PORT ST. LUCIE PEOPLE
Name: Richard “Dick” Pecor
Age: 80
Home: Port St. Lucie
Occupation: Retired high school
business teacher
Family: Wife, Marilyn and son,
Stephen, 43
Background: Grew up in
Burlington, Vt. Taught business
in Vermont schools for 10 years before moving to Florida
to teach business and accounting in Martin County schools
for 20 years. Bachelor’s degree in business from Champlain
College, Burlington, Vt.
Something most people don’t know about me: “In 1963,
myself and four friends established the Burlington Amateur
Hockey Association. We first used the indoor rink at the
University of Vermont, which opened up hockey for players
of all ages. I served as 1967-68 president and I ran the penalty
box for 10 years.”
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MARILYN PECOR PHOTO
Pecor poses with his boyhood idol the Yankee Clipper “Joltin’ Joe” DiMaggio.
His 56-game hitting streak is a record that may never be broken.
Port St. Lucie.
When he discovered that Martin County teachers had no
union and no one negotiating their contracts, Pecor helped
form a union. He was its team negotiator and spokesman
until he retired in 1995. “It was intense and it went on forever,”
he says. “We started in the summer and we would
have no contract in December. We went to arbitration and we
did the best we could, but the results were not outstanding.
Martin County is a wealthy county in comparison to St. Lucie
County. We have decent pensions, but today they are taking
away some of the retirement benefits we had. Teaching is as
important as any profession. The kids in elementary school
are just beginning to learn, middle school is the toughest and
you have to prepare the high school kids for adulthood. I was
very fortunate. I had great kids along the way. When a student
comes up and says, ‘I’m a CPA now.’ That’s a good feeling.”
Jim Fertitta, president of the local Mets Booster Club, has
known Pecor since they both worked for the Martin County
school system. “Dick is a huge Mets fan and he is always out
there,” Fertitta says. We used to talk baseball at work. He is a
nice guy who knows a lot about baseball.”
Pecor loves to talk baseball, and he always brings to the
game the newest magazine with all the stats and scoops on
the MLB team rosters. “For me, I like to see good defensive
plays,” he says. Tagging the guy out at the plate is much
more fun than watching a fly ball going over the fence.” In
the ninth inning of the last game of 2015 spring training at
Tradition Field, Pecor was explaining the scoring of defensive
indifference where the player steals second or third and
the catcher makes no effort to throw him out. But the runner
does not get credit for a stolen base and no one gets an error.
What? The defensive team concedes the base to the runner,
says Pecor and he knows the rules.
“When we saw the Mets in spring training they didn’t have
any offense until they made some key trades,” Pecor says.
“Without those deals they would not have made it to the postseason.
It was a pleasant surprise when they made the playoffs
and the World Series. I hope they can upgrade their offense as
they did last year and they need to improve their relief pitching.
I have my tickets for 2016. The best day of the year is the
first home game of spring training and it is a sad day when the
Mets play their last game and go back up north.” E
placed on a plane that landed in Vermont with his doctor
waiting. “I had polio and they quarantined me. After six
weeks of therapy and hot packs on my back, I could walk
again and had no paralysis.”
For a guy who turned 80 last year, Pecor is in great shape.
He says he was always a runner, but these days exercise consists
of hitting the gym four times a week (five-mile walk on
a treadmill each day) and playing golf twice a week. He has
had three holes-in-one. On the third one, a playing partner
pointed out that his ball was teed up in front of the markers.
Pecor re-teed the ball and scored his third ace.
During spring training and the regular season, Pecor
watches the MLB Network, ESPN and the YES. He is also a
hockey fan and watches New York Rangers games.
Pecor has always parked away from the stadium and
walked in, saving him thousands of dollars for parking from
the estimated $10,000 he has spent to see the Mets at home
for spring training. His ritual consists of a hot dog, a beer and
peanuts. He says it reminds him of his days as a kid when he
could go to the ballpark and get two hot dogs and an orange
soda for a quarter.
Pecor has grown to love sitting above the visitors dugout
behind first base. His seats provide easy access to bathrooms
and concessions with an excellent view of all the action and
minimal disturbance from people coming and going from
their seats. “I sometimes will sell both my tickets, if I have to,
so I can buy another one and get in,” he says. “I can always
sit near my seats. I have never eaten a ticket yet. And I sell my
extra ticket for face value unless I give it to someone I know.”
When Pecor and his wife were lured to Port St. Lucie to
buy a lot, they decided they would find teaching jobs and
move down here to escape the Vermont winters. With a $102
monthly mortgage, the couple bought a home in 1972 on
Coconut Street in the original River Park neighborhood of