A record-setting day of golf

David Cook and William Ebert wait for the start of the tournament.

Susan Grieco/Herald

John LaBarbera hits an exploding golf ball, a practical joke.

Susan Grieco/Herald

Golfing Foursome, from left, Bill Butler, John LaBarbera, John Faust and Joe Leone hit the course to raise money for future Central High School graduates.

Susan Grieco/Herald

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More than 150 golfers hit the course early Monday morning, in what’s become an annual Columbus Day tradition. The sixth annual John LaBarbera Memorial Golf Outing helped raise more than $30,000 — a record for a single year — for scholarships.

The outing was held just a week shy of the sixth anniversary of John LaBarbera’s death. The 16-year-old Central High School junior was on the basketball court, participating in an after-school clinic, when he suffered a sudden cardiac arrhythmia and died. He had previously had two open-heart surgeries.

Monday morning’s outing was organized by his father, John LaBarbera, and Central High School basketball coaches Hayward Alfred and Jack Gorman. A total of 39 foursomes hit the Douglaston Golf Course at 8 a.m. on Monday, and played for about five hours. They then went back for lunch at the Valley Stream American Legion hall.

At the legion, where many who didn’t golf joined the group, there were numerous raffles. Prizes included signed baseballs from Hall of Famers Carl Yastrzemski and Brooks Robinson, and current players such as Robinson Cano, Jose Reyes and David Wright, as well as autographed footballs, basketballs and hockey sticks, signed jerseys, beer coolers, a flat-screen television and golf equipment. All raffle items were donated from various companies and area sports teams.

Money raised from registration fees and the raffles will go toward the scholarship fund. The annual John LaBarbera Scholarship, know as the “I Can” award, is presented to one Central High School graduate each year. The student receives $4,500, one of the largest scholarships given out each spring.

The student must display integrity, character, altruism and nobility, traits synonymous with LaBarbera. “He was so selfless,” Alfred said of his former varsity basketball player. “He loved to help others.”

Alfred noted that the annual golf outing gives him a chance to reflect on the kind of person that LaBarbera was and what he meant to others. “It’s such a great day,” Alfred said. “The community of Valley Stream is unified to come together in loving memory of a great young man.”