Kyle Beattie was in car during deadly 2011 crash
NORTHFIELD — Amanda Buccafurni-Tabasso knew the connection former player Kyle Beattie had with four Mustang football players killed a decade ago in a car crash.
She worked with Beattie’s mother last year when the Family Association of Northfield (FAN) lost most of its annual revenue due to poor field conditions. Those conditions forced the Cardinal youth football team to play home games elsewhere, preventing the organization from running its snack bar.
So, when FAN found itself short of money to undertake various repairs and maintenance projects and purchase new helmets for the football team, she reached out to Beattie, a 2013 Mainland Regional High School graduate.
Beattie, 26, grew up playing football with Casey Brenner, Nick Conner and Dean Khoury from 2001 to 2009, then joined them and Somers Point resident Edgar Bozzi on the Mustang team.
Beattie turned to his boss Mike D’Angelo, a Northfield resident who is senior vice president of Forza Insurance, to see if the company could help.
“Amanda had reached out looking for sponsorships and said they needed new helmets,” Beattie said. “He said ‘write a check.’ He kind of knew how much the boys we lost meant to me, how much the Cardinals meant to me.”
Buccafurni-Tabasso said Forza Insurance was willing to help but Beattie had one condition — something be done to honor the memory of his former teammates at the field.
The four players — Casey Brenner, 17, of Northfield; Edgar Bozzi, 17, of Somers Point; Dean Khoury, 15, of Linwood; and Nicholas Conner, 16, of Northfield — died as the result of a car crash Aug. 20, 2011, when the SUV they were in overturned after a practice.
Four other players injured in the crash included two Linwood residents, 17-year-old Jacob Smith and 15-year-old Kenneth Randall, and two 16-year-old Northfield residents, Beattie and Alex Denafo.
“All Kyle wanted was to honor his friends who had passed away in the accident 10 years ago. We came up with the idea of Cardinal Way to honor the boys,” Buccafurni-Tabasso said.
Cardinal Way consists of a black stripe between two red stripes on the ground between two buildings, creating a chute through which the players run onto the field. The Cardinal jerseys of Brenner, Conner and Khoury, who had lived in Northfield when younger, were painted on the wall alongside that of Dale Krause, a former Cardinal who had passed the year before in a motorcycle accident.
“It definitely exceeded my expectations, it was a nice tribute,” Beattie said, noting all of the families showed up for the dedication. “It was really cool the way they did it.”
Bozzi’s name was added to a plaque affixed to one wall in Cardinal Way since he did not play for Northfield.
FAN operates the city’s football, cheerleading and basketball programs. Buccafurni-Tabasso said the organization was low on funds when it learned more than two dozen helmets failed recertification.
“A lot of the helmets got rejected and the Cardinals needed to purchase 25 new helmets,” Buccafurni-Tabasso said, noting they cost $150 to $200 apiece.
Joe Goukler, a junior varsity coach who serves on the football committee, said the helmets must be recertified every four years and have a 10-year lifetime.
Buccafurni-Tabasso said FAN uses the same helmets for all four levels of play to ensure the safety of players and was able to purchase 32 new ones with the funds provided by Forza.
“All of the families came when we did the dedication of the tunnel,” Buccafurni-Tabasso said, noting the current players run out and slap the Cardinals sign at every home game.
“We are starting a new tradition for the boys that we lost,” Buccafurni-Tabasso said. “On the wall it says ‘Cardinals never forgotten.’”
She said her 8-year-old knows who the boys are and now looks for the benches in their honor on the bike path.
“It’s just a humbling, kind thing for the community to keep giving, especially for the families,” Buccafurni-Tabasso said. “Now they get to go down to the field and see their child’s jersey on the wall.”
FAN President Angela Borini said the board put a new emphasis on sponsorships and was successful.
“We really took our sponsorship to the next level,” she said. “A lot of people came out of the woodwork, plus we have a great board this year. We’re always looking for sponsors and any amount of money helps.”
Borini said all three levels that have playoffs — pee wee, junior varsity and varsity — were undefeated and hosting a home game Saturday, Nov. 20. Winners will play for the championship the following week at Absegami.