PAL founders Scott Phillips, John Cunningham and Thomas Gordon.

How P.A.L was Founded

PAL of Delaware was founded by three New Castle County Police Officers in 1984. Thomas Gordon, John Cunningham, and Scott Phillips recognized the need in Delaware for a PAL chapter. With the support of the community, they were able to start the first PAL in Delaware.

"Far too many youngsters make their first contact with a policeman in unsavory circumstances. The P.A.L. philosophy is to remedy that situation by ensuring that the first encounter of the youth and the policeman is in a positive environment on the friendly field of sports competition."

It was on such a note that the national P.A.L. program was born.

It started when a gang of New York toughs, harassing storekeepers and generally making life miserable in their neighborhood, threw a rock through a storekeeper's window. Lt. Ed W. Flynn, New York Police Department Crime Prevention Bureau, took on the case and tracked down the ringleader in hopes of finding out just exactly what was responsible for the kids' anti-social behavior.

The kids complained: "We ain't got no place to play-nothing to do. The cops are always hasslin' us. We can't even play baseball."

That was all it took for Lt. Flynn, a staunch baseball fan himself, to get things rolling. "Why," he reasoned, "should the police chase kids from doing what was normal? Why not help those kids form a team? Give them a place to play under police supervision. Be a friend instead of an enemy."

He talked it over with some of his fellow officers and some of the neighbor- hood shopkeepers. They liked the idea and each chipped in a dollar for equipment and uniforms. Lt. Flynn found a playground where the gang could play under the eye of a policeman. The team was an instant success.

By the end of that summer, there were a dozen teams-followed by an indoor youth center. And P.A.L. was born.