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As Commissioner I would like to give you some background on the ASA on Long Island.
The ASA began in New York State with Vince Scamardella appointed as the Commissioner for the state. In 1961, Vince created the metro L.I. Association. He appointed Dan Belcastro as the Commissioner for the new metro Long Island region. Dan served for 3 years and then appointed Charlie Boscia to serve as his replacement. Charlie held the position for 5 years and appointed a young Jim "Sonny" Carman as his Deputy Commissioner for Suffolk County.
In 1969 , Sonny replaced Charlie as the Metro Commissioner for Long Island. Sonny served for 33 years in the position. During the time Sonny and Doris Carman served in the position, high water marks were reached with 2800 teams registered in a single season and 500 umpire registrations for a single season. Sonny would retire from the position in 1994.
It was at this time that Metro Long Island was dissolved and became District 8 of Southern New York. Glen Payne, Southern New York Commissioner, appointed Bruce Weinthal as Commissioner for District 8, Long Island. Bruce served in this position until 2004. In November of 2004 I became the new Commissioner for District 8 and hope to extend the continued success of our organization.
As stated above, Long Island evolved into a Metro Area, then into District 8, a part of Southern New York. All those Commissioners knew how to register teams and keep softball alive. That all took hard work but I think the greatest accomplishment that occurred during this time, was that Ed Dressler stepped forward and formed the Nassau County Umpires Association in 1952. His hard work and dedication to good officiating and proper mechanics for a game he loved , enabled him to be a “one of a kind” umpire on Long Island. His pursuit for excellence in officiating affected a great many people to become the best they could be. I am proud to say, I am one of those umpires. Vin Donnelly Commissioner
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