‘It’s been a labor of love’

Several hundred friends and acquaintances have gathered every Columbus Day for the past 10 years for the annual golf-outing fundraiser and luncheon in Johnny LaBarbera’s memory. On Monday, the tradition ended with its final installment at Douglaston Golf Course in Queens, and with an accrued quarter million dollars in the bank that will continue to have an impact for local high school students for the next half-century.

“We had a goal set, and our goal was to get the scholarship fund to a point where it would basically perpetuate itself without us having to keep adding to it,” said Susan, Johnny’s mother.

Johnny was 16 and a junior at Central High School when he died suddenly on Oct. 17, 2005. He was at an after-school basketball clinic when he collapsed. He had had two open-heart surgeries but was given a clean bill of health just a month earlier.

It was in recognition of his son’s well-known genuine and caring nature that John LaBarbera established the outing. It started small, with a handful of foursomes meeting at the golf course, but grew over the years to include dozens of participants and thousands of dollars worth of raffle prizes at the post-tournament luncheon. In recent years, the event raised between $40,000 and $50,000. This year, 184 golfers participated and more than 200 people attended the luncheon, at American Legion Post 854 in Valley Stream.

The event’s growth surpassed what Johnny’s parents thought was possible, as they were advised that support would wane as the years went by. Instead, it swelled, thanks in part to the family’s vast network of friends.

The $5,000 scholarship became one of the largest of any awarded each year at Central High School. Its acronym is ICAN, which stands for integrity, character, altruist and noble. It is presented at the end of the school year to a student chosen for his or her integrity and moral character to honor the traits Johnny was known for. His parents said the scholarship would be funded for at least 50 years based on what it already has, before interest.

Its genesis was an envelope with $90 inside that Johnny once found and brought to Principal Joseph Pompilio’s office. After it went unclaimed, Pompilio told Johnny he could keep the money, but the teen preferred that it stay in the principal’s office and be used to buy lunch or other things for students in need.

The LaBarberas continued that idea with their fund, which has met students’ needs on a grander scale. In addition to the scholarship, it has been used to purchase an electronic scoreboard for Central’s gymnasium, a 3D printer and uniforms for the athletic department, and provided funding for the music department, among other things.

“It has been an overwhelming force of what is right with the world for the past 10 years, given John Jr.’s attributes and everything that he displayed in his short time at Central,” Pompilio said. “And what John LaBarbera and his family have done for our students over the last 10 years is significant in that he has made their education a bit easier financially through the scholarship.”

Valley Stream Central High School District Superintendent Bill Heidenreich called the fund an “amazing” achievement. “It allows the family, the school and the community to honor John’s memory for quite some time,” he said.

“It does my heart good that we helped so many different people at Valley Stream Central High School,” LaBarbera told the crowd at the luncheon, which included school district and village officials.

“I think for my husband it’s very cathartic,” Susan said. “I think he almost needed to do something like this. His whole thing when my son passed away, he used to say to people, ‘Don’t forget him. Just please don’t forget him.’ I think this was his way of creating that legacy for him.”

As last year’s event approached, she and John decided they would end it after one more. John said he became accustomed to preparing for the next year’s the day after each event ended. “It’s gonna be very strange not to be getting ready for this,” he said. “It’s gonna be a big change in my life because I work for this all year round.”

“Not a drop of rain, never,” he added. “Today, we couldn’t find a cloud in the sky.”