By Tien-Shun Lee
Ever since he read in the newspaper that his elementary school buddy with whom he spent many nights playing basketball died in the Sept. 11 attacks, Mike Hecht has been trying to get a Fresh Meadows playground named after him.
Hecht has not yet been successful in renaming the playground behind PS 26, where he and his buddy Steven Belsen used to play. But Belsen, a firefighter for Engine 1, Ladder 24 in Manhattan, who died on his 51st birthday while trying to rescue people from the World Trade Center, was honored last week by having a PS 26 scholastic award named after him.
“He was a real dedicated guy,” said Hecht, who attended PS 26 at 195-02 69th Ave. in Fresh Meadows with Belsen in the early 1960s. “That was really sad and amazing that he died on his birthday.”
Belsen lived in Far Rockaway at the time of his death.
“I knew him from the school yard,” Hecht continued. “We used to live there. In the summertime, there were lights there so we'd play there all night long. He was a really powerful guy, a great, great ball player.”
The Steven Belsen Award for Scholarship & Citizenship, which recognizes academic achievement and good citizenship within the school, was created after Hecht told PS 26 Principal Dina Koski about his efforts to honor the firefighter. It is a plaque with spaces on each side for award recipients' names to be engraved.
This year's award was presented to fifth-grader Olivia Leach during the school's graduation ceremony last Thursday.
“I feel really special and honored,” said Olivia, standing next to her mother in the lobby of the school, where the plaque will be hung.
Olivia's mother, Patrice Leach, said she was overwhelmed by her daughter's achievement.
“It's just fantastic. I just think that this whole thing is going to be so lasting for the children's self-esteem,” she said. “It's wonderful and I hope his memory lasts forever.”
Hecht said he will continue to try to get the playground behind the school named after Belsen. He already has written letters to City Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis), Assemblyman Mark Weprin (D-Bayside) and the city Department of Parks and Recreation.
The school yard behind PS 26 is named “The Farm Playground” because it is next to the Klein Farm. Students continue to play there after school, just as Hecht and Belsen did when they were in elementary school, said PTA co-president Lauren Wong.
“My son plays handball back there. All the kids go there if it's nice out,” Wong said.
The Steven Belsen Award was one of many awards given to graduating students last Thursday. Other awards recognized school service, 100 percent attendance and achievement in subjects including art, music, language, social studies, science and computers.
Koski said she was proud of her roughly 90 graduating students, some of whom she remembers seeing enter the school in their mothers' arms.
“They're like my kids. I've watched them grow up,” she said. “I'm excited for them, very excited.”
Reach reporter Tien-Shun Lee by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com, or call 718-229-0300, ext. 155.
