Hall girls wearing No. 33 on warmups in memory of Derek Baird

The Hall girls basketball team is wearing the No. 33 on its warmups this season in honor of the Derek “Birdy” Baird, the much beloved former Red Devil player in the Spring Valley community.

Baird was not only a neighbor growing up, but more like a brother to Hall girls coach TJ Orlandi, who gave the eulogy at Baird’s funeral after he passed away on Oct. 24 after a short bout with cancer. Orlandi called that the “hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

The Orlandis and the Bairds went on vacations together as kids and stayed close friends through adulthood. Orlandi and his brother, Tony, both served as best men in Baird’s wedding and are the Godfather for his oldest daughter, Cecelia. Baird was also in Tony’s wedding.

Orlandi’s assistant Mark Mautino came up with the idea for the team to wear No. 33, Baird’s uniform number when he played for Eric Bryant’s Hustlin’ Hall Red Devils, who were back-to-back state runners-up in 1997 and 1998.

“I had no idea when (Mark) told me and I was pretty touched by it. It really means a lot to me,” Orlandi said. “When I saw them all warming up last night with the No. 33 on their back, I’ll be honest, I got a little emotional. Then I saw his wife, Maria, and their kids walk in and it hit me again. Maria came up and gave me a big hug before the game. She was emotional but proud to see all the girls wearing Birdy’s number.”

Orlandi said he was lifted by all the support he received from current and former players by simple text messages after Baird passed away.

“It meant the world to me,” he said. “I’ve been so busy with basketball lately with the Hall girls and coaching the JFK girls this year that it’s actually been nice, because it keeps me busy and takes my mind off of things. Even in saying that though, I think about Birdy pretty much every day and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

Orlandi said Baird was a big fan of all of Hall teams.

“Derek was not only a huge supporter of Hall High School, but he’s been a huge supporter of the girls basketball program since I’ve been coaching,” Orlandi said. “Maria said he watched pretty much every game last year. In previous years he’d always make it out to a lot of our home games and would watch the away games.

“Derek was always positive and very complimentary of the team and would always lead with the good stuff first when I’d talk to him about a game.”

Hall brothers Braden and Jack Curran wore special shoes to dedicate the Red Devils last football game memory of “Uncle Birdy,” who was also a lifelong friend of their dad, Adam.