In Robert Bernhardt, Sunnyvale had both. For 34 years, Barnhardt watched over the Serra Little League and its community with the same steady eye, calm demeanor and sense of humor that he used behind home plate, umpiring baseball and softball games.

"He was a volunteer until the very end. He was always trying to do what was right and good for the community," says league president Kevin J. Fitzpatrick. "He was the kind of person that we should all strive to be."

Bernhardt died of cancer in November 2004. He was 72.

On March 19, Serra started its first season without Bernhardt since the Nixon era. But in his honor, on the backstop of one of the fields the league uses, there is a 7-by-9-inch plaque that reads: "Robert Owen Bernhardt, Little League Volunteer 1970­2004. For all those who come here to play, watch and enjoy baseball, know that Bob Bernhardt devoted more than 30 years as a volunteer coach and umpire at this field. He also dedicated 25 years as a board member of District 44 Little League. His exemplary commitment to Sunnyvale's youth through sports reflects great credit upon himself and provides inspiration for others to service in this community. It is with deep appreciation, gratitude and affection,that the friends and neighbors of Bob dedicate this plaque in his honor."

While the plaque is a message and memorial to Bernhardt, the field itself has not been and cannot be named after him. The city of Sunnyvale requires that someone must be dead for at least five years before property can be named after the deceased, but because of the outpouring of affection for Bernhardt, the city council is going to study the naming issue toward the end of the year and could change the policy.

"I feel that when people give of themselves, it's important that you recognize those people and say 'Thank you' and inspire others to pick up the torch and continue it," says Scott Erwin, a retired Serra umpire and friend of Bernhardt's. "Everything Bob got involved with was better because of him."

In addition to his time with Serra, Bernhardt was active in the Los Altos United Methodist church, the Seniors in Retirement Club and other community groups, but his primary focus was on the ball field. He was a member of the District 44 Red Shirts, a group of elite umpires that handles important tournaments.

Anyone who has ever played or watched baseball knows that umpires are not always the most popular people on the diamond, but to the people that knew him, Bernhardt was more than just a good umpire: He was an inspiration.

"Bob was a good umpire, but he was a better person, and that's what he wanted to show the players," says Erik Ehlers, 27.

Ehlers met Bernhardt in 1989 when the younger man was still a player. Two years later, he began umpiring with Bernhardt.

"He didn't treat you like a teenager; he treated you like you were out there giving your time just like he was," Ehlers says.

Ehlers--still a Sunnyvale resident--is now the chief umpire for Serra Little League.

And though he says he did learn the ropes of umpiring--how to call games, how to deal with parents--from Bernhardt, he says it was the personal lessons he learned that stand out.

"I try to keep a good sense of humor," Ehlers says. "I'm fallible, I make mistakes, and I'd like to think Bob is looking down making sure I'm out there having fun."

He also says that while many players today may not personally know Bernhardt--because he stopped umpiring after falling ill in 2002--his lessons live on and need to be recognized.

"I think that Bob was such a unique contributor to the league that not recognizing him would be a travesty worse than anything I could think of," he says.

Erwin umpired with Bernhardt for years, and the two men often teased each other on the field.

"I always used to kid him that his seeing-eye dog, Spot, would sit next to him behind home plate and bark once if it was a strike," Erwin says with a laugh.

But just as they bonded over their mutual love of a local sport, light-hearted tension was always there between the two men, over Major League rivalries. Erwin is a Brooklyn Dodgers fan who grew up in Texas, so he cheers for the Dodgers and the Dallas Cowboys when watching sports.

Bernhardt--fiercely local--rooted for the San Francisco Giants and the San Francisco 49ers, Erwin's teams' arch-rivals.

"It was usually a good opportunity for some barbs and rubs to be exchanged between us," Erwin says.

Although he has retired from the league, Erwin says he's still involved and will be helping with some of the umpiring this season, offering his years of experience to the new crop of players and officials.

He also got to take part in the honoring of his old friend.

"When I got the most joy was when I turned the last of the four screws in the backstop when I put the plaque up," Erwin says.

Everything about the ceremony seemed to suggest that Bernhardt was still helping out. In the middle of a rainy weekend, Fitzpatrick says, he was worried that the ceremony would get rained out like so many early games.

During a lull in the storm, Fitzpatrick was able to put up a banner celebrating Serra's first All-Star and District Champions from last year.

"As I turned to my left, I was facing the west, and there was the most beautiful rainbow," Fitzpatrick says. "I thought it was a sign that we were going to have another banner year."

And so the plaque in his honor stands just where Bob Bernhardt did for so many years, behind home plate, surrounded by players, coaches and fans, under the shade of the redwoods.