Garden City High School and the Men’s Association of Garden City honored the career of standout basketball player Bethany LeSueur at halftime of the Lady Trojans game versus Roslyn this past Saturday evening.
The event was highlighted by the presentation of a framed replica of Bethany’s number 23 and the unfurling of a banner denoting LeSueur’s career accomplishments.
In a school with a long history of outstanding athletes who have been named All Americans, State Champions or elected to the High School Hall of Fame, Bethany stands head and shoulders above all with respect to any given sport. She will now be the first Garden City player to receive this honor.
LeSueur is Long Island’s all-time leading scorer, ending her career with a Long Island best 3,157 points and ranks as the state's No. 2 all-time scorer. She was named Miss New York State Basketball, was a two-time Gatorade NY State Player of the Year and led Garden City to three NY State Final Four’s while accumulating an amazing 121-12 record with the team. After graduation, she went on to star at Georgetown University, being named team MVP for the 2005-2006 season. Currently LeSueur is the head girls’ basketball coach at East Meadow and has the Lady Jets playing exciting basketball.
Athletic Director Nancy Kalafus started off the halftime celebration with introductions of the honored guests that returned to the Garden City gymnasium to honor Bethany. Coming out onto the court were LeSueur’s varsity coach John Dell’Olio, former Garden City principal John Okulski, mother and father Liz and Paul, sister Sarah, brothers Paul, Jr. and twin Peter and husband Tom Hughes. While in the stands were several of her high school and Georgetown teammates, as well as a number of the young girls that LeSueur now coaches.
After a four minute slide montage, Kalafus invited honoree Bethany LeSueur to join everyone on the court. Coach Dell’Olio was the first to speak and he emphasized the work ethic and passion that Bethany exemplified throughout her six years on the varsity basketball team. Then it was high school historian Jake White’s turn to remind those in attendance of the many accomplishments throughout LeSueur’s illustrious career – most are represented on the banner that will hang in the gymnasium from now on.
White then invited the Garden City Girls’ Varsity team, led by captains Taylor Carpentier and Tara DeAngelo, to make their presentation of the framed replica of Bethany’s jersey to her.
The mike was then given to LeSueur to address the crowd and she handled herself as if she had a basketball in her hand, with grace, with conviction and with an unnerving sense of confidence. As she spoke you began to understand that the accomplishments were secondary to what she felt she gained from her experiences at Garden City High School, most importantly that the friends, teammates, coaches, teachers, and especially her family, were what she cherished most.
Tom Hughes, Bethany’s husband, had this to say ‘Bethany is the most humble, hardest working person I know. She has the unique ability to motivate and inspire the dozens of young athletes she works with to strive for greatness on and off the court. You would never know what an accomplished athlete she is by talking to her, it's always about a teammate or coach who helped get here there, never about herself. What makes this night special for me is that it is just about Bethany as it should be, she's earned it.’
The successful night was capped by a dominating win for the Lady Trojans over Roslyn.
