Malone Matt thank you for being here at this time I would like to call on The Honorable jel career for opening

remarks thank you thank you counselor all right nice beautiful day we have here huh all right this is this is wonderful um although I I certainly don't know Manny uh for as long as most people here uh he has uh been been a legend that's that's probably the best word to describe Manny Pula a legend in in in our community and he's here in the flesh and we're uh dedicating this

basketball court to him but Manny's a type of guy that we got to dedicate more stuff to because he's he's done such an amazing job in this community everywhere I go as I Was preparing my thoughts about Manny people would tell me stories about this really tall kid who is just such so good in our community and such a great athlete and and has given back and has come back to the city of Fall River

uh and has given back to our our youngsters and our our people uh in so many different ways so it's it's just such a proud moment for the community to be here celebrating this man's Legacy his accomplishments but also his very important contributions to our community uh he's a man that has volunteered his time on numerous occasions uh with you young people in our community but has also taken upon himself to make sure

that our basketball courts are safe and have Nets which some that's right we got an Applause for that have Nets which sometimes sometimes due to weather or I don't know maybe some people dunking I certainly can't dunk but uh but people dunking in the and the Nets just ripping and different things Manny took it upon himself to replace uh most if not all the Nets throughout the community

basketball courts uh I don't know if Mike Dion is here but if you're standing on a on a basketball court that is essentially brand new uh due du to the efforts of Community Development agency and the federal government so a big round of applause for Community Development for upgrading all of our basketball courts throughout the community I want to thank all the organizers who put this event together

who made it possible uh we were we were preparing for this uh for several weeks and if not months uh to make sure everything happened well and made sure that this event uh went off for with with with no problem so I want to thank Ed Ed Hill for doing that and and many others who put this together thank you Ed nice job so we have here I'm going to ask Manny

to join me here at the podium he's much taller than me all right Manny this is an official citation mayoral citation uh and this is an honor and recognition of your inspiration and mentorship to countless basketball athletes across the city of Fall River and this is given to you today and there's a second piece but I want to want to give this to you first and then there's a second uh second gift

from the city so that's for you thank you so much thank you so thank you man and then second this is my favorite part all right this is we don't give out too many of these this is the official key to the city and uh that is going to be bestowed upon Manny today uh you've got to find the doors that it opens I don't even know which doors it opens but uh but you

got to find it and uh and we're just so proud and I'm proud to look up to you literally look up to you but also um so proud to to have you as an individual in our community so thank you Manny and congratulations thank I think everybody here looks up to Manny uh at this time and I did call the mayor up uh early because I know sometimes he has a busy schedule and uh

he has to leave before the ceremony is completed so that's why I called them first but at this time I'd like to call upon Tom Cory to sing our national anthem

I would encourage you to join with me oh say can you see by the dawn early light what so proudly we hail at the Twilight last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perous fight all the ramp Poots we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets red the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that star spangled B with or the

land of the free and the home of the breath thank you thank you so much what a wonderful rendition Manny that's yours at this time I would like to call upon an old friend of mine uh a guy that uh I guess it was in June he called me up and he said you know what Ray do you think you could help me with an Endeavor that I'm thinking of doing and I said

well I don't know what you're thinking of doing so let me know what that is and I I may say yes and then again I what is it and he said I'd like to see a basketball court at Ruggles Park dedicated to a person who has done so much for our city and you know immediately Manny Pula came to my mind because he lived in the area and also what he's done throughout this

city and I said well who's that going to be for he said Manny pulla I said you got me on board immediately I said and I will put it in at the next council meeting and we put it and I'll tell you it wasn't a 63 vote it was a unanimous vote uh to name this court in honor of Manny Pula and I'm going to tell you Manny I can't think of a better person

to have this court named after than my good friend who I went to school with at the Pine Street School than Manny pulla but that person who started that initiative was a good friend of mine who I've known for many years and I continue to be a friend he'll always be a friend of mine Ed Hill

Ed thanks Ray I've got the tough job I've got five minutes to give you the history of Manny papula and fortunately I work with Manny volunteers at s jobs for Progress every day so I get to hear stories at least once or twice a week when he comes in and he doesn't realize when he leaves my office I've been writing them down so unfortunately some of them are going to happen now but um

I'm sure Manny's appreciative and he's thinking back about his parents Manny uh Manny in Virginia who came from the azors in 42 and decided to live in Far River and then they ended up buying a house in Orange Street and Manny always says rugles Park became his second home it's uh but it was almost didn't happen because his mother was afraid to having him across Roberson street because all new drivers people were

starting to drive she it's like an obstacle course also there were a couple kids in the neighborhood that were causing trouble and she was afraid they hung out at the park Manny finally convinced her to it was okay and he showed her how he can get across Roberson Street three times a day to come back and forth to the park but then I think about we picked Ruggles Park and poor man he's only had two major

injuries playing basketball and both them around this court he sprained his ankle uh a couple weeks before graduation at Boston College and had to limp across the stage and about 10 years ago he came here to shoot some Baskets at night and there were three kids playing baskets playing shooting baskets and he said they asked him can you join us so we can have two on two and Manny

right away thought that's going to be a bad thing so he says I'll just kind of pass the ball and I'll be on one team unfortunately he just he forgot his instincts kicked in he took a jump shot and wrecked his Achilles heel and so Manny's kind of not picked up a basketball for a while since then so but even though Manny I know this has got some bad experiences we know there's a

lot of positive things here then he ends up uh going over to dery and he says boy I'm a lucky guy I'm getting to play for Luke Urban the legend coach after his first year he reads in the paper that he's being replaced by a gentleman named Tom carum um who's only 25 years old and he goes boy I'm a lucky guy aren't I and he says boy was I lucky he says that was the

best thing I'd ever happened to me in my basketball career is having Mr carum as a coach and I guess it kind of spoiled Manny because they only lost five games in those two years his Junior and Senior year then he went to BC there had an undefeated freshman team and then after Bob Koozie took over his sophomore year the Junior and Senior year they only lost 12 games totally I think Manny

never wanted the coach because how could he live up to that obviously Manny made all state when he was at dery he started getting all those offers and he got like 20 different colleges of course back then games weren't on TV very rarely you see you know there wasn't a lot of press on things so Manny got recruited because he played at an important school that had a winning tradition and obviously he was a

talented player on top of that he selected BC that way his family and friends could see him play like I said they undefeated had undefeated team and Manny of course became a great teammate and there was a gentleman that uh Bob KO started recruiting people Manny was the second tallest player on the freshman team by his senior year he was almost the shortest player Cuz Mr Koozie knew how

to recruit and so Manny almost had to be a point guard instead of 63 but Manny started friending a a teammate that became an All-American John Austin John Austin was from DC and Manny would go home on the weekends and Austin of course was going to stay at BC and because of the the busing that was going on in Boston that time that was probably not a safe place for John to spend his

his weekend so Manny was friended him and brought him back to for River to play the the boys club and all that of course no good deed goes unpunished so Mr Austin one day when they're playing at a Holiday Tournament says Manny I want you to stay at DC at my family's house we don't have practice for 3 days and we can get my uncle's car and we'll drive back to campus of course we had

the worst snowstorm on the history of the East Coast back to the Blizzard almost and they took instead of a 12-hour ride took almost two days to get back to campus they made it within 30 minutes of when practice was going to be held Manny say I thought my life was going to was at my hands the whole time says well driving through roads that were closed we the only one on the

highway the blizzard was incredible we get there and kzi had put a sign up the weather's too bad stay in your dorms he didn't learn from that so they senior year they make the NIT they get knocked out in the first round Mr Austin goes Hey listen I'm friends with the guys at Providence College we can go stay in their dorms and we you know in the hotel and we'll watch the

semi-finals so of course they go to they go to Madison they go to New York to watch some games they stay at the hotel Manny stays with a power for a friend that he had made an association with Manny falls asleep someone knocks on the door opens the door it's the assistant coaches he looks in the other bed the other guy's gone they were doing a bed check with that guy because he like to

enjoy himself once in a while they asked Manny who are you he says out of the room so Manny spent the night in the hotel lobby trying to sleep but his other teammate was sleeping all night he said I didn't really enjoy that semi-finals that day he comes back after graduating from BC he works on his master's degree gets within two years teachers in Somerset and Tian actually I've run across a

couple of the students he had in Somerset they still remember him they said he was the best teacher they had it's amazing you can leave an impression after one year with kids but I that shows you what you can do he decided you know he still get that attraction to New York City so he actually starts applying for jobs and he finds a job in the suburbs of New Jersey and the guy hires

him is a math teacher and says by the way you're going to be my basketball coach and man he says no I'm not I'm going to be your math team coach and he goes matth team what is that he goes listen there's a lot of teams in this state you don't have one and I can make this work before he left they had to build a trophy case that's how well the

mat team did Manny was spending nights and weekends at the uh the the students houses trying to prepare him for the for the exam and they were they won titles in the state Regional titles districts had some kids go to the Nationals it was incredible he he took that basketball flavor and turned it into a mat team of course we we keep saying you know this is because of my community

service we forget Manny what has been inducted into the new Basketball Hall of Fame so obviously his basketball talents are well recognized of course there's one thing where does Manny stop volunteering we beyond that mat team a little bit is that about three years before I retired there was a town in New Jersey that had a major millfire boy did that hit home with them because they lost about four

or five Mills and the paper said a lot of local immigrants people uneducated were going to lose their jobs and they were going to have to go get re-educated and Manny decided it must have clicked in with his with his parents cuz they both worked in factories and were able to buy a house on Orange Street he I want to help those people so he started volunteering tutoring helping those people three

Towns over that that lost their jobs because of a millfire just shows there's always that something in somebody's life that that kicks in and I think that's what got Manny on the volunteer kick because then he decides he's coming back to for over in 96 and he just can't volunteer one place he's at the S jobs for Progress Monday through Friday for the last 15 years from 9 to 12 volunteering math for

students are taking the GED and now the highet he also thinks well I want some of those kids to go to college I get to work with them so then he creates three scholarship so the top three scorers of uh the GED test every year at SAR gets a scholarship and hopefully they use it to go to Bristol Community College and then he remembers his fine coach at Columbus Park in little league and he says you

know something I need to do something for those kids cuz I'm I'm getting him at the high school level I need to get him before that so he started a scholarship program for the kids with the five best report cards get money to use for educational supplies so he steps up there again he's said again none of this is named after Manny he's always trying to recognize someone else then he

realizes well you know dery did so much for me I think I'm going to start the uh the skip carum scholarship and it's going to be for the top AC academic girl basketball player and boy basketball player and he's been giving that out for over 10 years again not in Manny's name he's recognizing other people basketball nets Manny two to three times uh or every month he's driving around to

like 42 Courts at public housing and in in the Parks and he's replacing the Nets and he's looking to see the condition of the courts and he's trying if there he sees an issue he calls the park department and I'll I'll kind of wrap this up by showing you it's not just his normal volunteering it's what he does when something comes up unexpected he goes to Lafayette Park and the park is

basketball court has been destroyed both rims are down the backboards are broken Manny calls the park Department goes to a park meeting they say great we understand the problem Manny we're going to take care of but we can't do it in this year's budget Manny goes homes and thinks about that he says every time I go to replace Nets there there are many kids playing he called them up and said

I'm paying for that court and those backboards to be replaced he goes into the four of her Library he sees the Children's Division curtains blinds need to be replaced the Sun's shining in the kids can't see well says well when you going to replace it those yeah that's on Year's budget he says no it's not you're going to replace those next week and he pays for those I mean I just I could go

on on with this list there was a family member who had the soccer field named after a britland park and the sign got stolen or was broken or got taken down when they redid the field man paid for have that sign done again I could go on and on he's got many awards for all this work um and he hates that but he thinks it's a good thing in a sense that he

gets to promote all these extra extra causes that are out there that are needed I get to represent Boston College they they really cared about Manny obviously they sent down four shirts and they sent four tickets to an ACC home game so hopefully he's got a bunch of former teammates here so you're all going to have to fight for those other three tickets also the um the committee that's been working on

this we actually let me get that you got it we decided you know since you never did Coach we wanted to give him like a clipboard this is uh so we had the court made on it and it's and obviously izes Manny so this thing he's going to have for the rest of his life I'm sure Manny I can't tell you I've had a chance to work with a lot

of co-workers and I've seen a lot of people volunteer and now I'm supposed to be a role model to my grandparents and my adult kids you know something I still found another role model on you thank you thank you well what Ed well said uh I see some young basketball players here uh from dery and I hope this gentleman is a role model to you hopefully you go on and become great basketball stars but

if you don't Manny never was a great basketball style he wasn't a professional but you could see how much he's given to his community and I hope you guys take a lesson from from him because I'll tell you we all can take that lesson there's a couple of people here and I think uh my uh last guest Ed Hill took my uh my notes here yeah he took the agenda on

me um but I I would like to recognize the fire chief who's back there uh Chief thank you for being here uh also also up on the hill I see a good friend of mine uh that uh does so much for the community uh Bobby Balon please just raise hand Bobby has done a lot for our community Uh Kevin faen Nick Chris nick uh I'll tell you what uh Nick does so

much for for this city and gets very little attention for it but I'll tell you we all appreciate what he does um at this time I I would like to bring up at this time I would like to bring up uh the vice chair of the for OFA city council to make a presentation for the city council Linda

Pereira good morning to all well I grew up in this neighborhood so many times I've uh sat on the wall over there and watched people play because I'm not really very athletic um and Ice gate down here there was a it would flood out remember man it would would flood out we could all ice skate down here but as I hear Mr Hill talk about everything that uh Manny Pula has accomplished athletically it's amazing

what he's accomplished but what's more amazing to me is the give back the give back to our community that when the city didn't have money to repair a basketball court we want to keep our youth safe Manny did that for the city when they didn't have money for Nets Manny did that for the city he did that for the children and he never wants to get credit for anything that he does and

and Mr Hill gave you a list of things that he does and the volunteerism that he gives where does that come from that comes from your home life and that comes from your heart and to me what you do from your heart without wanting recognition for to me is what a true hero is and that is many of our people here in for River so to me Manny is a hero much more than just the Athletics

but a hero in the community in all that he gives back Manny thank you so much for doing all of that and I know that your mom and Dad are here with us today looking down from above because they know that the lessons they taught you that you have carried them through because Manny's parents as many of you don't know were friendly with my in-laws and they too were very giving

people so I know where Manny gets this from but Manny if you come up here an official oh honey I know they're here so much I know they're here thanks so this is an official citation from the city council in recognition of the basketball court at reg Ruggles park being named in your honor and all of the work that you do and the community service that you give we thank you very very

much and I know your mother's watching thanks a lot thanks thanks so much thank you Linda at this time I'd like to call a staff member from uh Senator rodri's office because uh Senator rodri would like have been here but obviously they're in session today Kelly Andre Kelly good morning good morning everybody can everybody hear me yeah okay great so I'm so sorry that Senator Rodricks couldn't be here today as uh

City councelor Mitchel said he is at the state house so he sends his uh best wishes and regards I get to do all the fun stuff because I work the district so if Mr Pula could come up I'd like to present the citation and it reads at such it says uh official citation be it known that the Massachusetts Senate hereby extends its congratulations to Manny Pula in recognition of the dedication of the

Manny Pula basketball court at rugles Park in Fall River Mass congratulations thank you wonderful it's a wonderful day thank you at this time I'd just like to recognize uh couple of basketball great BJ McDonald as we recognized him earlier and also uh a person who made a tremendous uh difference in the basketball Pro program uh and he's here representing his wife and that would be

none other than Ken Fiola representing his wife Carol Fiola Ken uh thank you Ray and um good afternoon um I'm actually here not only representing my wife but also um on a personal matter i' want to be here toh celebrate this great day for Manny as a former Hill topper myself um we looked up to players such as Manny as we were coming through the ranks to try to best represent the school both uh not only

from an athletic standpoint but also an academic standpoint and Manny was a role model to myself as to many other Hill Toppers that have gone through the basketball program here under the toage of uh coach skip carum who is also joining us uh this morning and as I look around and I see the number of uh ex hiltop is here I see current Hilltop is here I see family I see friends I see

the panut gallery up here you know watch it out watch it out over us I see Dr Malone here who's a new uh and certainly a welcome addition to this community I think this celebration speaks volumes as to the type of person man he is not only did he have success and dur success at Boston College but he's come back to this community and given of himself tirelessly throughout the years making a difference in people's

lives I see Manny as I'm driving around the city and I'll see him out there changing those Nets on basketball courts without any Fan Fair just doing it because that's something that he believes is right I see him volunteering his time as a tutor I this is probably one of the the best day and worst day for Manny if you know Manny because Manny doesn't like the Limelight he

likes to be under you know under the the radar he likes to be in the background so this is probably uncomfortable for him but it's something that's welld deserving for him because if we could all be like Manny Pula the place would be a much better place and Manny Pula should be and is a role model for not only people of my generation but as I look at these young hilltoppers over

here he should be a role model for your generation and if you could be attent of the person that Manny puller is then you have reached success in life and I think we should all use the Manny as a model as we continue to move forward and make forward a better place so that's from me now from my wife who can't be here today because she's in session in Boston but

it's also a great friend of Manny and someone that she personally admires as well so I'm just going to take a minute to read this otherwise I'll get in trouble at home tonight so this is from the the house of repres Representatives be it hereby known to all that the Massachusetts House of Representatives offers its sincerest congratulations to Manny Papo and recognition of the dedication of the

Manny Pula Ruggles Park basketball court for your years of generosity volunteerism and commitment to assisting all those in need especially our youth the entire membership extends its very best wishes and expresses the hope for Future Good Fortune and continued success in all Endeavors signed by Speaker of the House Robert a Deo and offered by Carol Fiola State Representative of the six brital dists

thank you and congratulations to Manny I really appreciate it thank you that's the only speaker that could look Manny in the eye I would also I just noticed him being here another basketball great from dery who played with juliia zering Bob Dempsey Bob

oh and Teddy Dempsey's also here Teddy Bob's older brother he tells me all right at this time I'd like to uh U have uh the director of Sir jobs for Progress Maria Ferrera Bernard to the uh Podium

Maria good morning so I think there's no doubt at this point as to Manny's achievements or his deserving of this honor but for those of you who maybe weren't didn't quite catch it in all of his uh accolades for the last 21 years Manny has spent every morning Monday through Friday as a math tutor at s jobs for progress and he's there helping those who need to overcome many personal

and socioeconomic barriers in order to come to our classes and prepare to get their high school equivalency exam undoubtedly inspired by his own many great coaches and teachers he mentors and inspires his students many of whom will tell you they wouldn't have passed the exam without him and many who come back after graduation to get a little extra help with some college homework or

preparing for a job related placement test and as we know by now Manny is not only generous with his time and expertise he is giving of his money as well thanks to his generosity every year were able to award three scholarships totaling $1,000 to the three highest scoring graduates of each graduating class and again Manny as we know doesn't take personal recognition it's not the Manny Pula

scholarship he insists every year that it's the S jobs for Progress scholarship but if you multiply that times 21 years you can see how much Manny has invested in our students and in our community so Manny on behalf of your s family congratulations we're so proud and grateful that you've chosen to play on our team and we hope you continue to do so for many years and we have a little

gift for you so if you could just come up thank you thanks Manny thank you so much oh my God you know I lunch every uh Thursday with Manny at the Liberal Club I'm not looking forward to tomorrow he's going to blame me for all of this and it wasn't all my fault but I know I'm going to get an A full tomorrow because Manny really is not the type of guy that likes

uh public uh functions and especially when he is the I guess you could say the Honore of that um the next person I'd like to call upon is uh the ad BCC to present to give Derek Bas Derek good morning um so I've been at Bristol Community College for eight years and I've never once had to replace the Nets on the basketball courts I never knew why until maybe a month ago

Mr Hill gave me a call and the light bulb went off and um you know those efforts are are very much appreciated uh as most of you know a lot those courts are used uh very frequently by our students our our faculty our staff and and of course the community and um what Manny does at at BCC and other parks around the city um you know I I don't know if there's enough thank yous to go

around uh to appreciate them but uh we would on behalf of Bristol Community College uh everyone at the college we'd like to present you with some bayhawks apparel uh so you can sport around the city okay thank you so much what a pleasant surprise okay put on the yeah okay it's up to you all right thank you Derek at this time I'd like to call upon an old friend of mine and an old friend

of uh Manny's uh brought up in the same neighborhood we were and became a uh teacher who was not only respected but admired by many Dr Ed Costa I I'll be brief which of course for me is not easy but in this occasion I will be uh I don't usually feel comfortable coming to dedications I don't go to a lot of them when I heard about this with Manny I I really felt

compelled to come we've heard about all of his achievements but what I want to talk about is this basketball court because Manny grew up about three houses down from where uh I grew up on Orange Street uh he was about three or four years older than me and like Manny this was our home this is where we this is where I spent my youth uh anybody who knows me knows that I talk about Ruggles

park with great fondness especially this court and I think I know where Manny got his whole idea about replacing the Nets because I see a lot of my friends that I used to play with although we probably were about 40 lbs lighter back then and uh anybody that grew up when I did in the late 50s and early 60s knows that that side of the Court was where the good players played and it usually had a

net and that's where Manny would play and I would be maybe 10 or 11 when I first would come here and Manny was a teenager and and I would just admire him and the really great players and there were some terrific ball players that played on the net side those of us like myself who were younger not quite as talented would play on the non net side and there was no net on that rim and

that Rim was frequently bent because some of the good players when they would have a bad game one that comes to mind was a man we used to call Mad Dog his name was Jay Welch when he would get really mad he would just run down here and jump up and grab that rim and bend it he'd hang on it so I remember growing up shooting at a rim with no net that

was half bent and the only time we would get invited to play down there two occasions one when they just needed an extra body to make the sides even and we'd get called down right and the other would be if you had a new basketball like one time one Christmas I had a new basketball I was shooting over here somebody over here probably one of the Fitzgerald boys yells at me and says hey

let me see the basketball and I said here you go I just got it for Chris Christmas they said nice and they played with it and I had no ball and they threw me a ball with a bubble on it because in those days basketballs had bubbles on it when you played outside for a long time so Manny on behalf of all of the people who played on a netless rim at this park

their whole life if there had been someone like you who had fixed these rims and replaced the Nets I might have developed into a basketball player and Skip car maybe wouldn't have caught me when I tried out for Varsity so Manny on behalf of those of us who shot at The netless Rim I just want to thank you so much uh certainly your other achievements are legendary but that's what I remembered the most thank you

very much and you don't have to get up thank you Ed thank you so much tells yourself somewhat about the neighborhood back in those days the next speaker does not have to be introduced uh he's a legend legend in forever and I'll tell you he has inspired many in this community and he's been a person who I think all of us admire and that's no none other than the legendary coach Tom skip carum

it's great to be here Eddie CA the Nets had nothing to do with you being cut then I then I look up upstairs there's guys that knocked me off Kevin failen still from from H Stang don't B don't boo him and Teddy Reagan from Coy they're they're here just to laugh at me I know that and I I didn't think this was for Manny today I thought it was a Mari Mary Sullivan said this was for

him are you getting something here too Mary lunch tomorrow when I first took over the job at dery I didn't realize what I was getting into I followed the legend Luke Urban and and he what what was nice about him he left a real good team for me Manny was the center Woody Barby Donald Cary M Barry Mado but made it easy for me and uh we won our first

16 games and I thought I was a genius until the next game we get beat by about 20 and we lost in the state finals that year to New Bedford which is uh was tough to take man he's great career at dery he's in the dery Hall of Fame he was always on the principal in the fouryear scholarship to Boston College a school that I could not get into now his his teaching in New Jersey

all that stuff has been brought up here then he coached that Matt team which everybody's brought about Not only was he an outstanding player he was a very humble person which he still is you talk about those scholarships he's got a scholarship in my name to a boy and a girl at dery basketball players and he had my picture in with the kids so after about 3 years I Manny I can't

do this anymore I can't have my picture you go in there this is embarrassing you're putting up the scholarship money and I'm not so he he started to take that over he was very easy to coach I don't think I ever yelled at Manny did I Manny oh yeah who having you young and everybody's been talking about what a great Mo great role model he is I mean just a just a no Manny is a great

thing and for is got to be congratulated by honoring him with this court Willie McDonald wants everybody to get off right away because he wants to play one-on-one with somebody I don't know who it is thank you for the for Park department for doing this for Manny he's a very humble person this is really I I know he doesn't like being up here but we all love you

Manny you know up up on the hill there they just mentioned uh Maki Sullivan well maky is one of the people that we meet with on Thursday to have lunch and uh I'll tell you there's a guy that brought a lot to to our community um as the Director of CFC so you can give one gu that's done a lot for our community Mak suiv in the hand please at this time I'd like to bring

forth the athletic director of dery but Brad Justin butin I'm Sorry butin Brad okay thank you everybody on behalf of dery high school and the dery High School athletic department we would like to congratulate Mr paper on this great honor today Mr papulla is truly deserving of this and we are thankful for his support for his Alma moer for over 20 years Mr papula has presented a senior male and female basketball player

with the Thomas skip carum scholarship award for having the highest GPA on the team for several years his message is to reward those student athletes who excel in the classroom as well as the court so on behalf of the High School athletic department we would like to present Mr papula with this basketball jersey and once again thank him for all his support we have our we brought our players today

to uh present you Mr pul w we did some research and looked back on the uh the old year books to find out your number

again thank you for being a role model to our students thank you very

much I want to see

that thank you very much oh thank thanks he to see you Brendon thank you very good you can all congratul thanks so best of luck this year thank you very much that's not that's my number Year wish you thank you so much we just had one of those basketball players saying that's no longer your number that's my number that's that's the number I play with uh thank you so much Brad excellent job you and your uh

your players at this time I'd like to uh bring forth a person who has done so much to make this day possible and uh she worked tirelessly to uh ensure that uh this court was ready for today's dedication along with John Perry uh I couldn't thank those two people enough and that is Nancy Smith Nancy would you please come to the podium I understand that she has a gift from the park

Department from the committee from the committee don't have a budget for gifts oh okay all right we don't have a budget for gifts okay oh from the committee that's right yes committee and Mr Hill yeah you got the podium uh I have definitely been the benefactor of witnessing firsthand what you have done for this park Department Mr papula and no one no one has done as much as you have for this community and

the Youth of the city that enjoy playing on these basketball courts on a daily basis I'm sure it warmed your heart when you saw these basketball courts being refurbished and I want to let everybody know here that Manny couldn't stay out of this because he had to come and put the two Nets up on this court as well so with that said Mr Pula um Ed has asked me to present you with a gift from

your the committee that put this together um it's a jersey that says Ruggles Park and team Pula number one and I'm sure everyone here is a member of Team Pula so I want to thank you very much for all you've done thank you J okay okay at this time I would like to uh recognize Manny's only sibling his sister and I what's her name Linda Linda Linda Linda pulla come on come forth because I got a

job for you to do Linda you can uh if you'd like to say a few words to the guest please feel free to hello uh it was interesting when when they talked about his two injuries on this court I had actually forgotten about the sprained ankle uh in his senior year at Boston College what I remembered his two injuries here was one day he was coming home from uh high

school and they uh he and his friends stopped to play football and and he played Without uh a helmet and uh Manny ended up uh hitting his head on the Rock I believe and he ended up with a brain tumor he um he got knocked out he stood up and he told his friends I have to go home and do my homework and then he collapsed and they took him by ambulance

to back then it was Union Hospital the hospital called our house my mom got the call she came she went to the porch to call my dad and I was out on the sidewalk playing and I saw my mother open her mouth and move her lips but no voice came out she was so upset and she and my father ended up spending the H the that evening in the hospital I got sent over

to my aunt's house on Plat Street and um my mother ended up making a promise to God that if my brother was healed she would go to communion and light a candle for for the rest of her life and she did that as long as she was able to it was such a powerful uh teaching on her part for us you know uh to witness her do that for so many years because I

guess that happened around 1960 and my mom died in 2015 so there were a lot of years that she was faithful to that promise thank you L thank you Linda don't go away Linda uh at this time if you'll notice over here to my left there's a uh new billboard here and uh it's I'd like to have Manny and his sister unveil it at this time

stays

up may there's a challenge for you man I didn't know it was going to be such a challenge hey and the and the person I have to thank for that sign is M uh Dion Community Development agency uh who I'll tell you I I said I need a sign can you get it done and he said what park and I told him and I'll tell you he worked to Ure

that that sign was made and I think he did a heck of a job at this time I would like to call the guest of honor Manny pulla oh thanks so much oh

I'm just completely overwhelmed here okay I I just can't begin to thank everybody enough but uh okay but let me first honor the okay our mayor all the other people representing uh you know political uh political office holders uh thank you so much I know how busy your your schedules are so uh I thank I thank you all very much and of course Nancy Smith has done a tremendous amount with

the park department and uh thank you so much also and then of course uh Ray Mitchell here and Ed Hill who who did so much uh eort time and effort to put in so so much time and effort to get this thing organized and and completed uh then my my old basketball coach Mr car former for by old I mean former former former basketball remember he was only 20

at the time that that he coached me so he was very young okay so um skip uh you know Skip had to follow a legend okay so Luke Urban okay Luke Urban was a true legend and when I tried to put together a history of dery basketball a few years ago I found out that Luke Urban had the uh the highest winning percentage of any dery coach up until that time okay he won 72%

of his games which was pretty phenomenal and he did that over a 20e period all right however Mr carum okay coached for 35 years and over that period he he won 82% of his games full 10% higher than the legendary Luke irvan uh and right well no Talent at Center for your first year I I agree with that okay but there were many talented players after me uh uh but anyway so um skip thanks so much

for your kind words earlier today and of course the dery athletic director uh and his players thanks so much for taking time to come here really appreciate that and the gifts and even just your mere presence here um okay and uh I I'm thankful to Boston College uh that hasn't been mentioned yet I don't know if that was forgotten but they sent uh a Bost in college jacket and three jerseys

or a sweatshirt or I'm not sure exactly what's over there but um I'm shocked that they would do that but it's a very pleasant uh shock all right and last but certainly not least okay my my personal friends okay and I haven't seen a good had a good look at everybody who's here but I have seen some people here who wound up being lifelong friends okay and you can't uh you know beat that so uh

that was one of the reasons why I was always here at Ruggles park it wasn't just that it's a beautiful fine Park okay I I just met you know many many many uh great people here and uh I certainly appreciate uh all of you being here and uh my sister Linda okay there's also a cousin here Leanne I believe is over there okay sitting there and uh I really don't have that many relatives

still living uh but uh uh I sin certainly appreciate both of them uh being here and finally this going to sound stupid I know uh I thank Ruggles Park itself okay and I think I'll make that point clear after I say a few things okay but just the fact that this park was here just uh Robison streets right over there aren just two blocks away to have such a fine Park uh so

close to where I grew up and uh and then me so many friends okay I mean when my parents you know bought that house on Orange Street there were many fine neighbors but very few kids that were about my age so hardly anyone to play on uh play with okay and also there weren't any fields to to or basketball courts to to play on uh you had to play in the

street and that was dangerous and uh I'm sure the people who parked their cars nearby didn't want us playing in the street uh so there really wasn't that much to do and then then down at the bottom of orangee Street uh there were a couple of really rough guys a couple of older guys who uh you know were real thugs and and were getting in all kinds of trouble and they would try to lure uh

myself and a few other friends to uh join in with them and uh if it hadn't been for Ruggles Park you know I might have hung out with those guys okay two of them went to reform school and then when they returned to reform school it seemed like they were even worse and getting in even more trouble but you know breaking and entering into homes and businesses uh besides fighting everybody that they could get their

fists on uh so um I I liked Arin Street overall but okay when I discovered Ruggles Park and it was through my older cousin Larry Medeiros uh who played uh in the old coo basketball League played for St Anthony of padaa right down below in the baseball field I used to play Sacred Hearts parish and so many of my friends are from Sacred Hearts Parish also and uh he would let me tag along with him to

go to his games and his practices and uh A Whole New World opened up to me initially all I really cared about was that my my cousin's team would win and I would watch and learn baseball and try to watch the Players they played because B baseball was actually my very first love long before I started playing basketball and um uh so I I would be rooting for him and trying to learn the

game and then there used to be bleachers down near the field okay that went up pretty high sometimes I'd go all the way up to the top row of the bleaches just to get a better look of the whole park and I was amazed by you know all the fun people seem to be having here okay not like you know standing on the a sidewalk and on Orange Street with nothing to do

uh and uh you know then there there's reasons why uh people were here first of all the park itself uh I don't know if we have any history Buffs here but the park itself was designed by the most famous designer of parks in the entire country Frederick Olstead he's more famous for uh for Designing Central Park which is in the middle of New York City which is a humongous Park about 60

blocks long and about 10 blocks wide and it's an absolutely beautiful uh Park I would sometimes go there to outside outdoor music concerts during the summer when I was living nearby in in a suburb of New York City in New Jersey and uh I was amazed by how great a park it was and it wasn't until later when I saw a TV special about uh Frederick Olstead that I found out that you know he he

designed many other parks and while I was doing that history of dery basketball I saw an article in 1903 when dery basketball was almost getting started that they started Bill Frederick Olstead and his staff was here in Fall River okay designed Ruggles park it took two years 1903 and 1904 and he did such a great job they also hired him to do Kennedy Park which was called South Park uh uh originally

okay the biggest park in Fall River and he also designed North Park and he also designed Oak Rove Cemetery which is about a half a mile over in that direction so he did quite a bit uh fortunately Fall River could afford those things back then that's when the Mills were thriving and uh uh doing Fall River was doing very well financially and it was much easier for the park Department to be able to afford u a

noted uh architect like uh um Frederick Olstead so I knew none of this of course back when I first came to Ruggles I just saw tons of kids looking like they're having a great time they were having pickup games around the mainfield and other people were in the playground area on the swings and the slides and the merry go around other the kids playing on tennis courts they used to be over

there used to be a handball court on the side down there uh and everybody seemed to be having a good time and I saw many kids my own age and so after a while instead of watching my cousin's entire baseball games I would walk around okay I'd walk around the park and I'd wind up meeting friends and including some of the people that are here and uh and I'm saying wow okay this this is like

paradise so uh it was just you know it there's just so much that I enjoyed here and I I started making friends I don't know if Kenny Fitzgerald is here he was one of the first guys uh is he here Kenny okay Kenny's I think my first friend that told me that he was be playing Little League Baseball which i' had never even heard of okay but he played at Columbus

Park and he and a deceased friend Lefty Melo used to talk about how much fun it was playing Little League Baseball so you know then I was determined you know yeah I'll try to hard to learn this game of baseball well and maybe I might get picked for a baseball team and uh it paid off okay Practice coming to the park all the time playing baseball having fun being with great guys and I

managed to make the little league and uh um had got to have a great coach Tony laava who was mentioned before by Ed Hill and um that so that was that was because of Ruggles Park okay I never would have been able to become a decent player good enough to make the little league if it hadn't been for learning from my friends here uh playing here at uh at Ruggles um um okay now um I've

already mentioned that um my my my parents didn't really want me Crossing robis and so and actually it was that Hill that mentioned it that my parents didn't really want me Crossing when I was very young to come over to the park but uh my cousin would bring me over and then he showed me how to safely cross the street and then my parents eventually maybe when I was about nine

allowed me to make this massive trip for two or three blocks from Orange Street to uh to Ruggles Park and um okay and you know that's you know that's when my life just seemed to to take off because was uh it was just so much fun after school coming right down to the park and as was mentioned before this place really was uh our our our second home okay and there were no fights here and

nobody trying to get me into trouble you know robbing people's homes or anything like that so that was another uh big plus um uh but okay early on I I was so in love with baseball I never would even ever come up here to the basketball court but then in the fall when it would start getting too cold uh to to play baseball uh the only place I could find

my friends would be here so I would watch them and they they try to get me to play especially since I kept growing okay at a fast pace they said your height will help you in basketball so even though I knew nothing about playing I I don't even remember who the players were I me we had a three Onre game over at that basket that Ed Eddie Kasa had the one with the net and

uh I was absolutely the worst I knew nothing I couldn't catch the ball I couldn't pass the ball right if I dribbled I was dribbling off my feet on my knees okay and shooting forget about it it would be a miracle if I even hit the rim let alone get a basket uh and uh unfortunately the team that I played on the three on three team you know we lost definitely because of me and I was

thoroughly embarrass and I felt bad for my teammates for choosing such a horrible player to have to play with uh however once again Ruggles Park comes to the rescue specifically that light on the on the top of that light pole okay I refused to play with my friends until I learned how to play this game at least at a decent level so as soon as the fall would come okay when you eat supper and

by then it's already dark out I would come with a an old basketball that I got as a gift from a friend or whatever and would come here and even though that light wasn't that bright it was still bright enough that I could see the the the basket and see where the court was and then I kept dribbling and shooting and passing balls towards the backboard many times missing the entire backboard

but trying to hit the backboard and be able to catch it afterwards so I was getting practice on passing and catch cing and then was doing the dribbling and sorry sorry okay uh and um and of course trying to shoot uh and I did that for months okay I don't think any of my friends knew that knew that I was here CU they were all home everybody stayed home after supper back then uh and um So

uh playing on Youth League teams and then eventually Mortin and dery and uh okay all this playing EV led to a a full four-year scholarship to Boston College and my parents never could have afforded me to could afforded to send me to uh Boston College U I've told today that it's it's over 60,000 for one year so to for a 4-year education that's about almost a quarter of a million dollars

today's dollars and even though it was much less back then it was still Way Beyond my parents' budget so uh again Ruggles Park led me uh to be able to get that scholarship and and and save my parents a lot of money and and I still managed to go to a lucky to be able to go to a very good school uh but anyway um okay uh I I don't know what else to

say okay all all I know is you know these things Ruggles Park gave me so much I promise okay that's what I knew I wanted to say I vow that until my health stops me from being able to do so I will continue to do the put up these basketball nets okay it's usually uh about four or five times a year during the warmer weather okay from April to

October and uh so I do it about four or five times a year and I want to continue until I just physically no longer can do so and even after then I still will not feel as if I've adequately paid Ruggles Park back for everything that Ruggles Park gave to me so I I thank the park department and I thank those people who hired Frederick Olstead to design this park and put it right here in this

neighborhood uh because they certainly improve my life an incredible amount and thanks for all of you other people who came who were neither relatives nor childhood friends okay I sincerely appreciate all of you being here thanks so much thank you man go

away you know when when I was telling somebody about Manny uh and what he's done they asked me if he was God's gift to for River yes he was uh God's gift to for River and uh we tried to get Bob Koozie to come today because Bob Koozie was Manny's coach at BC but uh he because of uh health issues could not make it but the athletic department sent some stuff down here

from BC for you Manny so we'd like to present that at this time a t-shirt from Boston College a pullover

and another t-shirt and tickets four tickets to home game and they also would like to ask you to go to a home game and they've done that with four tickets uh to ensure that you do in fact make one of the home games they'd love to have you thanks thank you so much a jacket over thereo that black thing oh a DC jacket I think hang on isn't that you know what I I was trying to

hide this one so I could keep it but he spotted it uh and another jacket from BC unbelievable very quickly I would like to uh thank Nancy Smith Mike Dion Diamond Regional School uh teacher Mike baraby especially and Tom Aubin for all they've done I would like to thank the community maintenance director and the workers from both the park department and Community maintenance without their

efforts this never would have happened so I also would like to thank uh Mr Joyce Rodricks who was part of the me uh committee that worked on putting this together Joyce I know you're here somewhere but I just can't find you but thank you so much for your efforts thank you so much for being here thank you on behalf of Manny paper and I hope you all enjoy the court thank

you stand I'll take a picture of you guys