By ALEX SPONSELLER The Cranston sports community lost a major figure earlier in the fall, as Bob DeCosta Sr. passed away from COVID-19 at the age of 83.

DeCosta Sr.’s youth coaching career spanned across five decades, including time coaching at CLCF, Budlong Instructional League, Cranston National Little League and Cranston Babe Ruth.

Prior to his involvement in youth sports, DeCosta Sr. was a professional pitcher with the Milwaukee Braves organization. After the conclusion of his pro baseball career, he returned home to his native Rhode Island and was immediately devoted to youth athletics. He was also part of numerous men’s softball leagues in the decades following his return.

“He was a legend in this city, a legend. I have had so many people reach out to me on both my work phone and personal phone. I am still calling people back to say thanks for this, thanks for that. I can’t even keep up with it. He was my hero, he was everything to me,” said his son, Bob DeCosta Jr., who has received hundreds of combined emails and phone calls since his father’s passing.

DeCosta Sr.’s impact on youth sports in the city is still being felt to this day. Some of his contributions within the community included the construction of the CLCF sports complex on Pontiac Avenue which is still being used to this day. In 1996, Aqueduct Little League recognized and honored him by naming its new complex in his name.

DeCosta Sr. simply loved sports and shared that love with those in his family.

“I remember when my brother and I were young kids, we were trying out for Little League. That same year, the league asked my father if he would like to coach a team. He said yes, but he didn’t pick my brother and I for his team since he didn’t want to coach his own kids, so growing up, our mother would always have to keep up with us, ‘Rob, you’ve got a game,’ ‘Ron, you’ve got a game, ‘Pops, you’ve got a game,’ it became a family affair,’” said DeCosta Jr.

DeCosta Jr. has also become a mainstay in the dugout and sidelines as a coach in the city, following in his father’s footsteps. He remembers many of the lessons his father taught him throughout his upbringing, as well as his ability to work with athletes and recognize their potential.

“He was incredible, and the knowledge that he had for baseball was incredible. He could see talent in kids and I would pick that stuff up and I have used it in my own coaching. How to see, how to watch, how to look, what do you see? It would be little things that he would look for,” DeCosta Jr. said. “His Rotary team won the division nearly every year over the course of 40 years. Back then, there was some great competition in the city, but he would always pick the right kids, he would always see something in kids.”

More than anything, DeCosta Sr. loved helping children and being a source of positivity in his hometown.

“He always said, ‘You will always learn more on an athletics field than a classroom, and you need to let the kids know that you care,’” said DeCosta Jr. “I always wanted to be like him, I always wanted to be that guy that people would say did right by them and made a difference. He was that guy. He was a wonderful man, he was honest, caring. And he loved the community and the league. He would come home from work at the bank, eat dinner and head down to the field all summer. That was his life.”