The Jericho School Community lost a good friend. Jack Graff died this week. The feisty captain and founder of the Nassau County Kings, the wheelchair basketball team that worked with us over the past eight years. Many of us in the Jericho School community were lucky enough to cross paths with Jack. Through our school district's partnership with the Jericho Athletic Association, we sponsored an annual wheelchair basketball night at Jericho High School which truly brought out the best in our neighborhood.

Jack's spirit and energy for basketball and life's offerings were contagious. His team's visits with our elementary school kids bestowed lessons on our kids that will never be lost. Listening to Jack propound life and basketball stories at the Blue Key Club's wheelchair basketball breakfasts left students and adults alike marveling at his enthusiasm. In somewhat of an irony, it was his innate abilities to unite our community - not his disabilities - that made Jack a role model for us all. Hopefully, his legacy will continue to lead us by example.

Ira Checkla