OCEAN CITY — “I have all of this love for this person with nowhere to go, so this is a great outlet for all of this grief,” Victoria McHugh said of the Connor Laverty Memorial Foundation’s inaugural 3-on-3 basketball tournament Saturday, Aug. 3, in the gym at Ocean City High School.
The Seaville resident and OCHS basketball standout died Jan. 12, 2024, after a 6-month battle with lymphoma and a rare condition called HLH. The son of Tim and Trish Laverty was 25.
McHugh, Laverty’s longtime girlfriend, said his illness was “definitely unexpected with how healthy and athletic he was” and that it “came on really suddenly and heavily. He got very sick very quickly.”
She said even though the couple was not married, she remains close with his family and two best friends, Noah Gillian and Sean Jamison, all of whom serve on the foundation board of directors.
“I would qualify him as family because of the level of our relationship,” McHugh said. “Having someone around consistently for eight years, it’s definitely a loss.”
She said starting the foundation in April was very cathartic.
As a boy, Laverty attended Bishop McHugh Regional Catholic School and loved playing sports, especially basketball, baseball, football and soccer. He also enjoyed being in school musicals and playing chess.
He continued his education at Ocean City High School, graduating in 2016. As a member of the Red Raiders, he became a 1,000-point scorer. OCHS is also where he met McHugh.
“We were sweethearts from high school,” said McHugh, a 2017 OCHS grad from Margate.
After high school, Laverty attended Widener University, where he continued to play basketball, becoming a 1,000-point scorer and being named conference player of the year and male athlete of the year as a senior. He graduated in 2020.
According to his obituary, his dream was to coach college basketball and he pursued that dream with a passion. He began coaching at the AAU level, followed by an internship with Zero Gravity outside of Boston.
When an assistant coaching position opened at Widener, he returned to his alma mater to work under his former coach, Chris Carideo.
In 2022, Laverty had the opportunity to become a grad assistant at Division II Seton Hill University outside Pittsburgh, Pa., and worked toward getting a master’s degree.
McHugh said she and Laverty started dating in April of his senior year and that she had never seen him play.
She said she had been aware of his skill but “little did I know going to see him at Widener that he was awesome at basketball. I didn’t realize how good he was until I saw him play in college.”
She said proceeds from the tournament will support a scholarship as well as lymphoma and HLH research.
The tournament is scheduled for from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Age brackets are ninth to 12th grades, age 18 to 24, 25 to 29 and 30-plus. Co-ed teams are welcome. The deadline for sign-ups was July 28 but McHugh said they will accept late entires. The cost is $120 per team. Registration is through Eventbrite.com.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
– Photos courtesy of Victoria McHugh