At 15th Annual O'Hara Basketball Tournament Everyone is a Winner

On July 17 1996, Irvington couple Jack and Janet and their daughter Caitlin were killed when TWA Flight 800 crashed over the Atlantic Ocean. Within weeks of the tragedy, family members banded together to create a charitable foundation in their name.

Nearly 15 years later, the O'Hara Invitational Youth Basketball Tournament—which after two action-packed weekends finished Sunday at l—is a testament to the good that can come from the absolute worst of circumstances. 

"Jack, Janet and Caitlin are a part of this even though they're not actually here," said Pat O'Hara, Jack's mother.

On Friday evening, the Irvington High School gym buzzed with anticipation as players psyched themselves up for the annual student-faculty game. Before players took to the court, though, O'Hara Foundation directors Peggy and Jim O'Hara—brother and sister-in-law of Jack— presented a $60,000 check to the Village of Irvington for naming rights to the on Mountain Road.

"First I want to thank the O'Hara Foundation for everything they've done to sponsor this tournament; it is a remarkable way to showcase local talent and to remember Janet, Jack and Caitlin," said Irvington Mayor Jonathan Siegel.  "I also want to thank them for stepping up in a big way to help us finish a building we would not have been able to complete without their contribution."

The O'Hara Nature Center is slated to open this summer. "Caitlin, especially, would have loved the nature center—she was a volunteer at the Greenburgh Nature Center," Pat O'Hara said.

Since 1997, the O'Hara Foundation has sponsored the annual basketball invitational, in which teams of local eighth-graders are invited to compete for the overall title. This year's winning boys' team was the Greenwich Flame from Greenwich, CT; they defeated the St. Patrick's team from Highland Mills, NY. On the girls' side, Scarsdale edged out Irvington's Immaculate Conception Church team in the final game of the tournament. 

"What's really amazing about this is that Caitlin played for team and her family were active members of that church," said Joe Archino, director of, who received a special award from the Foundation for his tireless work organizing the tournament year after year. "And Jack grew up in Scarsdale, so it was an eerie and perfect ending to come down to those two teams."

When Irvington students faced their teachers, school staff and administrators on Friday, it seemed, at first, to be an evenly matched game. But students quickly pulled ahead, claiming a 66-46 victory over the faculty team.

"The students selected to play won a foul shooting contest held during their gym classes," Peggy O'Hara said.

Since establishing the Foundation O'Hara said they have given away more than $400,000. "Now with the 60,000 for the Nature Center, we are almost at the half-million mark," she noted.

Rather than contribute to large charities in which their donations could get lost, Peggy and Jim choose local organizations to support with funds raised from the tournament.  These include , the Greenburgh Nature Center, and Rockland County Little League. Peggy and Jim live over the bridge in New City.

"When we send $500 to the Challenger Little League Program for special needs kids, that buys uniforms for all the participants for an entire season," Peggy said. 

Pat O'Hara added that all the Foundation's fundraisers and charities to which they donate are chosen based on things that would have touched Jack, Janet and Caitlin.

Though this was the final youth basketball tournament the Foundation will sponsor, they will still hold a student/faculty game next year—and, Archino said, will soon announce the next big fundraiser in the O'Hara name. 

The basketball tournament is always bittersweet for members of the O'Hara family, who came from as far as Maryland to watch the student/faculty game. But, according to Pat O'Hara, it is worth the pain evoked by remembering their loss to see everything great that has materialized in their name. 

"You have to believe something good comes out of everything," Pat O'Hara said. "We wouldn't have any of this if not for what happened." 

To donate to the O'Hara Foundation, send checks to:

The O'Hara Foundation/Box 39/ Irvington, NY 10539