Charlie Miracola looks back at more than three decades of volunteering at Cherry Hill Atlantic Little League
After 33 years as a volunteer and 17 years as Cherry Hill Atlantic’s president, Miracola decided to step down from the league’s board of directors.
Charlie Miracola has done almost every job imaginable at Cherry Hill Atlantic Little League over the past 33 years.
Miracola has been a coach, board member and president for the league. He’s helped beautify the fields, construct a new clubhouse, raise funds for the organization, umpired and even ran the snack stand.
After 33 years as a volunteer and 17 years as Cherry Hill Atlantic’s president, Miracola has decided to step down to spend more time with his family and two grandchildren.
Miracola has been involved with Cherry Hill Atlantic for as long as he and his wife, Elly, have lived in Cherry Hill. The Miracola family moved to the township in 1984. The following year, Miracola’s oldest son, Charlie Jr., began playing at Cherry Hill Atlantic. Miracola wasn’t planning on getting involved until Jane Glick, the league’s player agent at the time, reached out to him.
“She called me up looking for a coach,” Miracola said.
Miracola finally decided to begin coaching after Glick approached him a few more times to convince him to get involved. At the time, he had no idea how involved he would get in the evolution of Cherry Hill Atlantic.
Miracola remained involved as a coach and volunteer as his four sons, Charlie Jr., Larry, Michael and Vinny, grew up and played in the league. Coaching his sons and working with the kids was Miracola’s favorite part of volunteering at Cherry Hill Atlantic.
“It was just being around kids and watching them develop and trying to make it fun with them,” he said.
Miracola joined the Cherry Hill Atlantic Board of Directors in 2000. A year later, he became president. It was under his watch Cherry Hill Atlantic saw a ton of upgrades. One of the biggest additions to the league’s facilities was the construction of a new clubhouse.
“We totally revamped it,” Miracola said. “We tore it down completely and spent many a day and weekend putting it back.”
Miracola also worked closely with township officials and township director of recreation Megan Brown on a number of projects. One of those projects was the paving of the league’s parking lot.
“The township was really instrumental by helping us pave the parking lot that was known as the dust bowl,” Miracola said.
Scoreboards were added to all of the fields at the complex and upgrades were made to the major division field to make it useable for Little League’s intermediate division, which used a field with larger basepaths and a longer distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate.
Miracola took pride in hosting tournaments at Cherry Hill Atlantic and making the facility look as beautiful as possible.
“I was out there digging, shoveling, doing all of that kind of stuff,” he said. “We had some great people volunteer and so many great board members.”
Miracola stayed involved long after his four sons had left the league. Miracola’s youngest son, Vinny, played his last season at Cherry Hill Atlantic in 2002.
“It became a family to me,” Miracola said about continuing to volunteer at Cherry Hill Atlantic. “I just loved seeing the results of what we did. I loved making the fields and the complex look as great as it did.”
Volunteering at the Little League would become a family affair. Miracola’s wife, Elly, was the player agent for Cherry Hill Atlantic prior to Charlie’s tenure on the board. In addition, two of Charlie’s sons would come back to the league as adults to coach.
After Miracola decided to step down as president, township officials honored him for his many years of service at the Jan. 22 Township Council meeting. Miracola received a proclamation in front of many people whom he worked alongside.
“When I walked in there and saw a lot of the people that were friends and board members from years ago, that brought back a lot of memories,” he said.
Miracola dedicated thousands of hours to Cherry Hill Atlantic. Looking back at the past 33 years, Miracola said he has no regrets.
“I wouldn’t give it up for anything,” he said. “I would do it over again.”
