Call To Retire East Hampton Star Ross Gload’s Number

Former Major League baseball player Ross Gload, who was a four-year star for East Hampton High School, will be honored by the school this spring when his number-22 jersey is retired.

East Hampton varsity baseball coaches Vincent Alversa and Henry Meyer, both of whom played with Gload in high school, asked the East Hampton School Board on February 4 to allow them to retire Gload’s jersey when the Bonackers play Pierson High School on Saturday, May 2.

May is Brain Cancer Awareness Month, and the coaches said they would also like to turn the day into a fundraiser for the National Brain Tumor Society. Gload's 11-year-old son, Greyson, was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor five years ago. He has endured two brain surgeries, 16 months of chemotherapy and extensive physical and occupational therapy in the intervening years.

“He’s still in this fight, and East Hampton baseball would like to support him and all the others that are still fighting,” the coaches wrote.

Their proposal, which was read to the board by Superintendent Richard Burns, received an enthusiastic response.

"It's a great cause," said School Board president J.P. Foster this week. "He's also one of our few athletes to have a professional career."

"It's about time we're doing it," said Alversa, who played outfield and pitched for the Bonackers. "I'm super excited. I was a sophomore when Ross was a senior, so I was back and forth between the varsity and the JV, but I got to watch plenty of those home runs."

Meyer, who was a year younger than Gload and played catcher, grew up with him in Springs. "When I was 10 years old, in Little League, I knew he was different," he said. "When he hit the ball, I said to myself, 'This is not normal.'"

It was everyone's dream to play Major League baseball, he said, and when Gload made it to the big leagues, "he let us enjoy the ride with him numerous times.

"I remember sleeping in his room when his team was in town to play the Yankees," Meyer continued. "He let us try on his World Series ring, and he would get us all tickets if we wanted. He was really generous in letting us experience that kind of stuff."

Meyer said with May being Brain Cancer Awareness Month, it was natural to transform the ceremony into a fundraiser for the National Brain Tumor Society. Gray is the awareness color for brain cancer, so the Bonackers will adopt the motto "Gray for Grey," Meyer said. There are plans to sell gray T-shirts emblazoned with "Team Grey, Brain Tumor Awareness, Never, Never Quit."

The coaches said they had the support of the Bonac Booster Club and asked the School Board for permission to bring in a food truck or grill hot dogs and hamburgers during and after the game as well as sell ice cream, popcorn and other refreshments.

Gload graduated from East Hampton in 1994. He broke into the Major Leagues on August 31, 2000, with the Chicago Cubs. He played for six different teams during his 10-year career and won his World Series ring with the Chicago White Sox in 2005. He batted .281, and had 34 home runs and 222 RBI during his career.

In 1994, behind Gload's three homers, the Bonackers won the Suffolk County title, but they lost in the Long Island Championship game, falling to Cold Spring Harbor and its star pitcher Wally Szczerbiak, who would later play 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association.

Gload, who now lives out of state, was among the first athletes inducted into the East Hampton Athletic Hall of Fame when it was established in 2012.

“We believe it would be a great honor for both our baseball program and our community to have his jersey on the back of the dugout for past and future players to admire and see that dreams do come true with determination and hard work,” the coaches wrote.