By Rich Chrampanis
HOLMDEL – In the fifth game of his senior season, Saint John Vianney’s Aaron Van Trease suffered a severe spinal cord injury. His final words leaving the field on a stretcher, paralyzed, were, “Don’t worry about me. Go win this game.”
The Lancers won that game and, since then, Van Trease has been trying to win a game far more important. He spent months in the hospital beginning the long road to recovery.
“I’m finally getting back to being able to help with assisted walk and try and relearn everything,” Van Trease said. “I’ve been able to pick things up again recently. It’s awesome, all the progress we are making.”
Van Trease returned to his home field for the first time since that fateful night as the SJV community came together for a flag football game featuring the Lancers and the Boomer and Gio WFAN Morning Show. Jerry Recco, a longtime WFAN personality, is an SJV grad whose son is currently a senior.
“When this happened, you’re taken aback by it,” Recco said. “Immediately we started to find a date to do something and get it on Boomer and Gio’s schedule. He’s a great kid. I didn’t know him before this but my son speaks so highly of him. We’re just happy that we came out for a great cause.”
Gregg Giannotti has been co-hosting the WFAN morning show since 2018 which also simulcasts nationally on television on CBS Sports Network.
“It was one of those things when Jerry Recco told us about it, it hit us at home because it was his son’s school, it was where Jerry went,” Giannotti said. “We all played high school football. Every one of us knows someone like Aaron, so immediately we felt like we knew him. He (Recco) set up the date and said we’re going to be there.”
Boomer Esiason, the 1988 NFL MVP with the Cincinnati Bengals and NFL Today co-host on CBS, has a foundation that has raised over $100 million dollars for cystic fibrosis. Back in 2017, he raised money in Middletown for Mikey Nichols, a paralyzed hockey player. Now he’s back in Monmouth County once again giving back to the community.
“To come out here and play football and look like an idiot for an hour and a half, I can definitely do that for somebody like Aaron,” Esiason said. “His teammates are great. They love him and you can see that and to be a part of a special night like this was really great for all of us.”
The southpaw can still sling it. He developed a deep playbook on the fly with his coworkers at the FAN, but the Lancers youth and speed would prevail in a 34-20 win.
“Playing against 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds, boy this is a big gap between my team and that team, I can tell you that,” Esiason joked.
“I think he had more flashbacks to the Jets days than the Bengals days because he won the MVP with the Bengals. The Jet tenure, not so much,” Giannotti joked. “I felt like Rich Kotite was coaching us out there for a little bit but they deserved to win. They were the better team. Boomer’s got some work to do in the offseason, let’s be honest.”
During the months he spent in the hospital, Van Trease heard about the support from the entire football world through video messages from NFL players, including Tom Brady, to countless fundraisers across the state that have totaled nearly $200,000 raised to help with his overwhelming medical expenses. Back on his home field, Aaron got to see that support firsthand.
“It wasn’t even imaginable when I was hearing about it,” Van Trease said. “Now seeing it, I can finally put a picture to it and it’s so awesome. I’m so thankful that everybody from the FAN came out to play with my boys here.”
Van Trease is determined to walk on his own again and even hopes to help out coach Jeff Papcun and the Lancers this fall on the sidelines. For someone who’s been through so much, when you hear him talk, you understand why his time on the gridiron has helped him in the next phase of life.
“My aunt gave me this quote at the hospital, she said, ‘Your life is somebody else’s dream,’ ” Van Trease said. “That always stuck with me. I know there’s people that have it worse off than me. I know everyone has bad days, but you need to know that your life is somebody else’s dream and somebody would love to be where you are right now.”
Van Trease got back into the end zone for a short time, but as Boomer and Gio get back to the business of Aaron Rodgers, the Knicks, and the Devils, they certainly won’t forget the special night they provided at Saint John Vianney.
“We would have gone to Hawaii to play this game for him,” Giannotti said. “We can all learn a lot from the support and friendship and what they have going on here at Saint John Vianney. It’s really spectacular.”
The article originally appeared in the May 11 – 17, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
