The city of Portage is filled with residents that are active in the community, but perhaps none more dedicated to being involved than lifelong resident Andy Maletta. Maletta is the President of Portage Youth Basketball and an elected official on the Portage Township Advisory Board.
Maletta leads a group of volunteers who makes sure that everything the Portage Youth Basketball League does runs smoothly. He contributes his time and energy spearheading the task of running PYB.
“It’s organizing the league, scheduling and renting school buildings. It’s a pretty big task, putting it all together and getting that ready,” he said.
Maletta is currently in his second stint at the helm of the league. He spent five years as President in the early 1990s when his older children played and returned to that position six years ago when his youngest son Anthony started playing.
Although the job consumes a lot of time and often involves dealing with concerns from parents, it is all worth it when Andy enters the Fegely gym each weekend and sees the kids play.
“The reward comes when you get there and the games start and you see the happiness on the kids’ faces and the fun that they’re having and you see them meeting the other kids,” he said.
Recently, Maletta campaigned for a City Council Seat. Although he did not win the election, he learned a lot from the experience.
“I met a lot of great people, which was the fun part about it. You meet people and you hear ideas and you just have an opportunity to be involved,” Maletta said. “We’ll see where other opportunities are in the future.”
One opportunity that Maletta received came in the summer of 2008, when he campaigned for a different kind of vote. He entered the Ultimate Seventh Inning Stretch Competition for a chance to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. After going through several phases of the competition, including an essay, initial tryout, online voting and callback in front of a celebrity panel of judges, Maletta earned a spot in the Top Ten.
“I wanted to do it just for the chance to tryout, never dreaming that I would advance in the contest. Being down in the Cubs’ locker room, on the field and talking with some of the past players was great.”
Maletta was overwhelmed by the support of friends and family members during the voting process.
“Each round, finding out I was advancing, the excitement just built. I got the support of a lot of great friends and family and people that voted for me. Although I didn’t win, the opportunity to be out there on the field and the experience was worth it for me. One of these days, I’m going to get in that booth and sing.”
In addition to his community involvement, Andy serves as the Vice President of Marketing for North Coast Distributing. Being in the marketing field gives him unique opportunities to mingle with sports personalities and attend a lot of Cubs, Bears and Notre Dame games. In his spare time, Maletta enjoys doing woodwork, going to the beach and watching his beloved Cubs.
“I gain a lot of reward and personal satisfaction with being involved. I like to do good things for Portage. I love Portage, I’ve been here my whole life, my family moved here in 1962 and this has been my home. This is my city. I’d like to continue to be involved and do what I can.”