Tucked under the green hills of Niles Canyon sits four baseball diamonds behind Vallejo Mills Elementary School. The nicely manicured fields are the home base of Niles-Centerville Little League (NCLL).
With 15 teams and nearly 200 kids in the league, the quality of the field is a vital part of their baseball experience. If someone happens to find themselves in the area about midday and hears the sounds of a lawn mower, it’s almost guaranteed that Wally Grivois is driving it.
Grivois has become a celebrity of sorts for Niles-Centerville Little League—after over 20 years of volunteering for the club, it’s no surprise.
“He’s the friendly face that you think of when you go down to the fields,” said Jeff Beck, Niles-Centerville Little League president. “Everyone who has played with Niles-Centerville while Wally has been there knows Wally.”
“He’s the friendly face that you think of when you go down to the fields.”
Jeff Beck, Niles-Centerville Little League president
Grivois has been involved with Niles-Centerville since the ‘80s when his son began playing T-ball. But that wasn’t Grivois’ first time at bat. In fact, his debut volunteering role with a baseball league in the ‘70s while he was living in San Lorenzo, was a surprise even to him.
“[My mom] put in an application for the local little league that my brother and I didn’t know about, telling them that we were interested in coaching, and I had no idea,” chuckled Grivois. “That’s how it all started.”
After about six years of coaching in San Lorenzo, Grivois got married and moved to San Jose where he focused on his work and took a break from his involvement in baseball.
His introduction to Niles-Centerville happened when the family moved to Fremont and his son Ryan reached T-ball age. After coaching T-ball, the minors, majors and all-star teams, Ryan aged out of little league and Grivois took a step back from coaching again. However, when his daughter put her kids in the league, Grivois was back to coaching. “In 2011, when my grandkids got out here, I started all over again,” he said.
Apart from coaching, Grivois umpired, was vice president on the board of directors, and managed and trained others on how to run the snack shack.
“He would also be the guy that if nobody was there to volunteer he would hop in there and work the snack shack and have it open for the kids,” said Beck. “That’s the central community center for the league. That snack shack operation is kinda one of the keys to our success.”
Apart from all the hours of labor that Grivois has put into the league, his energy and positive attitude is what stands out the most when people meet him
As for his start with field maintenance, that was a no-brainer for Grivois. “I remember I asked a guy, ‘Who’s doing the lawns?’ because it was like a foot high. He said ‘At this point no one.’ So I said, ‘Where’s the lawn mover?’ and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
What Grivois is well known for now is his field maintenance, but what most might not know is how much of a help that is to the league. Unlike most field agreements, Vallejo Mills Elementary doesn’t charge NCLL for using the fields behind their school, but has an agreement with the league that they will maintain the premises in lue of payment. “We take care of all the maintenance and Wally is probably 95% of the maintenance that gets done as far as the general upkeep,” explained Beck.
Apart from all the hours of labor that Grivois has put into the league, his energy and positive attitude is what stands out the most when people meet him.
“No matter the situation he’s never negative,” said Beck. “Since I’m the president I like to vent some frustrations, things that go on, and Wally is always there so sometimes he’ll hear me complaining about things or talk about something. He’ll just quickly redirect me back into, ‘Hey, remember as long as the kids are having fun and are enjoying things, things are going great.’”
For Grivois it’s always been about creating a community for others to enjoy and feel a part of. “We were raised military, so we moved a lot,” he said. “We really never had a place to call home […] especially me, I was the oldest of six. So this is my home. Morrison Canyon is my home and it’s always been something I wanted to make sure my grandkids and kids had. A place they call home.”
That sense of community has clearly been achieved as neighborhood kids, including his grandson Tyler, greeted Grivois before they headed out to the empty field to practice their batting. “Everywhere I go I’m known as Wally’s grandson,” said Tyler. “I strive to be like him, to help out like him.”
“I think that if it wasn’t for the people that are here, that are so welcoming, I might not be doing this all the time.”
Wally Grivois
Although Grivois receives a lot of praise for his kind and generous spirit, he credits the community for all that he does. “I think that if it wasn’t for the people that are here, that are so welcoming, I might not be doing this all the time.” He credits the help he gets from the Fremont Unified School District employee who helps him with maintaining control of the gopher holes, to a volunteer dad who keeps the lawn mower running smoothly, to the women of the league who “get things done.”
Grivois spoke proudly about the league’s future and looked onto the field where his grandson and the neighborhood kids were practicing as he said, “It’s been here for 60 years and hopefully it’ll be here for another 60 years.”
