Dwarf Giraffes not endangered in Whitestone

There’s only one privately-operated indoor Athletic program for kids in New York City - the Dwarf-Giraffe Athletic League (DGAL) - and they’re in Whitestone.
On Friday, November 2 they gathered at their gymnasium, located at 149-15 15th Road, to cut the ribbon for their newly-installed floor and celebrate a “Family Fun Night” which included a free-throw contest.
The weekend also marked the group’s first-annual “3-on-3” basketball tournament.
The new floor was recently installed thanks to a $15,000 grant from Senator Frank Padavan, who also funded the previous gym floor, some 15 years before.
Just before he cut the ceremonial ribbon, the Padavan quipped, “Take good care of this - I don’t know if I’ll be around in another 15 years.”
The oddly-named group was begun 52 years ago, when some young men who wanted to play basketball (the shorter ones called themselves “dwarves,” the taller ones, “giraffes.”)
They approached the late Rev. O’Connell of St. Luke’s Church in Whitestone, to help organize a couple of teams. When the word got out, over 200 boys signed up, and the “Dwarf-Giraffe Boy’s League” was born.
Over the years, the league acquired the former “Rialto” theater and one-time Jewish synagogue in Whitestone, which they converted to a gymnasium. They also began acquiring girl players in the mid-1990s, and changed their name to its present form in 1995.
Currently, there are more than 350 boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 18 in five major sports programs: baseball, girls’ softball, boys’ and girls’ basketball and roller hockey. “We have kids from Woodside to Whitestone who come here to play” said Jay Vigorito, a program coordinator. “Some of the fathers played here as kids.”
Padavan had to leave before the contest but, unofficially, he was three for five from the foul line.