Basketball Tournament in Avi's Memory

ESPN's Steve Bunin is an organizer of the annual, community basketball tournamet in memory of Ari Grashin. For the latest information, please click on the title of this entry.

What follows is the flier that was distributed last week at Beth David Synagogue. To enlarge, please click on the image.

I wrote this blurb for the tournament:

Abraham Judah "Avi" Lapidus enjoyed playing basketball and was an avid fan of the Chicago Bulls, the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago Bears and ESPN. Avi was a smart basketball player. He knew fundamentals, especially how to protect the ball against more physically talented players.

Avi, who moved to West Hartford in 2000, was born in upstate New York on the fifth night of Chanuka in 1990, the son of Susan and Jay, and the brother of Menachem and Chana. He was a student at the Solomon Schechter Day Schools on Long Island and West Hartford and a graduate of the Sigel Hebrew Academy. At the time of his death on February 23, 2006, he was a freshman at the Hebrew High School of New England, a regular attendee of Beth David Synagogue, and an intern at a Rochester, NY-based web design company. Avi excelled in web design coding, Judaica, mathematics and writing.

Avi will always be remembered for his cheerfulness, brilliance, love of Judaism, sense of humor, and eagerness to help others. He will be missed by his family, his community and by others throughout the world whom he touched.