User:AlexandriaPotomacLittleLeague
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Alexandria Potomac Little League is a member of Virginia Little League Distirct 9, located in Fairfax County, along the Potomac River on its eastern border and just south of Old Town Alexandria.
Some of the area that is a part of Alexandria Potomac Little League was once owned by Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The university had bought a huge tract of land as a business investment during the early 1940s. After World War II, Bucknell sold the land to developers and the area became known as 'Bucknell Heights' and 'Bucknell Manor.' Most of the homes in the area were built in the early 1950s.
In 1951, a group of parents from the community formed Bucknell Little League, thus becoming one of the first leagues of its kind in Northern Virginia. As a matter of fact, in 1951 there were around 700 Little Leagues in the United States. In 1952 Little League grew to over 1,500 leagues.
Bucknell Little League proudly served the needs of families of the 'Bucknell Heights' and 'Bucknell Manor' communities. Shortly after Bucknell Little League was formed, Hollin Hall Little League, a precursor to Fort Hunt Little League, played to the south of Bucknell's border.
Both Fort Hunt Little League, which formed in 1956 and Woodlawn Little League, which formed in 1964, came from areas once represented by Bucknell Little League.
During a time period from the 1950s through the early 1990s, Bucknell Little League enjoyed tremendous success throughout the community it represented.
In the summer of 2002, Bucknell was being geared up to fold into Fort Hunt Little League, when a group of parents and volunteers decided they would roll up their sleeves to try to rebuild the organization.
On July 29, 2002, a new board of directors moved forward with taking over Bucknell Little League with the hopes of saving the league and helping it grow.
During the spring of 2002, the league had only 129 children in the program. The new Bucknell board worked to reestablish contacts with as many families who had participated in Bucknell in the past, to reinvite them back to the league.
The First Annual Bucknell Little League Fall Baseball and Softball Clinic was held with great success in 2002 at Bucknell Elementary School with over 250 children participating. The following spring, Bucknell kicked off the season with 325 children ready to "play ball!"
With the success of the spring season, then president, Pat Malone, embarked on promoting the 2nd Annual Bucknell Fall Baseball and Softball Clinic. During his travels thorughout the league's boundaries, Malone found that people were somewhat disenfranchied from being a part of the league because it represented only one community within the league and not the community as a whole.
Malone returned with his findings to the Bucknell board, telling them of his interest to change the name of the league to better represent all communities within the league's boundaries.
Malone worked with the Bucknell board to form a 'Name the League' Contest, where parents and children could fill out forms at the concession stand at Bucknell Elementary during the Fall Clinic. When the drawing was completed, 52 names would suggested.
On Tuesday, November 18, 2003, the Bucknell Little League board of directors convened for their very last time. That night, with the help of board member Mike Aitken, 52 potential names where pared down to 20, then to 12, then to 4 - South Alexandria, Mount Vernon Colonial, Alexandria Patriot and Alexandria Potomac.
The final two names selected were Alexandria Patriot and Alexandria Potomac. The board, through discussion and deliberation, unanamously selected Alexandria Potomac as the new name for the league.
Thus, Alexandria Potomac Little League was born on the night of Tuesday, November 18, 2003.
