By Angela Marshall
A coach for the girls' soccer team, Geyer was lost in the World Trade Center attacks, just two days after the first game of the season.
His fellow coaches, Ernie Peck and John Shannon, dedicated the season to Geyer and wanted to pay tribute in a visual way as well.
Although they had already played one game, the team's new uniforms had not been delivered. A call was placed to the company and the initials J.G. were embroidered under the Rockville Centre soccer logo on every jersey.
The move touched Geyer's family and inspired the team. Whenever someone was down or unsure about what they should do in the next play, they would rub the letters, think about coach Geyer and do the right thing.
It was as if the spirit of Jim Geyer inspired them, said Pan Schaefer. They had an undefeated season and led the league in offense and defense.
Schaefer will never forget the bright, beautiful day when Geyer coached his last game of soccer. Jim was like a kid himself when he coached the team he ran and played alongside the girls, she said.
Weeks later, her daughter Jillian, 12, wore her soccer jersey to Geyer's memorial service. This would have been her third season under Geyer's tutelage.
Schaefer, a soccer commissioner and fellow coach, knew Geyer for years and said he played by his own rules. Geyer knew where soccer fit in his players' lives it was a game.
He never screamed and he never yelled, she said.
And no one sat on the bench so stars could shine. Everyone played.
Peck said he, Shannon and Geyer used to talk for hours about the right way to coach the kids. This was Peck and Geyer's fourth year coaching together.
Winning has got to be a by-product of the kids enjoying themselves and the kids learning something about themselves, Peck said. We never set out an objective to win a certain amount of games. We set out an objective to teach the kids certain skills, to teach the kids to work hard and to teach the kids to pull for each other.
Peck said Geyer and the other coaches felt that if they had done the right thing on the field, these youngsters would have learned the lessons needed for a happy life.
[Geyer] basically taught the kids how to play soccer by being resilient, by never giving up, by trying as hard as they can and by working together. Basically those are the lessons of life that transcend soccer, Peck said.
It was those lessons that got the players through one of the hardest falls of their lives. And it was those lessons that helped Peck to hold back tears and be strong for the team.
Geyer's daughter Michele continued to play and with all of her friends paying tribute to her father, she could do nothing but her best on the field.
Schaefer said Michele's game blossomed this year. I think the spirit of her father really pushed her. She had a very, very good season.
Peck said Michele did things on the field this season he never would have imagined her doing before.
Before each game, Peck and Shannon would lead the team in prayer and remind them that Geyer was still with them, on the sidelines, cheering them on.
The first game after the attack was one of the hardest for the girls, Jillian said. Everyone was really sad, but we played for him and it felt like he was on the field.
Even though they felt coach Geyer's spirit at every game, the team never expected to go all the way, Jillian said. In the end it was something that he taught them that made the difference teamwork.
None of the girls will ever be able to step on a soccer field without remembering coach Geyer and his life lesson.
I think Jim would have been very proud of the girls, said Cathy Geyer, Jim's wife. I'm sure he would have been coaching them from above. We are touched that they did it for him.
Pictured: Top, from left, are Coach Ernie Peck, Meghan Kirrane, Casey Wunsch, Jackie Hughes, Theresa Conway, Danielle Ziff, Kathleen Burke, Jillian Schaefer, Michele Geyer, Susan Bodkin and Coach John Shannon; Middle, from left, Christine McDougal, Danielle DiMare, Ashley Lipton, Carolyn Peck, Melissa Brown, Megan Shannon and Mary Kate Quinn; Danielle Laupheimen is in front.
