In memory of a friend

DUNKIRK — Remembering Zack for Christmas.
Demonstrating the true spirit of Christmas this week, several local young men honored the memory of a close friend who died earlier this year in an auto accident by passing on his passion for living and the sport of basketball to a younger generation.
On Wednesday, the last day before Christmas break for area school children, more than 100 basketballs were passed out to students at Westlawn, Redkey and Pennville Elementary Schools in memory of Zack Hummer, who died in August at the age of 21.
Growing up in the Dunkirk-Redkey-Pennville area, Zack loved basketball and was always more than willing to pass on his knowledge of the game to younger children.
Recalling that enthusiasm, several of Zack’s closest friends including Luke Goetz, Josh Beaty, Mitch Martyne and Jim Drayton, came up with the idea to give away new basketballs in memory of Zack as Christmas gifts to as many area youngsters as possible.
However, there were a few complications. The group of young friends only had about a week to complete the task — spreading the word for donations, talking to Jay School Corporation officials and then wrapping and delivering the basketballs to the local schools.
Zack’s grandfather, Jim Bob McEwen of rural Dunkirk, said that only a few days earlier, a blood drive in memory of Zack and Rod Sherley, a former Dunkirk resident who died of cancer last summer at the age of 47, had been conducted at Mount Tabor United Methodist Church, Dunkirk, with the cooperation of the American Red Cross. McEwen said that event was very successful and about 50 pints of blood were collected, but Zack’s young friends wanted to do more.
And to their credit they did a great deal more, McEwen explained.
At each of the three elementary schools, teachers and administrative personnel selected two students from every class who they felt would be appreciative and deserving of a basketball gift for Christmas. Also each class received an additional basketball for use during recess periods.
Luke Goetz said distributing the basketballs turned out to be a great experience.
“The youngsters were all smiling and jumping up and down. It was a good time,” Goetz said.
A member of the Jay County High School varsity basketball team that finished second in the state in Class 3A in 2006, Goetz said that he and Zack had been best friends since they were about six years old.
“We played basketball together ever since we could dribble,” Luke said.
Goetz said he and the other three young men, all in their early 20s, wanted to let these younger children know about Zack’s passion for basketball and just how much he loved the game.
“We only had a week to put the whole project together,” Luke explained, as the foursome wanted to make the presentations before school let out for Christmas break.
Goetz said that after coming up with the initial idea, they got the word out on Facebook and soon more than 100 people started offering donations of money, new basketballs and even wrapping paper and tape. “It just escalated from there,” Luke said.
Also helping with the project was Luke’s mother, Jill Goetz, who said she was very proud of all four of the young men as well as being amazed by all the community support they received.
Distributing the basketballs at the various schools was “wonderful and awesome,” she said.
“The teachers were really excited about this project, too,” she added.
Jill Goetz pointed out that the basketballs for the individual youngsters were all covered with holiday wrapping paper and that took a lot of effort as well. It’s not easy to wrap a round ball, she explained.
Also for several days prior to the distribution date, a lot of the balls were stored at her house when the donations started pouring in. “At one point, we had so many basketballs that I couldn’t reach the clothes in my closet and even our dog had trouble getting around them,” she said.
“But overall, it was an awesome event,” Jill pointed out.
Also commending the young men for their efforts was Derek Rodgers, a longtime friend of the McEwen and Hummer families.
“I thought it was extremely nice. Not just anybody would have done that,” Rodgers said. “The young men should be praised. It was pretty remarkable to see what they did.”
Rodgers added that in the first few days following Zack’s death last summer, his young friends were very emotional in expressing their grief, but what happened last week was more about helping other people, Rodgers explained.
The entire project showed a lot of maturity on the part of the young men, Rodgers said. “What they did was just amazing — having the mindset to take this sort of action,” he added. “They wanted to do something in honor of Zack for Christmas.”[[In-content Ad]]