By: Jeff Lipton
Braving near zero-degree temperatures, more than 1,000 spectators and more than 100 swimmers arrived at the Hewlett High School pool on Saturday night, Jan. 10, to take part in a fitting memorial tribute to Jordan Satin, Jonah Richman and Adam Cohen.
The three 2002 Hewlett High School graduates drowned in a river in the Adirondacks on Aug. 12, 2003, as they tried to rescue a fellow camp counselor, David Altschuler, who accidentally slipped and fell into the raging waters. All four, who were spending the summer as counselors at Camp Baco in Minerva, N.Y., died. They were known as the Baco Boys for their summers spent at the camp.
A swim meet was organized to honor the heroic trio, as 105 swimmers of the high school-s alumni and about 1,300 spectators who cheered them on, attended the event. The families and friends of the trio also attended.
The event was billed this way: In loving memory of Hewlett-s Finest Jonah Richman, Adam Cohen and Jordan Satin an alumni event celebrating our heroes through competition, camaraderie and sportsmanship.
Cohen and Richman were co-captains and record-holders in swimming during the 2001-2002 season, and Satin was also an accomplished athlete at Hewlett.
The Memorial Alumni Swim Meet was organized to celebrate the lives of Adam Cohen, Jonah Richman and Jordan Satin, said Scott Strauss, a friend of the Cohen family and an organizer of the swim meet. This is the first-ever alumni swim meet. There has never been one before.
Everything went very well. The swimmers came in from all over. People have already told us how great it was for the community, said Strauss, a member of the 1984 swim team.
Besides Strauss, George Amitrano, the Hewlett Swim Club coach, and his wife, Dotty, and Dr. Michael Feldman, also helped coordinate the meet.
The format included 19 relay races and a diving exhibition, as swimmers from the alumni boys- and girls- Hewlett varsity swim squads teamed up during the competition. Alumni from the 1970s and 2000s competed against classes from the 1980s and 1990s. A couple of swimmers from the 1968 swim team also agreed to take to the pool. The swimmers arrived from Florida, Maine and California to pay tribute to the Baco Boys.
Nobody knows and nobody cares who won, said Strauss, who added that honoring the three young men who lost their lives was paramount.
At the start of the swim meet, a tribute was read for the Baco Boys and three organizers swam the length of the pool holding torches, which symbolized the loss.
Sweatshirts and t-shirts had been sold, with proceeds going to the Baco Boys Fund and other funds set up in the memory of the teens, providing scholarships for eligible seniors.
