By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
Jamesville-DeWitt High School hosted its 10th annual Sally A. Lock charity soccer games on Saturday, Oct. 19.
The annual games have been held since the fall of 2010, when Sally Lock was battling ovarian cancer for the second time in four years.
After visiting her at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in her hometown of Buffalo, her brother and Red Rams soccer coach Paul Krause decided to organize a charity soccer game to honor her and help the cause of fighting cancer.
“On my way home, I was like, ‘I gotta do something to help her out,’” Krause said.
The first of the yearly charity games were held for the matches against Baldwinsville to end the season that same fall.
Lock later passed away that December at age 46, and the event has since been officially named after her.
Starting around the beginning of this school year, the members of J-D’s boys soccer squads sold shirts commemorating the event to raise money to benefit the American Cancer Society, Relay For Life and Coaches vs. Cancer.
Long-sleeve shirts were sold in addition to T-shirts, and 505 shirts of all sizes were ordered altogether to be printed by the company Holy Shirt!
About 40 local businesses also sponsored this year’s games, which saw J-D face Cortland.
“People have been very generous over the years,” Krause said. “It just tells you how our community is. They want to help out as best as they possibly can. Just by donating money and getting our soccer players involved in a charity event, it makes the whole community better.”
The junior varsity and varsity players wore these shirts during warm-ups before their respective games on the turf field on Saturday.
“If you go out and just play in the games, then you’re just going to have your win-loss record when it’s over,” John Goodson, the school’s athletic director, said. “There’s so much more to high school sports, and giving back is one of the messages we’re trying to teach kids.”
Krause, the coach of the junior varsity team, said he has seen players of his go on to start fundraising events of their own in college and beyond.
“I find that very gratifying,” Krause, who also works as the district’s computer technician, said.
In the nine years leading up to this soccer season, the event raised over $39,000.
With the fundraising goal to break $10,000, a check for $10,420 was granted at this year’s game.
The New York chapter of Coaches vs Cancer and the American Cancer Society has recognized the Sally A. Lock games as the top soccer fundraising event in the state seven years in a row.
“It doesn’t just happen every year for 10 years by accident,” Goodson said. “Paul obviously keeps it alive, but there’s a ton of support in the community and in the soccer program to keep this thing going.”
