While growing up in Côte Saint-Luc next to Kirwan Park,  my brother Chuck and I would spend of our summers playing pickup baseball. The guy everyone wanted on their team was Mark Rosenoff, who lived one street over. We called him “Rosie” and he was the prototypical  power hitter. In the local CSL system, from hardball to Slo Pitch, this guy was always good for the long ball.

Mark Rosenoff and one of his previous teams.

Well, I lost touch with Rosie until he contacted me the other day. Twenty years ago, while living here, he met his wife Michelle. She is a New Yorker and they  ended up moving to Long Island.    They were blessed with two beautiful children.  Sydney,  17., is a high school senior   at LuHi and Matthew, 15,  is a freshman at Commack High School. Sydney is a chip off the old block  received a full basketball scholarship at Adelphi University. Not to be outdone, Matthew made the varsity basketball team and he also plays football.  

Mark Rosenoff and his family.

Now Rosie himself was also quite a basketball player growing up.   “I loved the game as a player and continue to love the game as a coach,” he says. “Coaching has to be one of the most rewarding things to do in life. To make a difference in these young kids lives means everything.”

Rosie currently coaches a Boys 15U AAU travel basketball team. They are not a sponsored, so everyone has to pay their own way to play.   Turns out he has players who can’t afford to pay anything to play.   “They are great kids that deserve the opportunity to compete,” Rosie says. “With New York closed,  we have to travel to other states to play,  which is very costly.”

By day Rosie has a sales position in the pest control industry.   

So Rosiehas embarked upon a Go Fund Me account  to help these kids out and he is hoping that Montrealers and CSLers who knew him will consider making donations.

The link  to donate is:   https://gofund.me/85219532