Written by Robert Bonvento Thursday, 20 May 2010
Baby boomers who played Dad’s Club baseball in Tarrytown during the 1950s will remember a warm, soft-spoken, tactician of the game. This writer had the privilege of playing for Coach Guernsey in a 1956 championship season and then heard no more from the memorable man until fifty years later, on February 23, 2006. This publication received a handwritten letter that opened with, “Dear Mr. Bonvento, If you are right-handed please check here [] and throw this letter in a recycle bin.” He knew I was left-handed and he knew I had pitched for him in a championship game. A game he later told me (in one of his numerous letters) that many others thought I should not pitch in, due to my lack of experience in a pressure situation.
It was Pete Guernsey’s first year of coaching and we won the game.
Pete was born in Ossining on March 14, 1927 and grew up in Tarrytown where he graduated from Washington Irving High School in 1944. In January, 1945 he enlisted in the US Navy. Following his discharge he earned a degree in Physical Education from Denison University in Ohio. It was at college that he met his wife of 56 years, Zoa Manson Scholfield of Wausau, Wisconsin.
He lived in Tarrytown for a number of years and then moved to Cross River, New York where he continued coaching in the Babe Ruth League. He finally settled in Groton, Massachusetts where he lived until his death on April 12, 2010. He spent his last days with his family and friends. Knowing and remembering Pete Guernsey, he was always surrounded by warm and caring people, for he indeed was one of them.
