Coach’s departure will leave a void

“A heavy heart” is a very appropriate way to describe the feelings of the students, players and parents at Bellarmine-Jefferson High School when discussing the departure of Hector Perez (“Coach’s last stand,” May 18).

Not only did the school community and the baseball team benefit and get enhanced by coach Perez’s hard work and dedication, but the students whose lives he touched will take his lessons of valor, grace, maturity and loyalty from their teenage years through adulthood.

The students who passed through Perez’s hallways and his team rosters were not “his students” or “his players” — they were “his kids.” And they knew it.

He has an ability to see past their performance and into their potential.

That is a quality that comes from his heart and not from a teaching credential. It is a quality that is so rare that it is not likely to be replaced.

We were blessed to have Perez’s participation in our lives in the classroom and on the field during our years at Bell-Jeff.

We know that we will be forever blessed to call him our friend for the rest of our lives.

Joyce Aiello

Valley Village