BY Geoffrey Walter
More than 7,000 people are estimated to have descended upon the fields of St. Paul’s school in Garden City on June 18 and 19 for the 19th edition of the Jay Gallagher Memorial Youth Lacrosse Tournament, an event so large it is split across both days with boys lacrosse teams competing Saturday and the girls on Sunday.
The tournament is named for Gallagher, a Garden City resident whose life was cut short at the age of 39 due to melanoma. Gallagher, a 1970 graduate of Garden City High School, played lacrosse for the Trojans before captaining during his college years at Cornell then later went on to a coaching career that included stints at North Carolina, Rutgers, Syracuse and Cornell before becoming a bond trader on Wall Street.
Others memorialized at the event include Andrew Palmeri, Mollie Biggan
e, and two September 11 victims from Garden City, Ryan Kohart and Dave Leistman.
The first tournament was held in 1997 as a round-robin event. Only six teams were involved that year: Farmingdale, Plainedge, Manhasset, and three squads from Garden City. The following year, the tournament doubled in size with 12 teams. In 2016, the statistics continue to astound: 2,000 players on 120 teams on 15 fields over a two-day period with an attendance of more than 8,000 people.
“In the beginning years, it was small—six, 12, 24, 36 teams, and then we used to be a one-day event; we got to 60 teams, then we went to the two-day event,” organizer Toni Randi said.
Originally, the tournament partnered with The Miracle Foundation; however, once that charity closed its doors, organizers saw an opportunity to partner with The Mollie Biggane Melanoma Foundation. The tournament typically brings in about $100,000 a year in net proceeds from various sponsors, donors and tournament fees, donating the majority of it to Mollie Biggane, with other proceeds going to the Cancer Center for Kids at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola. The tournament has brought in about $1.1 million over its 19 years of existence.
Planning for the event starts in September, with teams registering in January. This year’s tournament featured 30 girls teams and 90 boys teams from across Long Island. 2016 will be the first year the tournament welcomed the GC Challenger Lacrosse Team, which is geared towards providing athletic opportunities for children and youth ages 6-21 with mental and physical handicaps.
