By Laura Lane
Sloane, 17, was a top-notch student at Chaminade High School and a lifelong East Meadow resident who attended Bowling Green Elementary and Clarke Middle School, earning the "Most All Around" award when he graduated. He was an excellent athlete, a popular boy with leadership qualities who was just months away from becoming a man.
At the time of the accident, Sloane was driving his father's 2001 Lexus, a car friends said he loved so much. He would run the shortest errand just to be behind its wheel. Although he usually carpooled to Chaminade High with his two close friends, Matt Lee and Rob Hofmann, conflicting after-school athletic schedules led him to consider driving alone. His father was away, and the Lexus was available. That cinched it. Sloane could not resist.
No witnesses have come forward to share information about the tragic accident, which occurred at 7:10 a.m. March 5, a time when police say Old Country Road has a fair amount of traffic. Police surmised that Sloane lost control of the car in rain-slicked conditions and may have spun out before hitting the LIPA pole just east of Glen Cove Road. He was rushed to Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola in critical condition, but died from his injuries the next afternoon.
Dying prematurely never seemed to be in Sloane's cards. Standing about 6-foot-2, he was a powerful presence. With a cock of his left eyebrow, he smiled most of the time. The senior, described by those close to him as a boy who could cheer up anyone and always thought he would succeed, seemed to be someone everyone wanted to follow.
When Venere Italian Restaurant in Westbury hired Sloane, they positioned him at the take-out counter, the first employee a customer sees when entering the restaurant. His employers might have felt that his easy manner and warmth were good for business. Whatever the reason, customers immediately liked Sloane, and the employees at Venere did, too.
"He was such a nice kid," said Helen Morace, an employee. "Scott was the kind of kid you hoped your daughter would end up with."
Sloane was not someone you forgot. Even Vera Zinnel, his first- and fourth-grade teacher at Bowling Green, had vivid memories of a sweet, kind boy. Zinnel still remembers Sloane singing in a class play when he was in first grade.
"There were four boys that were backup singers, and Scott was one of them," Zinnel said. "He definitely stood out, so funny and engaging. He was just a great, great kid."
Sloane had achieved much in his short life, particularly in athletics. For years he played basketball for both the Central Nassau Athletic Association and CYO at St. Brigid Catholic Church in Westbury. He also found time to help CNAA by refereeing basketball games. Once he entered Chaminade, he played intramural basketball, which his family said he loved. He was also a member of the JV and varsity football teams, and even found time on Saturday mornings to play flag football with his friends at Eisenhower Park.
But baseball was Sloane's passion. When he was 15 he helped lead the CNAA team to the District 32 championship. When "Sloanee," as friends called him, played JV baseball at Chaminade, he won the award for most hits in a season.
Having failed to make the cut in the past, Sloane was determined to make the varsity team this year. He practiced constantly, spent hours in the weight room and watched his diet, and at the time of his death he was in the best shape ever.
"Coach [Jack] Lyons made Scott an example at practice the night before the accident, saying he was impressed by the work he had done on the off-season," said the Rev. James Williams, president of Chaminade.
Sloane relayed the story to his parents when he got home that evening. His mother, Debbie, said he was happy when he told them.
Friends said Sloane felt this was the best year of his life. He had just returned from a vacation in Florida with his best friends, Scott Lee and Troy Parant, where he went go-carting and body-boarding and soaked up the sun. He and his mother recently had a conversation in which Sloane expressed how happy he was that his graduation was fast approaching. He had plans.
College was a hot topic. Sloane's college applications were in and he had heard from a few schools -- but not Villanova, the school he really had his eye on. "We were all thinking of going to Villanova together," Hofmann said with a mischievous look in his eye. "We were all laughing about it and said we should move the whole carpool up there."
The East Meadow community has taken Sloane's passing hard. "This was a kid that nobody had a problem with," said Bob Carr, a family friend and a CNAA baseball coach. "He was incredibly respectful to me. I've known him since he was born and all along the way. He was pleasant and confident to reach out to adults. He had the kinds of qualities that make a parent proud."
Hofmann remembered Sloane as being the kind of athlete who welcomed anyone new to the team. "Scott always looked out for everyone on the team," Hofmann said. "He'd be one of the first guys to go over and introduce himself to the younger kids."
"He also always encouraged his friends, telling them that [even] if they were on the bench, they still had talent," Hofmann's mother, Maryanne, added.
Sloane never missed a day of school, and was not only a good student, Williams said, but was the kind of boy others emulated. "Scott was always upbeat and positive," Williams recalled. "His qualities are encouraged all the time at Chaminade."
"Scott always included everyone, even people you wouldn't think he'd talk to," Hofmann added. "He always said hello to people first and treated people as though they were really important to him."
As busy as he was with his studies and sports, Sloane always made time for his volunteer work at St. Brigid. He helped collect food for the needy for the church's food drive and spent hours stocking the pantry. "He really got into working at St. Brigid," Hofmann said. "He was gung-ho to collect the food for the poor. He got us all involved."
Parant has many memories of his best friend. But it is his last recollection that seems to sum up the boy who made everyone smile. "We grabbed a luggage cart at the airport -- me, Scott and Matt -- and I got on it," Parant recounted. "As Matt pushed me, I pretended I was surfing. When we got to the end of the hall, I could hear Scott's distinctive laugh. I used to call him Woodstock sometimes because of that laugh. When I looked back, I saw Scott running toward me, and he was laughing really hard ... you know it was great, just great. I'll never forget it."
Sloane is survived by his parents, Steven and Debbie; his brothers, Ken, 15, and Ryan, 10; and his grandparents, Leila Sloane of Hallandale Fla., and John and Sheila Conway of Punta Gorda, Fla.
Donations in Sloane's memory are being accepted by the Bowling Green Scott Sloane Memorial Fund, 2340 Stewart Ave., Westbury, NY 11590; the Central Nassau Athletic Association, 53 Pilgrim Lane, Westbury, NY 11590; and Chaminade High School, 340 Jackson Ave., Mineola NY 11501.
