By Stephen Cooney
The vibrant royal blue 27 burst off of the lime green jersey which was draped on top of shoulder pads with matching shorts and shoelaces christened with the word HEADstrong in matching royal blue. Heads were crowned in white helmets with lime green trim and hands wrapped around lacrosse sticks fitted with a lime green head.
One hundered thirty-five miles away from their home at Shuart Stadium at Ridley High School in Folsom, Pennsylvania, the Pride Men’s Lacrosse team shed their yellow and blue uniforms for the lime green outfits in memory of Nick Colleluori.
Colleluori who passed on November 28, 2006 after a 14-month battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma created and founded the HEADstrong Foundation to raise awareness and funds for blood cancer research and treatment.
The Pride were at Ridley to participate in the first inaugural HEADstrong Foundation Nick Colleluori Memorial Classic. Uniform, stick and shirt sales raised $15,000 dollars for the foundation, but as the memory of Colleluori stays with the team so do the lime green shoelaces.
Six months after the fundraiser, the Pride still lace and tie their cleats with the same lime green laces that were worn with those uniforms. Some players still hang them from the netting of their sticks. No one has forgotten the Colleluoris, and this was never more obvious than at senior day on Saturday.
As the rest of the Pride’s seniors were honored before the game, the Colleluoris took their spot on the field in memory of their son. Mrs. Colleluori wore the lime green jersey with her son’s number on the chest.
“It was emotional. There was a lot of concern. There was some thought going in on how do you handle it. Is there a right way to handle something like that? Should they have been in the stands and just recognized? Is that rude? Is it not rude?” Head coach Seth Tierney said. “They also expressed their interest in that they would like to be there. And at that point in time, if they would like to be there, then they will be there.”
As Jim Sheehan read off a short memento about Colleluori, Tierney meet the Colleluoris at midfield. “There was a lot of emotion in that hug.” Tierney said. “We miss him. We miss him.”
Even though Tierney admitted to not knowing Colleluori that well, he was still quick to emphasize the little he did know about Colleluori.
In what was a physical game, Tierney embraced the moment in his press conference. “He has got some heart. He was about what today’s game is about, that I know.” Tierney said. “It was a nice moment if that could be possible.”