10/06/2026
Congratulations to Coach Larry Bordonaro on winning the prestigious Dick Gallagher Lifetime Service Award from Project Play WNY! For the very few of you who have never had the pleasure of meeting, coaching with, or being coached by him, he was a Mathewson McCarthy Baseball coach for 40 years!!!!
Here is an excerpt from Project Play on the meaning of this award!
"Project Play WNY is proud to announce that Lawrence “Larry” Bordonaro, of Mathewson McCarthy Baseball & WNY Premier Baseball Travel League, will receive the Dick Gallagher Lifetime Service Award.
The award recognizes an individual who has used their platform as a youth sports coach or youth sports organization leader to support, recognize and advocate for youth athletes both on and off the field, for a decade or more. The award honors the legacy of Dick Gallagher, a tireless youth sports advocate and Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame inductee, who also dedicated his professional life to helping young people struggling with addiction.
Dick Gallagher encouraged Bordonaro to get involved in coaching back in 1985 when his own son started T-ball. Described as setting a “standard for what youth sports in this community should look like,” Bordonaro has been a house and tournament team coach at Mathewson McCarthy Baseball for more than 40 years, as well as a fall WNY Select Baseball travel team coach for the last five years and a two-decade member of the organization’s board of directors. He has also encouraged a new generation of coaches to get involved in youth sports.
Those who nominated Bordonaro said that in his four decades of coaching, he has found the positive attributes in every young athlete, from the very talented to the players with no experience at all.
“Plenty of coaches are great with the kids who are already good,” one nominator wrote. “Larry is just as invested in the kid who has never held a bat.”
More information on each honoree can be found at www.projectplaywny.org/thank-you-coach "
