The John Crawford Volunteerism Award
Our friend, John Crawford addresses the team in 2012
Our third honoree of our 2023 John Crawford Volunteerism award is Bryan Grillo. Bryan is the first honoree who actually knew John. Nothing is more accurate than saying these two men embody the spirit of volunteerism to the letter of the word.
As stated so many, times in the past, this award is a way to remember a man who came out of nowhere and helped us unselfishly and surprised us with his contribution. Bryan Grillo still recalls John’s amazing contribution to this team and he was such a big fan of us creating this way to memorialize the great man that John was to his family, community and our team. With John volunteering to help the 2012 coaching staff, he helped make Bryan’s job (and the other 3 coaches as well) easier that week. Spreading the work out amongst 5 volunteers is a lot easier than doing it amongst 4 volunteers.
It is with great honor to celebrate Bryan’s accomplishments this year and put his name in the same sentence with John Crawford. If it’s possible for someone who has been volunteering for over 20 years to up their game, Bryan Grillo accomplished this in 2023. He does so much for the team behind the scenes and he is the heart and soul of this team.
Getting started with Beepball
Bryan, Rob and Ron in 2000 with Lowell
Bryan got his start in this game joining Ron Cochran and Rob Weissman with the Lowell LAB Retrievers in 2000. These three should be known as the fathers of competitive beepball in New England. After some organizational challenges faced the team in 2001, Grillo stepped away from beepball till getting the call from Weissman about the Renegades in 2003. Bryan has been a valuable member of this team since then, making 2023 his 21st year being involved in beep baseball and his 20th year as a Renegade
On the field, Bryan is our most experienced defensive caller. For the first eight years of the Renegade history, the team deployed a one caller defensive system. Bryan became that primary caller starting in the 2004 season. He actually called 100 straight games from 2004-2010. When the team deployed a double caller system, Grillo finally got a break. He is our all-time leader in games called in a single caller system (80). He is also our leader in calling games on the left side (145 in his career) in a double caller system. Nobody else has come close to calling the amount of innings he has in Renegade history. The league does not keep stats like the renegades do, but it’s likely Bryan has called some of the most innings in the history of the sport.
Bryan has always been there. He has always been dependable and one of the core Renegades to create the culture of this team. He is always there to lend an ear when a player is frustrated. He is always there to stay with a player till the Ride picks them up, even if it’s an hour after practice. Bryan makes most of the off field events and is the main reason we started a relationship with the Woburn Host Lions due to his relationship with Frank Dimauro. This season Bryan may have done more for the team than in any season, especially off the field.
Fundraising – the key to participation
Joey Buizon, Bryan Grillo, Larry Haile and Rob Thayer attend the Lions parade in 2013 with Lizzy and Ethan Buizon
We are always supporters of the Woburn Host Lions. Each year, they host a huge parade attended by more than 40,000 people annually. For years, the Renegades partake in this parade and one of the constants is Bryan. He is always there, rain or shine (it rained awfully in 2023) and he walks the parade route with one of the players and a bucket collecting donations for the lions and eye research. Bryan has attended this parade for more more than any other coach or player in team history.
The Challenged Athlete Foundation is one of the biggest supporters of our players. Each year a bunch of our players apply for this grant. One thing we have found is that often the guys who need the most financial assistance are often the ones who struggle to use technology the most. Bryan steps in to help them. In 2023, he helped both Luis Soto and Rob Thayer with their grants. This includes working with them to get their information, knowing the deadlines and helping with receipts. It also includes writing a letter of recommendation for the player. It’s no small task and helps these athletes with about 70% of the funds they need to travel.
Luis Soto says. “I will be always thankful for Bryan with the help he gives me with our CAF grants. I am privileged to work with him and the patience he has with me. It goes above and beyond what any human being can take when I need to gather all the information we need. Sometimes I do not have it all and he always tells me to not worry and to just take my time to get what we need to get it done.“
Pitching stories, not beepballs
Bryan has spent his career in public relations. He uses these skills to help the team with media. This year, he went further than in any season. Bryan was instrumental and the point person for the piece with chronicle and the MetroWest Daily News. There he played point talking with the media about their needs and making sure they got the quotes, action or footage they needed to see at practice. Bryan’s influence is in every media piece this season (2023 had the most media coverage in team history).
Beyond that, Bryan trained a bunch of people this year on how to handle the interviewing process. He spent time with Shawn, Gina, Sanchez, Drew, Kimball, and Elana. These six Renegades got their media debuts with the team this season. Drew Crook states, “He is always willing to help and take my call with questions. It was so great having him help out during the NH Chronicle piece this summer. I was able to ask questions, clarify dos and don’ts and just talked through the process. “
Chris Kimball chimes in, “Saying Grillo was a tremendous help is an understatement. During the summer while preparing for an interview with media I became nervous on the day of the interview and Grillo was able to help me quiet my mind so I could give good answers to the questions I would be asked. With Grillo’s help the interview went much more smooth and was a lot less stressful.” His interview is in this video below.
How can I help?
Bryan is also there in Great times, like here helping Tyler celebrate his first career run
This famous line from a tv show called new Amsterdam is a mantra Bryan lives by. This year, the team had a lot of challenges and Bryan saw the need to ask this question. It resulted in him taking on the relationship with the City of Watertown. This was no small task in 2023 because we had to move or reschedule more practices in this season than any other season combined due to the record amount of rain the area had. Bryan attended meetings with the city, helped us understand what fields were available and played point between the team and the recreation department to handle scheduling throughout the season.
Those skills also parlayed into the home tournament in July. Bryan worked with the Woburn High School to help secure the fields needed. He was also on the field with Rob And Ace to figure out the safest places to set up fields for the teams to play on. This took hours of work to find the right configurations, obtain access and permits to the fields and work with Ace to get three fields lined before the games began.
During the offseason, we discovered that the batting cages we used for 11 years would be closing. Grillo jumped in asking how he could help. He got involved in helping the team secure a new home for 2024 and beyond. A huge task to set this team up for future success. Though his skills are on defense, Bryan knows the value of having bodies at cage sessions. Bryan is one of the first coaches to sign up to get the team in the cages to kick of 2024!
A penny for your thoughts
As any Renegade knows, Bryan is the ear for the team. Think of going to a therapist and venting. Bryan listens. Think about needing advice on handling a situation, Bryan is there. When a Renegade has their feelings hurt, Bryan helps them to feel heard, ultimately improving their situation. He is the heart and soul of this team and always has been. In 2023, he spent a lot of time listening and helping make things better for not only the players, but the coaches. Chris Kimball says, “During the World Series. After being in the field for some time I got inside my own head and became an emotional mess. Similar to the interview with the media, Grillo helped me calm down and become comfortable enough to play defense again for a few innings the following afternoon. “
Practice?
Bryan walks Soto back to the bench in a game in 2017
Unlike Allen Iverson, Bryan (a huge basketball fan) was a constant presence at practice this year making 18 of the 23 scheduled practices. Few coaches made more than him. Not only does he coach our defense, this year he (along with Ace) mentored both Teigan and Gina to make them better callers and get them ready to run the defense in Indy. Having him at practice makes the entire team better. Defensively, the defense gets to practice with its top caller. This also allows all other coaches to play their normal roles to give the team a more well-rounded practice plan.
Is Bryan one of the best callers and coaches in the sport, yes! But it’s all these extra things that make him irreplaceable on the Renegades. Never before has he done this amount of stuff for the team in a single season and we are grateful for his contributions!
Luis Soto sums up how we feel about him, “I do not deserve all he has done for me. This is the kind of heart he has and the truth is that he goes above and beyond for me. It is hard to put it in words the type of human being he is. He has helped many of us in the present and in the past and he always goes above and beyond because he truly understands what it means to help someone. No words will express the gratitude I feel for Bryan.”
Other Award Winners
2022 marked the inaugural season for this award. To learn more about the contributions of these four amazing volunteers, please check out the links below:
2023 Award Winners