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Gordon “Scooter” Whiting may be gone, but his love of Hackensack athletics and the entire Hackensack community will carry on.
The family of the beloved Hackensack coach and athletic director, who will be laid to rest this weekend after his death on May 15, has set up a scholarship fund in Whiting’s name to assist Hackensack athletes moving forward.
“Once a Comet, always a Comet,” Whiting’s wife, Joy, said May 25. “We know so many people who want to do something. Flowers die, but money can have a lasting impact and he was such a staunch believer in paying it forward. We just feel like this is a way that will enable my husband’s light to shine.”
Donations to the scholarship fund are now open. Whiting hopes there is an annual event in Scooter’s honor every year that can help raise more money and give proceeds to one male and one female Hackensack athlete.
Scooter Whiting was as much Hackensack as the Hackensack River. He was a star football player at the school and went on to coach both football and basketball in Hackensack. He had retired as athletic director just days before his death.
Joy said the outpouring of support from the community has been overwhelming.
“We are surviving,” Joy said. “I just pray that my husband knew that he made such an impact on so many people’s lives. The works that my husband did are speaking for him now. That is what gives us comfort and allows us to stand this weekend. We know it’s going to be difficult.”
The couple met while working at Fairmount School in Hackensack. They would go out to eat and go bowling, but Joy didn’t know about Scooter’s romantic intentions until someone mentioned it to her offhand. She asked him if it was true.
“He said ‘hey, everyone is trying to get with you, so am I,” Joy said, laughing. “He said he was a man with a plan. He proposed to me with a rose every house and he was intentional about making me happy and being a wonderful father. I was blessed with the best. There was no doubt he loved our family.”
The couple have two children: Curtis, who just graduated from Sacred Heart and played football there, and Camille, a sophomore at Hampton. Their 25th wedding anniversary would have been June 30.
In the Whiting house, there was laughter, family and Hackensack Comets athletics.
Even while serving as AD, Scooter volunteered to coach the flag football team – without payment – so he could coach Camille. He mentored generations of Comets athletes.
“I think what my husband loved the most about Hackensack was the small-town community feel,” Joy said. “He used to say that at no time did you ever feel like there was a color barrier. They’d be at a friends house on 2nd street or Allen Street, and all the parents and children just loved each other.”
Scooter got his nickname from Hackensack legend Billy Harris – his godfather – when he was learning to walk and instead just scooted on his rear end around the house.
That’s just one of the stories about Scooter that made him such a part of the fabric of Hackensack.
“He appreciated being from Hackensack because that meant you had so much pride in where you were from and helping people, that’s what made carrying the H so strong,” Joy said. “He loved this place. He touched so many people. I believe that my husband is my family’s angel and he will guide us and his legacy and light will continue to shine.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Scooter Whiting family creates Hackensack scholarship fund in honor
Continue reading...
The family of the beloved Hackensack coach and athletic director, who will be laid to rest this weekend after his death on May 15, has set up a scholarship fund in Whiting’s name to assist Hackensack athletes moving forward.
“Once a Comet, always a Comet,” Whiting’s wife, Joy, said May 25. “We know so many people who want to do something. Flowers die, but money can have a lasting impact and he was such a staunch believer in paying it forward. We just feel like this is a way that will enable my husband’s light to shine.”
Donations to the scholarship fund are now open. Whiting hopes there is an annual event in Scooter’s honor every year that can help raise more money and give proceeds to one male and one female Hackensack athlete.
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Scooter Whiting was as much Hackensack as the Hackensack River. He was a star football player at the school and went on to coach both football and basketball in Hackensack. He had retired as athletic director just days before his death.
Joy said the outpouring of support from the community has been overwhelming.
“We are surviving,” Joy said. “I just pray that my husband knew that he made such an impact on so many people’s lives. The works that my husband did are speaking for him now. That is what gives us comfort and allows us to stand this weekend. We know it’s going to be difficult.”
The couple met while working at Fairmount School in Hackensack. They would go out to eat and go bowling, but Joy didn’t know about Scooter’s romantic intentions until someone mentioned it to her offhand. She asked him if it was true.
“He said ‘hey, everyone is trying to get with you, so am I,” Joy said, laughing. “He said he was a man with a plan. He proposed to me with a rose every house and he was intentional about making me happy and being a wonderful father. I was blessed with the best. There was no doubt he loved our family.”
The couple have two children: Curtis, who just graduated from Sacred Heart and played football there, and Camille, a sophomore at Hampton. Their 25th wedding anniversary would have been June 30.
You must be registered for see images attach
In the Whiting house, there was laughter, family and Hackensack Comets athletics.
Even while serving as AD, Scooter volunteered to coach the flag football team – without payment – so he could coach Camille. He mentored generations of Comets athletes.
“I think what my husband loved the most about Hackensack was the small-town community feel,” Joy said. “He used to say that at no time did you ever feel like there was a color barrier. They’d be at a friends house on 2nd street or Allen Street, and all the parents and children just loved each other.”
Scooter got his nickname from Hackensack legend Billy Harris – his godfather – when he was learning to walk and instead just scooted on his rear end around the house.
That’s just one of the stories about Scooter that made him such a part of the fabric of Hackensack.
“He appreciated being from Hackensack because that meant you had so much pride in where you were from and helping people, that’s what made carrying the H so strong,” Joy said. “He loved this place. He touched so many people. I believe that my husband is my family’s angel and he will guide us and his legacy and light will continue to shine.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Scooter Whiting family creates Hackensack scholarship fund in honor
Continue reading...
