America’s favorite pastime and the teachings of Catholicism made a winning pair for Jimmy Ruvituso Jr., a third-grader at St. Patrick’s School in Bedford Villages, N.Y.
The son of Donna Ruvituso, FCRH ’80, and James Ruvituso, FCRH ’78, Jimmy won the “Home Run for Catholic Schools” promotion, sponsored by the Hudson Valley Renagades minor league baseball team and the Catholic schools of Hudson Valley, for his essay comparing baseball with Catholic education.
Baseball and a Catholic education are alike, Jimmy wrote in the essay, “because they teach me about listening, focusing, taking direction, getting along with others and being a good sport.”
Donna said her son “was totally floored” when he heard the good news about his essay (which can be viewed on the Catholic New York website).
For winning the contest, Jimmy threw out the first pitch at the Hudson Valley Renegades game against the Brooklyn Cyclones at Dutchess Stadium on June 30. Donna said several representatives from the Archdiocese of New York attended, including Timothy J. McNiff, Ed.D., superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of New York. “I didn’t expect to see all those people, and it was really nice,” she said. “Jimmy was like a celebrity.”
Donna and James met at WFUV while they were students at Fordham. She was a reporter and newscaster at the radio station, and James was the public affairs director and music director. They married at the University Church in 1981.
“[My parents] say that being taught by Jesuits in college was the best education,” Jimmy wrote in his essay. “The priests and brothers at Fordham … taught students morals and subjects about faith in Jesus. So it was no surprise that my parents decided to send me to a Catholic school too.”
Is Fordham University in Jimmy’s college plans? Donna, who has seven siblings, four of whom also attended Fordham, said, “It’s not out of the question!”
— Rachel Buttner
