|
Inevitably, everyone wants to know what
the term “Choey” means. The word itself is easy to explain, however
the meaning takes a little bit longer….
Growing up, there was a group of us,
roughly twenty people that became and still are very close. Some
people make their best friends in college or at work, some even in
high school, but we became friends in grade school. The older we get,
the more special we know this relationship with each other is.
In 1991, right after college we decided
to start a competition to see who the best “bar game” team was. We
called it the Pentathlon, because at the time you had to compete in 5
different events. Teams of two competed all day and all night in many
different events like Horseshoes, Foosball, Pool, Badminton, Darts,
etc. Much to our surprise, the Pentathlon started to grow as word of
mouth spread and friends of friends started bringing more friends and
well, you see where this is going.
Basically the
Pentathlon was one big “post-college” party until Christmas time of
1994. Joe Kucher (the most senior member of the group) made a
suggestion that impacted the way many of us thought. Joe proposed it
would be a great idea to combine the fun of the Pentathlon with the
good will of raising money for charity. At the time, we had several
friends and family that were or had been affected by cancer. So in
December of 1994, the Pentathlon changed from an annual “post-college”
party, to a charity event that would benefit the American Cancer
Society.
Plans were underway, sponsors were
lined-up and frankly we were all very proud of ourselves. Then all of
our lives changed in a horrible way. On the night of April 8, 1995,
we were all gathered to celebrate the graduation of a friend of ours
from the NJ State Police Academy. At around 2am the morning of April
9th, Joe Kucher, the designated driver, was taking a car
full of people home from the party. In what can only be described as
sick irony, the car Joe was driving as the sober, designated driver,
was hit by a drunk driver coming from the opposite direction less than
2 miles from the party.
Even before Joe’s funeral, we started
the Joseph H. Kucher Memorial Scholarship Fund and decided that the
money raised at all future Pentathlons (after the 1995 Pentathlon)
would go to the scholarship fund. Too many sponsors and contributors
had already committed to us in the name of the American Cancer Society
for the 1995 Pentathlon so it was too late to switch the recipient of
the money raised. But, at that time, we decided to honor our friend
and brother by renaming the Pentathlon, the Choey Memorial Pentathlon.
During the 1995 Choey Memorial
Pentathlon, we decided that going forward, all money raised would be
split between the Joseph H. Kucher Scholarship Fund and another
charity we decided on. Knowing Joe’s selflessness, this seemed the
ideal way remember and honor him.
Now, to answer your question. What is
“Choey”? Mr. And Mrs. Kucher (Joe’s parents) are Austrian. When we
were kids playing, we would hear Mrs. Kucher calling for Joe.
However, in her thick German accent, instead of hearing “JOEY!”
“JOEY!”, you would hear “CHOEY!”, “CHOEY!”.
And that is the meaning of “Choey”…… |
