Can sports bridge trust and mend the past within different communities? On Fire Island, the official Cherry Bowl Tournament has helped mend wounds of distrust with a competitive volleyball game between Cherry Grove’s Grovettes and the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) Coppettes since 1984.
With a crowd of a few hundred watching intently, the Grovettes clinched a now two-year-in-a-row decisive win. The final score was 18 to 25.
“I’ve been attending the tournament since I’ve been a police officer for about 35 years,” Gerard Hardy, the Suffolk County Chief of Patrol, said. “Over the years, we morphed into a super team throughout the department, practicing for this tournament. I can tell you, we don’t really win much. The Grovettes [are] … a phenomenal team. I attend many events throughout the summer, but this is my favorite one. This sounds a little corny, but everybody’s a winner.”
Cherry Grove resident and actress/ comedian Wanda Sykes, when asked about her thoughts on the event, said, “This is always a fun day. I’ve been coming out here since 2006 or 2007; the [Suffolk County Police] need the positive PR.”
For officers and community members alike, this event has served as a bridge to community trust and an effective, humanistic way to mend wounds from decades past.
During the 1950s, as Cherry Grove’s reputation evolved from a historic Bohemian community to an openly gay artist community, local mainland police departments formed vice squads to enforce so-called immorality laws, including public indecency or sodomy (these laws were classified as disorderly conduct in the local penal codes).
Building a makeshift station in the Community House, the Brookhaven Town Police, under the command of Chief Edward Bridge, assigned officers to go undercover in teams at local resorts or nightclubs during the late-night hours of Friday or Saturday. In a press conference with Newsday on August 3, 1953, about the heightened arrests, which average 60 per summer season, Chief Bridge stated, “The people have demanded police protection on their beaches. This is the first step in a full-scale cleanup of undesirables from our beaches.”
“Not only did law enforcement give the names and addresses of the detained people in these raids to the local newspapers, but they also provided where they work. Clearly, the cops were after these men’s jobs,” veteran journalist and founder of the Long Island Press Club Karl Grossman stated.
By the mid to late 1960s, the newly formed Suffolk County Police merged most of the county’s towns into a single force, including Brookhaven, but the raids continued. However, momentum was building to challenge the legality of the charges.
On August 25, 1968, 27 men were arrested during a series of raids throughout the community. With the help of the Mattachine Society, they retained local lawyer Benny Vuturo, who secured acquittals for all of them.
In the mid-seventies, the raids remained fresh in many locals’ minds, but the bridge between the Grove and the police department would build organically through an officer’s interaction.
“My partner and I were assigned here to Fire Island in the 1970s, and we were driving down the beach,” recalled Jim Morge, a retired Suffolk County Marine Bureau officer and one of the original players in the first unofficial game, now an avid spectator. “Three or five guys were on the beach playing volleyball. And like a smart ass, I said, ‘You guys don’t know how to play volleyball,’ and they challenged us to a game. We took them up on their challenge. And I remember this girl stepped up about two or three feet from the line, came running up, jumped, and smacked the ball with what felt like 400 miles an hour. Whoa! It turned out she was an alternate for the Olympic volleyball team. So, long story short, we lost that game.”
“After the loss, we challenged the community to another game the following year, with the drummers parading the players [to build team morale], but the lead drummer refused to participate or share his mace baton. I found an old broom, tied some flowers to the end, and marched with them through here. When I came back the following year, we wrapped the tricolors all the way up. It became official in 1984, with the entire Suffolk County Police Department using their official volleyball team.”
Times changed and society evolved. History is not forgotten, but stronger and better relationships can be forged.
“These tournaments humanize the community and us alike,” SCPD coach Christopher Morri said. “I hope everyone understands we are there for anyone’s worst days.”
