VINCIT QUI PATITUR-HE CONQUERS WHO ENDURES

When I was an assistant basketball coach at ARMY each day I walked past a beautiful monument before entering the gym for practice.  On it was inscribed one of my all time favorite quotes… On the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that on other days and other fields will bear the fruits of victory –General Douglas MacArthur. I have always felt that it so adequately sums up what all forms of athletics provides each participant.  Every person who has ever taken a field, a court or participated in athletic competition leaves that arena with some form of a life lesson. 

 KevinColbert was a fullback and linebacker, who roamed the football field at West Hempstead High School during the early 1990s.  He possessed an intensity, passion and desire for the game that some believe has yet to be matched on that same field.  His senior year he led the West Hempstead Rams to the county playoffs at Hofstra University, a feat that would not be repeated by the RAMS for another ten years.  Kevin was a warrior on and off the field; if you were going to battle on the field you had better pray that he was on your side.  To know him off the field was an experience that would certainly provide you with plenty of stories that only his friends and family can hold in their hearts.

Kevinwas my brother’s (Pat) roommate when they were 19 years old and he was bigger, stronger and louder than anyone I had ever encountered; his brute strength was legendary among his friends. Their apartment provided me with a great place to nap on days I didn’t want to attend summer class at Hofstra and Kevin was a guaranteed source of enjoyment at the Palm.  In fact he and Pat provided me with enough “fun” nights at the Palm to last most people an entire lifetime.  I remember feeling such relief when my brother called at 5pm the day the Towers fell to let us know he was alive and for some God given reason his Firehouse had been sent into the Battery Tunnel instead of the Towers. That feeling of elation was snuffed out just hours later when word got around that no one had heard from Kevin. Somehow Kevin’s life path found him as a bond trader on Wall Street for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods on the 89^th floor of the World Trade Center.

It is a struggle today for Kevin’s family as they attempt to fund his memorial scholarship.  Time has passed, people are forgetting and some really “cool” vandals burned down the snack shack at the high school football field. Unfortunately this snack shack helped generate funds for the Kevin Colbert Memorial Scholarship. (Amazing what people find cool when they are complete idiots).

So my question for the players, coaches, friends and all of West Hempstead is where are you now?  If each and every player that took the field with Kevin found a way to donate right now it would allow his legacy to continue on. Perhaps a teammate most adequately captured Kevin when he wrote “Kevin’s legacy continues to touch me in ways that will always keep his memory alive. Every year on morning of September 11, I share his life with those that never knew him and put on the Colbert #24 T-shirt. From that memory, he is what I refer to as a ROCK of West Hempstead. He embodied all the heart and soul of a town that looks out for each other and will stand up with one another when times are tough. He gives me strength and teaches me to value each and every day we have with our family and friends. He is a foundation of what brotherhood is all about.”

The only thing in life that was able to overcome #24 was the same amount of force required to topple the Towers in NYC.  There are different ways to conquer an enemy and one of the most important is to never forget; part of that is allowing the memory of lost ones to endure and remain strong.  How quickly seven years has passed for some of us, while for others it is a day to day struggle because their loved one is gone.  Kevin’s friends now have families, children, houses, and even suffer from hair loss, but for Kevin time has remained still and he will always be #24 with a smile that could light up an entire room.  

FOR NOW I KNOW THE PEOPLE OF WEST HEMPSTEAD WILL STEP UP FOR ONE OF THEIR OWN!  GO RAMS!

Anyone desiring to donate to the scholarship fund in memory of Kevin can send a check to:
West Hempstead Football Parents Club
c/o Bob Ainbinder
3544 Milburn Avenue
Baldwin, NY 11510
(In the memo area write “Kevin Colbert Scholarship)