Troy dedicates sign to youth mentor, coach

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- A longtime youth mentor was recognized for his service to the city of Troy on Friday. City leaders dedicated a new sign near the Boys and Girls Club on State Street to Al Prater.

Prater and Earl Harrison worked together at the Boys and Girls Club for more than 20 years, running free sports programs for kids throughout the city and coaching youth sports teams around the region. While they built relationships with kids through sports, they made an even bigger impact on the sidelines.

"We decided to work with the kids, mentor them," Prater said. "We had a lot of tough kids that used to come to the Boys club here, and we would talk to them every day about some of the things that they should do, and a lot of them listened."

Harrison passed away in 2023. Prater continues to carry on his legacy by working with the city to host a youth summer league at Geneva Pompey Park.