To the members of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District Board of Education:
Anthony Fleres (tonyfleres@gmail.com)
Rachelle Feldman Hurwitz (RFeldmanHurwitz@gmail.com)
Louisa Ho (louisawwp@gmail.com)
Rachel Juliana (rachelpjuliana@yahoo.com)
Michele Kaish (michelekaish@gmail.com)
Richard Kaye (kayeww3@verizon.net)
Dana Krug (danakrug@comcast.net)
Scott Powell (scott.powell-wwp@live.com)
Yu “Taylor” Zhong (yu.zhong.609@gmail.com)
The Babe Ruth baseball field at West Windsor Community Park is named after Christopher M. Ciuffani. Chris was a West Windsor boy who played through 12 years of age with the West Windsor Little League, and was tragically killed in a car accident in January 1994.
The Little League field at Cranbury Village Park is named after Peter Zanghi who organized the first Cranbury Plainsboro Little League and is still an active sponsor of Little League teams.
Thomas R. Grover Middle School is named after Thomas R. Grover who was killed in action at the age of 22 while serving in the Army during the Vietnam War. He was a graduate of the school district.
J.V.B. Wicoff Elementary School is named after John Van Buren Wicoff who was a lifelong resident of Plainsboro, he was the chairman of the Plainsboro school board for 31 years and served on the Plainsboro Township Council.
Maurice Hawk Elementary School is named after Maurice H. Hawk of one of the oldest families in West Windsor.
As I worked with Google to try to compile this short list of named buildings and baseball fields in our area I was struck with how difficult it was to find information on the internet that describes the how/why of naming these locations as I progressed to the oldest named facility. I imagine there are plaques at each of the schools that provide more history on each school’s names. I’m surprised that we don’t have any history page on our school sites that provides information on why a school has a name. When the North Baseball Diamond is named the David J. Bachner Field I hope to be able to add an appropriate reference in Wikipedia so that anyone in the future can learn the how/why the field was named.
Naming brings humanity to a thing. Naming brings history to a thing. Naming provides a destination that can be remembered.
By naming the North Varsity Field the David J. Bachner Field we can connect the current marker outside the pitchers bullpen with a place. We provide visiting baseball teams with a location they can easily remember. As the visiting players walk into the area they’ll see the Bachner marker and if the players pause to read they’ll understand why the North varsity field was named for him.
I can imagine the decision to name the field is difficult and requires a great amount of thought and discussion as to the impact. I don’t know of any other naming situation that has taken place in this area in recent times. I hope you will consider the worthiness of this naming request on it’s own merits. I hope that choosing to name this field will not be dismissed in fear that a ‘flood’ of similar requests will appear in it’s wake. From my brief conversations and listening to board members at a previous meeting I’m feeling confident that you are weighing all arguments that have occurred over the last 5 years concerning this request. Thank you so much for your service.
From everything I’ve read and from all of the people I’ve talked to, David represented the ideals of the North baseball program both on and off the field. His marker at North doesn’t just describe his athletic accomplishments. It describes the type of person he was and the impact he had both on and off the field. Let’s complete his impact to North.
Please name the North Varsity Baseball Diamond the David J. Bachner Field.
Sincerely,
Tim Hitchings
Tim Hitchings 
Tim … as David’s mom, I have to say that I appreciate your never giving up. You never met David, but you fight for the cause, because as you know, and your children, David Bachner is a role model to ALL of our children. Yes…. he was a great athlete and pitcher for our Baseball Team, but you know he was more than that. He was an incredible human being … and he helped so many and would have continued that, if he would have been here. I remember David saying to me … that North Field should be named after someone … he never liked telling people his game was at “North”. We had lengthy conversations about this. He loved going to fields named after people …. this coming from his basketball career where courts are named after people. David was great at basketball … and would have continued that career … but if your a lefty and are great … well baseball was the way to go. Bob Boyce new from basketball that David was his ACE …. and never did he prove Bob ring … I can tell you, that all of the incredible baseball players that have come through WWPN would have no problem with this field being named “Bachner Field”. David was loved by all.
Thank You Tim for you compassion and for all you have done for helping with naming North field ….