The legend of Mikey Boc grows from Port Chester to collegiate stardom in New Paltz to next chapter
June 12, 2024 at 11:10 p.m.
It was the moment when the legend of Mikey Boc, former Port Chester Rams scholastic sports great, became part of SUNY New Paltz's collegiate baseball history.
It was also the moment when Mikey Boc, as he has been called since his earliest Port Chester Youth Baseball League days, saw that baseball had taught him his final lesson as a player.
It was the instant when he realized that nothing that would happen to him on a playing field would come close to matching what he was feeling at that moment.
That's when he knew without a doubt that he was going to hang up his spikes, stop playing ball and concentrate on his upcoming career as an educator.
His life from that moment onward would involve paying it all forward, giving what he learned from sports to up-and-coming young students, maybe even getting lucky and landing the teaching gig he wanted at one of the schools in his hometown.
Or elsewhere in lower Westchester if there were no openings in Port Chester.
Legend in the making
But a lot had to happen first to lead up to that moment, that change in Michael Boccarossa's forever thinking.
His New Paltz team was trailing by 10 runs in the third inning of a game they had to win to get into the collegiate playoffs.
But that was no problem for Mikey Boc. He got the clutch base hits that contributed to the improbable comeback rally that led to a 12-11 win.
His team still needed to make an uphill climb to get through the tournament, but they did.
In the process, they flipped their record from 14-24 the previous year to 24-14 on their way into the league championship finals.
And then they lost their first game at home in the best 2-out-of-3 championship series, the New York State equivalent of the baseball World Series.
The pivotal doubleheader
That meant they had to beat their nationally-ranked rival twice in a doubleheader on the same day on their rival's home field where they had never before beaten them in 38 previous tries.
Again that was no problem for Mikey Boc.
He just willed his team not to lose. And they didn't.
And if you knew the Port Chester legend of Mikey Boc, that Hollywood ending to his college career seemed inevitable.
Because it had taken Boc six years of college to get there, including two years of extra collegiate eligibility because of the COVID pandemic.
And it had taken his school even longer, because it was founded in 1833 and had never before won a SUNY baseball championship.
That brings us to the back story about the latest chapter in the legend of Mikey Boc—third baseman, shortstop and second baseman—as the graduate student captain of the first SUNY New Paltz team to win a SUNYAC title in program history.
Long time coming
The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III, consisting of 16 schools in the State University of New York system.
The story of how a kid from Port Chester ever got there makes the legend of Mikey Boc even more intriguing because New Paltz was the only college willing to take a chance on him and give him a shot at playing college baseball, including room, board and tuition costing around $27,788 per year for the six years it took him to get his undergraduate and master's degrees so he could become a teacher/counsellor/athletic coach someday.
They never regretted it.
Worth the money
Here are the reasons why, starting with what the New Paltz athletic department had to say about Mikey Boc.
"Michael Boccarossa (Port Chester, NY/Port Chester HS) was a four-year captain for the Hawks who leaves the program as one of the best leaders to ever wear the orange and blue. Playing for SUNY New Paltz for six seasons, Boccarossa was the consummate teammate, putting the program above himself, and set an example every single day as a student-athlete. His tireless work ethic came to fruition in a storybook-like final season where he put up career numbers to not only earn his first All-SUNYAC and All-Region recognition but lead a gritty group to the program's very first SUNYAC Championship title."
New Paltz coach Thomas Seay picks up the narrative from there.
Hawks coach raves
"Talk about a player who is as selfless and team oriented as they come, I'm super pumped Mike is getting the individual recognition he deserves," Seay said. "The intangibles he brought to the table could not quantify the impact he had on the success this past spring and the ascension of a young group that overcame a history of tough finishes. What was unquestionable, however, was his production at the plate—most notably in clutch spots with runners in scoring position.
Michael Boccarossa poses with his SUNY New Paltz coach Thomas Seay who holds the trophy their baseball team received after capturing the first SUNYAC title in program history.Courtesy of SUNY New Paltz Athletic Department
"Mike has been the foundation the program's success has been built upon. There's not a guy who commands more respect than Mike. He had a great season. He's always been a clutch performer and this season he was really consistent. Breaking the single season program record for RBIs and breaking the program games started record are tremendous accomplishments."
Mikey Boc's stats speak for themselves.
The All-Star stats
Boccarossa set a single season New Paltz program record in RBIs, surpassing the previous record set in 2019 by former teammate Dean Stalzer (45) as he concluded the season with a team-leading 47 RBIs while hitting a career-best .339 with an OPS (on base and slugging percentage) of .867, a slugging percentage of .429 and on-base-percentage of .438. He finished with 41 runs scored, 57 hits and 12 extra base hits with 25 walks and only 15 strikeouts.
Additionally, Boccarossa was named to the All-Region All-Star Team, was designated as a third-team D3 Baseball selection, won New Paltz's major athletic award and had his name inscribed on the Hawks Athletic Leadership Wall of Honor.
"The entire season has been a special ride, especially the last three to four weeks," according to Hawks coach Seay. "If you would have told me we'd win over 20 games since April or come back down 10 in the third inning against Oswego, and beat Cortland not once, but twice, on their home field to win our first conference championship—I don't think I'd believe you."
But Mikey Boc did believe and thanked a lot of people in the process.
"I just want to thank the administration, the athletic department, and our coaches and parents, all the people who always believed in us," said Boccarossa. "I can't put into words how much this means to me and the guys on the team. All year we battled through adversity and came up on top, [and] that just shows the resilience in this group and the fight for each other’s mentality."
He then said, without sounding boastful, "This team is the best team in New Paltz Baseball history. We proved that in winning the championship."
But the next few words showed how much that win meant to him.
Unforgettable in every way
"I'm going to hang up my spikes because nothing I've ever done in sports means as much as winning the title with this bunch of guys," he told Westmore News. "And I don't think anything else in sports ever will. They—my teammates and the school—mean so much to me. Nothing will ever match it. New Paltz was like a mini-collegiate Port Chester to me, small town, a hard-working, close-knit student body; the friends I have made here will be my best friends forever. And I will never forget they were the only school that took a chance on me and gave me the chance to play college baseball."
Also unforgettable: The way Mikey Boc felt after winning the school's Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr. Award, considered the most prestigious honor to be bestowed upon any athlete at New Paltz because it speaks of a student-athlete’s ability to completely dedicate him/herself to the team, giving everything despite the outcome, not only in competition, but also in every aspect of student life.
Story behind award
The story behind that award had a life-changing impact on Mikey Boc, a reminder of the importance of making every minute count. Because a time would come when there would be no more minutes left to count.
Almost 40 years after his death, the remains of Heinz Ahlmeyer, a 1966 alumnus of the State University of New York at New Paltz and a former Hawks soccer great, were recovered in Vietnam. He was killed in action on May 10, 1967, less than one year after graduating and only one day into his tour of duty as a Marine Corps platoon leader, a second lieutenant whose long-range reconnaissance patrol was trapped behind North Vietnamese Army enemy lines. He was killed in action. And his body was lost in time in that Vietnamese jungle a long way from where he grew up in Pearl River in Rockland County until, ironically, his body was finally found, the discovery of Ahlmeyer's remains coinciding with the 40th anniversary of his team's 1965 championship victory—the school's first in soccer. His body was flown back to the U.S. That spring, New Paltz college representatives, as well as Ahlmeyer's former SUNY New Paltz soccer coach, Al Miller, and several members of his soccer team traveled to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia for Ahlmeyer's burial with military honors. And he lives on in the award the school created in his name.
From Ram to Hawk
The significance of Boc's winning the award after the Hawks first SUNYAC baseball title was not lost on the ex-Ram turned Hawk.
Because Ahlmeyer was a celebrated New Paltz athlete who inspired his fellow athletes with his hard work, amazed his coaches with his determination and touched and inspired those who knew him with his kindness, the award was created in his honor. And because of his impact on the New Paltz community, the award was created in his honor in recognition of his service to the college community and to his country in 1967.
So winning the award means the world to Boc. And it was a contributing factor to his wanting to do something meaningful with his life, hence his decision to stop playing ball and concentrating on sharing his sports experience with a younger generation by becoming a teacher/counselor/coach somewhere in lower Westchester, ideally in Port Chester where he grew up. He wants to put his Masters in Elementary Education and his teaching certifications to good use. So much so that he started sending out his applications this past Monday (6/10) after returning from a family celebratory graduation trip.
Santavicca, Santora speak
"Whatever school lands him as a guidance counselor and possibly a coach in his working career will be lucky to have him," said Paul Santavicca, a teacher in the Port Chester School District and one of the former Rams coaches who knew Boc best during his high school days. "Boc is an amazing person; he will give you the shirt off his back."
"Boc was/is your prototypical captain," Santavicca continued. "He is a team first guy in every sense of the word. As a high school football player, he led by example and vocally. He led on the field by example by accepting whatever role he was given and did it at 110%. As a junior we asked him to play WR (wide receiver) and safety. He did it. As a senior he led the team to a league championship as a QB. Then in one of his final games as a football player, when we were beat up as a team and needed help in the secondary against Mahopac, who stepped up? Boc."
And in a long ago game in that championship season, the last title won by a Port Chester football team, the Rams came up against a perennial Section 1 contender from Rockland County. Santavicca figured they were going to key on the Rams’ top three running backs (Jay Wiley, Shawn Blackburn and Jordan Lewis), so he called up Boc and said he was going to emphasize the passing game that day. Boc responded by flooding the air with touchdown passes and the Rams won going away. His quarterbacking skills and his baseball catches and greatest hits could make up a highlight reel of Rams top moments of the past decade.
"Boc's leadership ability is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that he was a four-time captain for his college baseball team and his college coach (Seay) saw in Boc what his Ram coaches saw in him except he arguably noticed it sooner because he put the C (captain's letter designation) on Boc's uniform chest almost immediately," Santavicca said.
"What a kid, what a competitor, what a quarterback; it could be fourth and 10 and Boc had so much confidence, he would want to go for it because he could get it," former Port Chester educator/coach Mark Santora remembered, looking back on his days as the Rams football coach who won the junior varsity grid championship for two consecutive years—the last time that happened—with Boc as his QB in the days when Mikey Boc was also the Rams’ All-League shortstop who had been starring on the local sandlots from his first days in the Port Chester Youth Baseball League.
Family support system
"Port Chester was a super cool place to grow up and play ball," Boc recalled. "And I grew up with a ball in my hand for as long as I can remember. My father (Carmine) and my uncle (Vic) both played baseball and football for Port Chester and that's what I grew up wanting to do. My mother (Jennifer) helped make my athletic career possible by driving me to most of my travel team games and so did my sister Emily (who just graduated from Penn State with a teaching degree) who was very supportive and also came to most of my games. So Port Chester and family have a very special place in my life. And so does New Paltz because it became like Port Chester and family to me.
"But I came to realize that nothing like winning a collegiate championship with a team consisting of some of my closest friends who had all been through so much together would ever happen again for me in my lifetime. It was that special. Now I think I am ready for the next phase of my life. And that will be with a career in education. So no more playing sports for me. I will put the lessons learned from sports into practice in a classroom and pay it forward with new generations of student-athletes."
And a new chapter in the legend of Mikey Boc will begin.
Comments:
You must login to comment.