Clarkstown Community Remembers Dana Sassano at "Hoops 4 Dana" Basketball Tournament

Hundreds turned out on a brisk and sunny Sunday at Clarkstown North to make the "Hoops 4 Dana" 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament fundraiser a resounding success.

The tournament was in memory of Dana Sassano, a Clarkstown North senior who died in a December 2010 car accident.  It was one of as a tribute to Sassano.

“It’s great, all the people coming out, it’s wonderful,” said Sassano’s younger brother Nicky of Sunday’s tournament.

The event was hosted by the Friends of Dana Foundation, which was founded in memory of Dana Sassano.  The tournament was made possible through the sponsorship of the Clarkstown Policemen’s Benevolent Association, the Town Board and the Interact Club at North.

“We all have kids, and we wanted to contribute in anyway that we could,” said Mark Robertson, one of the members of the Clarkstown Police Department who was volunteering his time there Sunday.  “And the kids all got their way, because they’re out here.  Nobody cares about winning or losing, they all just want to give the Sassanos a day of a little bit of fun and we’re all remembering Dana.”

The tournament was a huge success, as it raised over $10,000 from approximately 20 sponsors and 150 teams, not including the sale of food and merchandise throughout the day.  Proceeds go to the Friends of Dana Foundation and will fund a scholarship for a student that exemplifies Dana’s mission of helping those in need.

The day was the idea of Josh Maurer and Danny Heim, who are 8^th graders at Felix Festa Middle School and close friends of Nicky Sassano.  Over the past two years, Maurer and Heim have hosted an annual “Hoops 4 Hope” benefiting kids in Africa.  This year, they decided to support the Friends of Dana Foundation in honor of their friend’s older sister.

“It’s definitely an honor to help run this and it feels great to help my friend,” said Maurer.  “He’s a great kid and it’s a tragedy that he lost his sister.”  Heim expanded on this, saying “It’s great to see so many people come.”

While running the tournament was primarily organized by the Heim and Maurer families, they received a tremendous outpouring of support from the community.  Police officers, parents, students, teachers and other members of the community volunteered their time to assist in whatever capacity was needed.  The entire North lacrosse team even showed up to help out for the day with whatever needed to get done.

“We’ve got a great community," said Shari Maurer.  "Everybody’s connected to somebody.  When Dana died, everyone had a bit of a connection.”

Her daughter and head of the Interact Club, Lissie Maurer, agreed, saying “We couldn’t get enough volunteers. We had to turn people away actually and the whole community just came together, it was great.”

The tournament was broken up by grade throughout the day, beginning with 3^rd-5^th graders from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m., followed by 6^th-8^th graders from 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. and closing with 9^th-12^th graders from 5 p.m.-8 p.m..  Division by grade was the only restriction placed on the teams, whose players came from any number of different towns and could be all girls, boys or coed.

Clarkstown Town Supervisor Alex Gromack opened each section by addressing the teams, students, parents and other members of the community that had come out to honor Sassano.  Following that, play commenced in what can best be described as a fun, friendly, yet competitive atmosphere that was enjoyable for and accepting of players of all skill levels.  At the close of each section, the winning teams were awarded tickets to attend a baseball game at the Ramapo Ballpark courtesy of the Rockland Boulders.

Among the hundreds competing in the tournament were Dana’s three best friends, Caroline Trugman, Kristen Loretoni and Brianna Kezner.  For them, it was an especially meaningful and fun-filled day.  Following their second win of the day, they spoke as a team about their experience so far.  “It’s great.  It’s awesome.  It’s really great, it means a lot to us.  It’s nice to know that everyone cares.”  They added, “It’s so much fun.  We unexpectedly dominated.  We’re actually very good.”

Paul Jorgensen was another competitor who had a great time playing and showing support for his friend, and Dana’s younger brother, Nicky.  His team came in first after a thrilling overtime win in the 9^th grade tournament to close out the day.  “It was really great to support him [Nicky] and his family,” said Jorgensen.  “It was really fun and just a good time.”

By the time the last buzzer sounded, it was clear that the day filled with fun, laughter, warm memories and charity was a perfectly beautiful tribute to a kind and caring individual whose life was tragically cut short.  One can only hope it will also serve as a source of healing for a family and community in mourning.

“Today’s been a very emotional day,” said Dana's mother, Laura Devaney-Sassano.  “We’re in awe about the support the community’s given to our family and we’re really appreciative.”  She added, “Dana was a star student, she had a 4.0 grade point average, she was going to be someone super special and I think that she didn’t have the chance to go to college and the foundation will be able to help somebody with that expense and have the experience that Dana was not able to have.”

Here is the list of Hoops 4 Dana winners:

3rd grade:

4th grade:

5th grade:

6th grade:

7th/8th grade:

9th/10th grade:

11th/12th grade: