Verona’s senior athletes were honored at the annual Sports Boosters Dinner last week at the Villa at Mountain Lakes. Outstanding Athlete of The Year trophies were awarded to track and field stars Dave Oster and Rebecca Slotkin. Runner Dave Lukas won the Maroon and White Award, along with soccer and lacrosse player Emily Fitzpatrick.
In addition to those awards, the boosters gave out 19 $300 scholarships, and paid special tribute to coaches Stephen Ruggiero, Patricia Schoenig, Lou Racioppe and trainer Jason Calo. Boris Gasin received the “Friend of Boosters” award for his years of taking photos of the teams.
They keynote speaker was Bruce Harper, former Jets football player and founder of the Heroes and Cool Kids foundation, which encourages mentoring of younger students by older student athletes. Miami Dolphins football star and VHS alum Anthony Fasano couldn’t attend due to a last-minute meeting, but entertained the crowd with a video speech.
