MAN OF THE YEAR
MAN OF THE YEAR
Al has been involved with baseball his whole
life, playing the game in little league, Babe Ruth
leagues, and at the University of New Haven
as well as being involved with the NABF since
2002 as a board member of the West Haven
Twilight League. Al has spent several years as a
Regional Tournament volunteer as well as be-
ing a tournament director for the last 4 years.
Al was also recently the recipient of the WHTL
Program Book award, which was presented to
him at their annual Gold Bat Awards dinner. He
is also active in the leagues fundraising efforts,
helping put together the annual golf tourna-
ment as well as their Hot Stove luncheon and
the aforementioned Gold Bat Awards dinner.
Prior to his time with the WHTL, Al coached
youth basketball in both California and Con-
necticut for 12 years. He was also the Chair-
man of the Board with the Fremont YMCA for
4 years and ran the YMCA Indian Guides Youth
Program for 6 years. When Al has a chance to
step away from baseball, he enjoys working
with stained glass designs.
AL DiLEONARDO
Richard Brown was born in New York City in
1954. Brown moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana when
he was two months old. Brown attended the
Fort Wayne Community Schools and graduated
from North Side High School in 1972. Shortly
after high school, Brown met his wife, Donna
at of all places, Lawton Park on a baseball
diamond in 1974. Brown and his wife are parents
to two children, Rich (39) and Andrea (31) and
grandparents to 10-year-old Octavius. Brown
worked for FWCS in a variety of capacities for
37 years. He retired from FWCS in 2010 as the
assistant manager of Maintenance & Operations.
Brown’s retirement did not last long; he
immediately transitioned into the Operations
Manager position at Sodexo/FWCS.
Brown has been on the Fort Wayne Baseball
Federation board for the last 10 years and was
on the committee to move “Carrington Field”
from IPFW grounds to its present location
on Coliseum Blvd. He was inducted into the
National Semi-Pro Hall of Fame in 2013 located
in Evansville, Indiana.
RICHARD BROWN
WOMAN OF THE YEAR
TAMMI NUBER
Tammi has been with Cincinnati Recreation
Commission for 31 years, starting as a lifeguard
and working her way up. She has been a
Community Center Director and Service
Area Coordinator in some very challenging
neighborhoods and is currently in the role of
Athletic Director. Her responsibilities include
looking after over 150 ball fields, tennis courts,
multiple shelters, boat ramps, as well as all of
the Adult Sports Leagues. Tammi and the CRC
run their NABF leagues out of the Reds Urban
Youth Academy, which provides them an elite
site each year. This past year was the first time
they hosted out of town teams during her
tenure and even though the weather provided
its own set of challenges, she believes their
Regional was a huge success and looks forward
to the future and making it even better.
Butch has been a director with the NABF since
2014, and the President of the Metropolitan
Baseball League since 2010. His organization has
helped run successful Regional Tournaments for
the NABF for several seasons, and he maintains an
active presence in the Hackensack area to help
promote amateur baseball. He stays quite active
himself within the game of baseball, coaching
little league and at multiple levels of spring and
summer travel baseball. He is also the player/
manager for the Hackensack Troasts of the
Metropolitan Baseball League, who competed
in the NABF Major Division World Series this
past season. Butch took home All-Tournament
team honors from the tournament, which was
his second time doing so. Early on in his baseball
career, Butch was a NCAA Division III All-American
in 1995 at William Patterson University, and then
played in the PittsburghPirates organization for 3
seasons as well.
2016 NABF AWARD OF MERIT
BUTCH BELLENGER
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