Love - Friendship - Sport

Jeffrey Vinick's Legacy

Jeffrey Marc Vinick grew up playing sports in Longmeadow, excelling in soccer, basketball & baseball. According to his father Jim, Jeffrey and his brother Michael believed that you “don’t play to lose”.

In addition to being a great athlete, Jeff was very active in the “Key Club” and was the lead drummer in the Longmeadow High School jazz band. Jeff was also a prominent spokesperson for the Jimmy Fund while he received treatment at Dana-Farber, speaking to many cancer patients about the various treatments and cures for the illness.

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Jeffrey graduated from Longmeadow High School in 1981 and attended Springfield College for a few months prior to his passing away at Children’s Hospital in March of 1982. A loyal Jimmy Fund group led by Jim Sadowsky, Stu Meyers & Myron Skolnick had formed a Celebrity Golf Tournament a few years prior to Jeff’s passing and approached the Vinick family to call the tournament the Jimmy Fund Golf Tournament/Jeffrey Vinick Memorial. To read more about the history of the tournament, please visit our “Tournament Story” page.

Recently, the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield honored Jeffrey and dedicated the new flagpole, along with a plaque displayed at the base, in his memory. Jeffrey’s baseball coach was one of the many that came that day to celebrate Jeff’s life and was one of the speakers during the ceremony. He said, “Jeff was a young, caring individual with a desire to excel. There weren’t many athletes like him, he was a coaches dream.” In 2007 the Longmeadow High School baseball field will be undergoing a complete renovation and upgrade and will be named in memory of Jeffrey. Not only is the golf tournament a testament to his legacy, but the flagpole and field are additional confirmations of the impact that Jeffrey continues to make even now, 25 years after his death.

In the words of his father, “His impact on the community was felt when he was alive, while he was sick and even now many years after his death, doing what he loved to do”.

LOVE - FRIENDSHIP - SPORT

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