LEONIDAS FOUNDATION SET TO HONOR PATRICK MURRAY'S FAMILY; ADVANCE GOALS
Date: April 5th, 2018
Entering its second year, the Leonidas Foundation remains determined to keep the spirit of athletic competitiveness and entrepreneurship alive. In other words, the spirit of Leo Vagias.
The former Don Bosco Prep/University of Rhode Island place kicker was killed in a car accident along with classmate and close friend Sam Cali in June of 2016. The Leonidas Foundation was created in honor of the student-athlete from Montville with many goals in mind.
Chief among them has been the start of the LEO (Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Opportunity) Program at Don Bosco Prep. This is a business-centric curriculum for a select group of students at the school.
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To mark the organization’s anniversary, the Foundation will host a Kickoff party at The Waterside Restaurant in North Bergen on Thursday, April 19.
“We don’t want to stop what we’re doing,” foundation president Matt Perricone said. “We want to continue with what we are doing, especially the positive impacts that the program has had in a relatively short time.”
At the dinner, the organization will honor the entire Murray family with its Leadership Award. Patrick Murray was a standout kicker for Don Bosco Prep and Fordham and is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Murray appeared in 12 games for the Bucs finishing 19 of 23 on field goals in 2017. Leo’s name is one of four that Patrick puts on a piece of tape on his wrist before every game.
Patrick’s brother Aidan kicked and punted at Don Bosco before playing for Rutgers. The boys father, also Aidan, has coached kickers and punters at Don Bosco for over a decade and Linda Murray works at the school.
“They just embody with our foundation is all about,” Leo’s father Teddy Vagias said last week. “We want to work on the mind, body and spirit and all four of them work with the minds, making you feel good about what you can achieve, they work with the spirit and keeping brotherhood in the mix. They are just awesome, and we love the number four, because it was Leo’s number.”
Perricone was also a special teams ace for the Ironmen and retains a deep connection to the Murray family. The younger Aidan Murray was Perricone’s and Leo Vagias’ “Ironman for a Day” partner when they were looking at the school, and he served as a mentor for the two of them at Don Bosco.
“What’s better than honoring an entire family where every single member has touched Leo’s life and so many other young people in a long period of time,” Perricone said. “It’s just the perfect fit.”
The winner of the Leadership Award last year was former Don Bosco Prep football coach Greg Toal.
Vagias said one of the key principles of the foundation is the idea of paying it forward for students and athletes. In business, this means networking and helping the next person in line advance. In that vein, the organization is considering creating a college scholarship opportunity for a high school student who starts as a walk-on.
“That’s one of the things that got Leo fired up,” Teddy Vagias said. “The concept of a walk-on was important to him. A player can earn a scholarship his sophomore year or junior year, but that first year, he will know someone believes in me.”
Cooper: Leonidas Foundation gets a good start
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While the program is deeply connected to its athletic roots (there was also a Sam Cali Invitational wrestling tournament in the winter), it’s easy to see the enthusiasm Vagias and Perricone have for the business program. Perricone said that the organization is in discussions with expanding the academic program at a handful of other schools in North Jersey.
“The LEO program has been a real success for our young men at Don Bosco Prep,” Don Bosco athletic director Brian McAleer said. “It’s been a great way of keeping Leo’s memory alive, while offering a new and unique academic experience for the students.”
Teddy Vagias sees a day where high school entrepreneurs are recruited just as much as talented athletes.
“What we want is colleges to line up at the doors of Don Bosco or other high schools and say I understand you have young entrepreneurs and we want to recruit them for our business school,” said Vagias.
For more information on the Leonidas Foundation and the Kickoff party, go to www.leouniteus.org
The former Don Bosco Prep/University of Rhode Island place kicker was killed in a car accident along with classmate and close friend Sam Cali in June of 2016. The Leonidas Foundation was created in honor of the student-athlete from Montville with many goals in mind.
Chief among them has been the start of the LEO (Leadership, Entrepreneurship and Opportunity) Program at Don Bosco Prep. This is a business-centric curriculum for a select group of students at the school.
Cooper: Leonidas Foundation gets a good start
To mark the organization’s anniversary, the Foundation will host a Kickoff party at The Waterside Restaurant in North Bergen on Thursday, April 19.
“We don’t want to stop what we’re doing,” foundation president Matt Perricone said. “We want to continue with what we are doing, especially the positive impacts that the program has had in a relatively short time.”
At the dinner, the organization will honor the entire Murray family with its Leadership Award. Patrick Murray was a standout kicker for Don Bosco Prep and Fordham and is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Murray appeared in 12 games for the Bucs finishing 19 of 23 on field goals in 2017. Leo’s name is one of four that Patrick puts on a piece of tape on his wrist before every game.
Patrick’s brother Aidan kicked and punted at Don Bosco before playing for Rutgers. The boys father, also Aidan, has coached kickers and punters at Don Bosco for over a decade and Linda Murray works at the school.
“They just embody with our foundation is all about,” Leo’s father Teddy Vagias said last week. “We want to work on the mind, body and spirit and all four of them work with the minds, making you feel good about what you can achieve, they work with the spirit and keeping brotherhood in the mix. They are just awesome, and we love the number four, because it was Leo’s number.”
Perricone was also a special teams ace for the Ironmen and retains a deep connection to the Murray family. The younger Aidan Murray was Perricone’s and Leo Vagias’ “Ironman for a Day” partner when they were looking at the school, and he served as a mentor for the two of them at Don Bosco.
“What’s better than honoring an entire family where every single member has touched Leo’s life and so many other young people in a long period of time,” Perricone said. “It’s just the perfect fit.”
The winner of the Leadership Award last year was former Don Bosco Prep football coach Greg Toal.
Vagias said one of the key principles of the foundation is the idea of paying it forward for students and athletes. In business, this means networking and helping the next person in line advance. In that vein, the organization is considering creating a college scholarship opportunity for a high school student who starts as a walk-on.
“That’s one of the things that got Leo fired up,” Teddy Vagias said. “The concept of a walk-on was important to him. A player can earn a scholarship his sophomore year or junior year, but that first year, he will know someone believes in me.”
Cooper: Leonidas Foundation gets a good start
Softball inside: How coaches keep their teams improving when stuck indoors
Cooper: 'Purple Speedo' has endured as fun symbol of meaning of athletics
While the program is deeply connected to its athletic roots (there was also a Sam Cali Invitational wrestling tournament in the winter), it’s easy to see the enthusiasm Vagias and Perricone have for the business program. Perricone said that the organization is in discussions with expanding the academic program at a handful of other schools in North Jersey.
“The LEO program has been a real success for our young men at Don Bosco Prep,” Don Bosco athletic director Brian McAleer said. “It’s been a great way of keeping Leo’s memory alive, while offering a new and unique academic experience for the students.”
Teddy Vagias sees a day where high school entrepreneurs are recruited just as much as talented athletes.
“What we want is colleges to line up at the doors of Don Bosco or other high schools and say I understand you have young entrepreneurs and we want to recruit them for our business school,” said Vagias.
For more information on the Leonidas Foundation and the Kickoff party, go to www.leouniteus.org
