TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, N.J.—The Westwood High School Boys Basketball Team invites you to its Seventh Annual Cardinals vs. Cancer Alumni Basketball Day at the high school on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020
In addition to supporting the fight against cancer, both locally and nationally, this year’s event is in memory of township resident Vito “Pal” Trause, with a portion of the proceeds kickstarting the Vito Trause Memorial Charitable Trust.
A full day of basketball is highlighted by the Westwood girls varsity game vs. Midland Park at noon, the boys varsity game vs. Midland Park at 2 p.m., and the alumni game at 4. Look forward to special events, activities, prizes, and raffles throughout the event.
Trause, 94, originally from Carlstadt, dropped out of Becton Regional High School, then East Rutherford High School, to join the fighting in Europe in World War II.
Enlisted with the U.S. Army at 18, a year later he was captured. He survived a grueling five months in Stalag VII-A, Germany’s largest prisoner-of-war camp.
In May 1945, Allied troops liberated the prisoners. Trause and friends acquired two Harley Davidson motorcycles and made their way to Paris in time for victory festivities on May 8.
In 2018 Becton Principal Dario Sforza presented Trause—who lived in the township with his daughters, Victoria and Cynthia—with his high school diploma 73 years after he dropped out to serve.
In announcing Trause’s passing in the early hours of Nov. 1, Township of Washington Mayor Peter Calamari said the loss was tremendous.
“Words cannot possibly come close to expressing what he meant to everyone who knew him. He was the fabric of this community, its heart and its soul,” he said.
Calamari said Trause “embodied what is best in all of us. Those who knew Vito will never forget his laugh and smile and spirit. A day was always better for having spent time in his presence.”
According to Superintendent of Schools Raymond Gonzalez, “Vito Trause was an esteemed member of the school community who, for many years, demonstrated unwavering support for our country, town, high school sports programs, and student-athletes.”
The Westwood Cardinals high school football program loved Trause. Students basked in his war stories and a lifetime of wisdom in their classrooms, where he was invited to mentor.
On his 90th birthday, the Cardinals, the cheerleaders, and most of the student body turned out with balloons and banners at his parade through town.
For more, see “Call For School Turf Field To Be Renamed For Vito Trause,” Dec. 2
Both the Westwood Cardinals Athletics Association and the Vito Trause Memorial Trust are 501(c)3 non-profit organizations, and donations are tax-deductible.
Head Coach John Micheal Santulli told Pascack Press last week that Cardinals vs. Cancer started when Brookside Elementary School was raising funds for “a beautiful little girl named Elizabeth who was battling cancer.”
He said, “All the kids wore purple, Elizabeth’s favorite color, and brought in $1 as a donation. I didn’t even know who Elizabeth was at the time. My son Jack, who was in fourth grade at Brookside at the time, said something to me like, Dad, $1 doesn’t seem like that much. Shouldn’t we give more?”
Santulli said his older son, Micheal Ray, then in seventh grade, suggested that the basketball team do something to help.
“In a couple days the entire community rallied and we organized Elizabeth Night,” Santulli said.
“The players on that team were greatly affected by Elizabeth, and as a team we decided to run an alumni game in support of the fight against cancer,” he said.
He added, “For those of us who have been part of the event since then, Elizabeth’s spirit—and Natalie’s spirit—endures within us and motivates us to keep this thing going.”
Santulli said that the event has evolved, and organizers have raised money not only for organizations such as Coaches vs. Cancer—a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches—but also for local families in need.
He told Pascack Press that alumni moms Lisa Badach and Lynne Green were the backbone of the event for years, adding the event wouldn’t be what it is today if not for them.
In 2018 Badach and Green passed the baton to parents in the school’s boys basketball 3 Point Club.
“What makes me so proud is that this event is not just a boys basketball thing; it has become a Westwood High School community event. That speaks to the solidarity of the towns of Westwood and Washington Township. It’s all about community,” Santulli said.
Now, with Trause’s passing, students, boosters, administrators, and many others naturally thought to help kick-start a charitable trust in his name.
Athletic director Dan Vivino told Pascack Press last week, “We wanted to do something like an annual award in Vito’s name and there was an outside group that wanted to do a scholarship in his name.”
Cardinals vs. Cancer, he said, provided both with “a great opportunity to thank and recognize Trause for his contributions to Westwood Athletics and create a starting point for a scholarship fund.”
He added, “It was great to have so many different groups come together to make all of this work.”
For more information and to donate prizes, write Santulli at jmsan@msn.com.