Volunteer Pitches In for Kids

Undeterred by late winter showers that turned their baseball diamond into a field of streams, a handful of young sluggers gathered Monday on the bleachers at the David M. Gonzalez Recreation Center in Pacoima for their first team meeting of the spring season.

Coach Raymond Pacheco greeted the boys, his Indians baseball jacket wrapped snugly around his stocky frame. Grabbing a pencil tucked behind his ear, he checked off a list of those who braved the cold and damp for the sake of their favorite sport.

“We’ve got bad weather today, I’m afraid, but we’ll start practicing by the weekend,” Pacheco said to the disappointed players. “Remember to bring your $35, which will buy you a cap and a jersey with your name on it. And don’t forget to get cleats. You’ll need them.”

If Pacheco, a Pacoima native, sounded matter-of-fact, it’s because he has coached hundreds of baseball lovers at the local park at least four days a week during the past 13 years. And that’s not counting the adults he’s molded into decent pitchers and fielders.

“These boys are like another family to Ray,” said recreation center Director Joseph Dickson. “He works with at-risk kids because he wants to give. He’s an outgoing and lovable individual.”

The kids, most of whom are students at Maclay or Pacoima middle school, agree.

“Coach treats the guys great,” said 13-year-old Tony Herrera, who signed up for his second season with Pacheco. “He’s tough sometimes, but he looks out for us, too.”

Pacheco, a Los Angeles Unified School District security guard, watches out for “his kids” not only on the field, but at Maclay Middle School, where he has helped to keep the peace on campus for 17 years.

“When I have the kids, even for two or three hours, it might be the time a stray bullet, a bullet with no name on it, misses one of them,” Pacheco said. “When they’re with me, they’re not hanging around and getting into trouble. They’re involved and happy.”

Pacheco, 54, knows firsthand how structure and guidance can turn a life around.

A lifelong Pacoima resident, the volunteer coach said he drifted through his school years, an average student with no goals.

After a one-year tour of service in Vietnam, Pacheco said, he came home to his wife, Linda, with a new sense of responsibility and a desire to bring meaning to his life.

He drove a truck for several trash disposal companies until he began his post at Maclay, where he has helped change the lives of many students, he said.

“I’m always honest with kids,” Pacheco said. “They know they can count on me to tell the truth, to keep them straight.”

In 1986, with Dickson’s blessing and help raising funds for equipment, the local baseball team was born.

In Pacoima--where movie theaters, malls and bowling alleys are hard to come by--the recreation center’s after-school programs, sports teams and volunteers keep kids on the right track.

“I’ve got more time than money,” Pacheco said. “I was born and raised here, and I want to give back some of what I’ve gotten from people.

“I love it when the kids grow up, then come back to me with their stories and smiles. That’s something you just can’t buy.”

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