Rich Bianco, standing middle and seen talking to his Falconer midget football league team, will be honored Sunday at New Era Field before the Buffalo Bills game.

Submitted photo

Another local volunteer coach will be honored for his service on Sunday at New Era Field, when the Buffalo Bills battle the Washington Redskins.

Rich Bianco, a kindergarten teacher at Temple Elementary School and one of the key cogs in the success of the Falconer midget football program, has been nominated and selected to the 2019 Project Play WNY Coaches Honor Roll.

The Post-Journal was notified that Bianco, Tom Fisher of Jamestown and Chris Anderson of Westfield were all selected.

“Really, the biggest thing for me is giving back to the Falconer community that actually gave so much to me as a student and a young athlete,” Bianco said. “I went to school in Falconer, I graduated, and I chose to come back here…to teach here just because the people here are just fantastic. The community is amazing. I had wonderful coaches growing up who did the same thing for me that I’m trying to do for the kids who I coach now.”

Bianco added: “The best thing about it is…I’ve coached at flag and rookie tackle and now midget for the last nine, 10 years. … Flag was a riot because kids come in knowing nothing. Now, three or four years later, I have some of the same kids at the midget level. And just to see how they’ve progressed with their skills as far as football players and their character as kids, it’s just fantastic.”

On Sunday, each Honor Roll coach will be awarded a parking pass and game tickets while also being recognized publicly at some point prior to kickoff. In addition, Project Play WNY will host a “Thank You Coach” brunch before the game and all of the honorees will be able to watch the contest from the Bills’ Business Class Suite.

Bianco will have the opportunity to attend the event with his wife, Sandy.

“My wife, she should get all of the credit that I do,” Bianco said. “…She really takes on a lot and sacrifices so that I get to do what I love to do in coaching football. It means a lot to me to be able to take her as part of this recognition on Sunday.”

Project Play WNY is a nonprofit organization initiated by the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation through the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. Its mission is to ensure kids in the eight-county Western New York region have the opportunity to be active through sports and build physical literacy. The project continues to work toward making sure every child regardless of location, income, or ability, has access to fun and fulfilling physical activities that build confidence.

“It’s very humbling,” Bianco said. “People don’t get into coaching youth sports for the recognition. They do it because they have a love of the sport that they are coaching, and they have a love for kids. I’m almost speechless. Just because it’s one of those things where it just hits you out of the blue and you really have no idea it’s coming. … All of this recognition on Sunday is fantastic. I wish I could take my whole team with me.”