Basketball, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: My grandfather Bill ‘Jingo’ Lavery who played for La Salle in the Big 5 in the 1950’s.
Favorite team: Philadelphia 76ers
Favorite memory competing in sports: Hitting a game-winning halfcourt buzzer beater to help my team advance in the HHoops Playoffs
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: Having the student second at an away game chant ‘Hobbit, Hobbit, Hobbit’ while attempting free throws.
Music on iPod: Pink Floyd, Dave Mathews and Mac Miller
Future plans: Attend college and become a successful business owner.
Words to live by: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.’
One goal before turning 30: To be a successful entrepreneur
One thing people don’t know about me: I participate in a non-profit called Woody’s Circle of Care Foundation which helps raise funds for families in need.
Hatboro-Horsham senior Jack Lavery remembers the moment it happened last spring.
“It was after the last game for lacrosse,” he said. “I went home and I had excruciating pain in my groin area.”
It turned out Lavery had two hernias. He underwent surgery. The ordeal wiped out his participation with the Wet Bandits, his summer lacrosse club team, and nearly caused him to give up his high school basketball career with the Hatters.
“It put me out of physical activity for four or five months,” he said. “I wasn’t going to play basketball.”
Lavery had played an important role as a sixth man and backup point guard as a junior. Hatboro-Horsham basketball coach Dennis Steinly assumed he’d become the starting point guard this season, but then thought Lavery wouldn’t be coming back after going through his operation.
“When the school year started, Walt Kimball emerged as someone who might be able to start, and then Jack decided to give it a try,” Steinly said. “So by that time, after his injury, Jack was still going to be our sixth man. But I just think he’s done a great job for us. He’s really flourished in that role. He’s playing behind some kids who are younger than him, and that’s just a testament to his character and maturity to come off the bench.
“His attitude and energy are contagious,” Steinly added. “A lot of kids see that he doesn’t have his head down, and that positive influence rubs off on them and throughout the whole team.”
Although Lavery usually comes off the bench, he has gotten a couple of starts recently and always plays starters’ minutes, averaging nearly 25 per game.
“I’ve accepted that role pleasingly,” Lavery said. “I enjoy coming in and giving that spark to our team, keeping our effort up and contributing on defense. Our defense is all about helping each other out. I talk a lot to make sure everyone is accounted for on the floor. I just want to help us win games.”
Steinly loves Lavery’s defense.
“He makes an immediate impact defensively, he’s outstanding,” Steinly said. “I attribute that to his experience with lacrosse. I think the two sports go hand-in-hand that way. And his confidence has grown to where he has become more comfortable with the basketball. He’s not afraid to knock down an open three or drive to the basket.”
Lavery shoots at a high percentage, including 56 percent from beyond the arc, and makes free throws at a rate north of 80 percent.
“I would be regretting it if I weren’t playing,” he said. “I’d be in the fan section seeing all my buddies out there doing well.”
Lavery has been playing basketball his whole life, and it runs in his family. His grandfather William played against Wilt Chamberlain in a summer league. But he said foul shooting didn’t always come easy, and he credits Hatters assistant coach Mark Milnazik for helping him improve.
“He changed up my whole routine” Lavery said. “I used to do too much. Now I just step up to the line, dribble once and put it up with confidence.”
Lavery is the Hatters’ steady, go-to guy. They’re 13-3 and have just one loss in the conference as they sit atop the Suburban One League Continental. But Lavery is just as steady in the classroom.
He carries a 3.6 grade-point average. He takes Advanced Placement calculus and economics as well as honors English. And he’s a member of the National Honor Society. He could have his pick of colleges, but right now it’s down to West Chester and George Mason. He’s leaning toward West Chester, because his dad, William Lavery Jr., and most of his family went there.
Jack plans to major in business and then join his dad’s insurance company. In addition to staying busy with sports and academics, he works for Allied Landscape and does lots of community service events through his church. And he’s part of a non-profit organization called Woody’s Circle of Care, which his dad helped establish. It raises money to help local families.
“Say, for instance, a wife loses her husband. We’ll hold fundraisers to help her,” Jack said. “I’m glad to be helping people. It’s very uplifting. Maybe someday I’ll run the foundation and carry on the tradition.”
Another aspiration of Lavery’s is to play basketball in college.
"That's one of my goals," he said. "I know it's a reach, but it's something I'd like to accomplish. I'm definitely going to give it a shot."
With Lavery’s attitude and determination, both on the court and off, he sounds like a good bet to succeed.
