A special night in Holmdel as Boomer and Gio come to lend their support to Aaron Van Trease as he continues to recover from a severe spinal cord injury. Watch JSZ’s feature now!
St. John Vianney Aaron Van Trease returned to his home field for the first time since suffering a severe spinal cord injury in the fifth game of his senior year. AVT got to see the SJV community come together for a flag football game featuring his Lancers team 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 for 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 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, we saw him in Middletown raising money 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.”
For the months he spent in the hospital, Van Trease heard about the support from the entire football world from video messages by NFL players including Tom Brady to countless fundraisers across the state that have totaled nearly $200,000 has been raised to help with his overwhelming medical expenses. Back on his home field, Aaron got to see the support he has from the football world first hand.
“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.”
Watch our feature from Jersey Sports Zone TV which airs every Sunday morning at 11:30 am on WLNY-TV
The Van Trease family continues to be supported by a GoFundMe page to help with medical expenses. You can visit that link HERE
