Jimmy Geyer

Soccer coach, father of 3
            Running down the field, shouting words of encouragement and offering high fives when a game is going well is the image most associated with Jimmy Geyer. For years, Jimmy taught Rockville Centre children not only how to play soccer but how to love the game. He wasn't a coach's coach, he was a kid's coach and he did everything to make sure his charges knew that the game was for them and not their parents.
      Jimmy began coaching his now 13-year-old daughter Michele's teams when she entered first grade and continued as her coach every year after.
      A new season was just beginning when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center. Jimmy is one of thousands who have not been seen since the towers collapsed on Sept. 11. He worked for Cantor Fitzgerald in the same room with fellow Rockville Centre resident Steven Tighe and an old boyhood chum, Timothy O'Brien. Jimmy was 41.
      One of the girls on his team, Jillian Schaefer, 12, wore her soccer jersey in Jimmy's honor to his memorial service at St. Agnes Cathedral on Friday, Sept. 28.
      Jimmy also coached his son Matthew's soccer team from kindergarten to fifth grade and his daughter Laura's team from kindergarten to second grade. The team's assistant coach is taking over this year and Jimmy's wife Kathy is taking on the role of assistant coach.
      Michele and Matthew, 11, attend South Side Middle School and Laura, 6, is a second grader at Wilson School.
      Over the years, dozens of parents have told Kathy how wonderful Jimmy was at coaching. For Jimmy, she said, it was always fun and from the heart. Whole weekends during soccer season were spent at one Rockville Centre field or another. "He touched so many kids' lives."
      During a eulogy, Paul Garavente, a fellow bond trader, said he thought the reason Jimmy had so much fun coaching the children was that Jimmy was himself a big kid at heart.
      The two shared many long calls about the frustrations of coaching, like how to focus on fun and give equal playing time. They leaned on each other.
      Paul introduced Jimmy to the St. John's Home for Boys, and soon Jimmy was making trips out to the center to play basketball with the children and would stay after to talk to them and eat pizza.
      But it was Jimmy's own family that he showed the most dedication to. When he and his friends had male bonding weekends, Paul said, Jimmy would drive up, hang out with the guys and wake up at 4:30 a.m. so that he could be home in time to have breakfast with his kids.
       Former college roommate Charlie Rollins also delivered a eulogy and said when he saw children like Jillian in their jerseys that day, it broke his heart, because even the children recognize how special Jimmy was.
      Charlie and Jimmy met at Western New England College in Springfield, Mass., in 1978. Charlie's roommate was transfering and said he had Jimmy in mind to replace him. At first Charlie was not enthused about the idea. When Jimmy came over, he ate their food, threw his cleats around and left his jerseys all over.
      But Charlie said he soon became Jimmy's biggest fan. He was always there for everyone, Charlie said, and "asked for nothing in return."
      Well, except for this one time. Jimmy played football for the school's team, the Golden Bears, and went out of his way to run down the field and block the biggest guys on the other teams. Sometimes he got a bit bruised and Charlie recalled Jimmy saying he had a problem one morning. "I can't put my underwear on," he told Charlie.
      Charlie made eye contact with Jimmy's children and told them that yes he had dressed their father. "It was magical moments," he told them with a smile.
      Over the years the two kept in close touch and shared a love for golf. They both had a 17 handicap, but in recent months Jimmy had been changing his game. He would start off lefty, switch to righty and then back again on a whim.      
      Charlie said the greatest thing about playing golf is that he got to spend "four, five or 10 hours alone with my friend Jimmy."
      Just before the attack Jimmy called him to play a round but Charlie was too busy. While he may have missed that final game, he knows Jimmy knew how much he meant to Charlie because every time they talked on the phone they would end the call by saying "I love you."
      "Jimmy was my favorite relative," he told the crowd of more than 1,000. "He was the one that I got to choose."
      During an interview this week, Kathy described her husband as easygoing, dedicated and caring. "I was very lucky," she said. "Not everybody out there is like that."       
      Jimmy had a second job catering parties at night and on the weekends for Busco's Catering on Long Beach Road.       
      In addition to his wife and children, Jimmy is also survived by his parents, Jo Ann and Philip Geyer, brother Philip, sister Geralyn Marasco and many friends and extended family members.