(Photo credit courtesy the Santi family)

 

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow." - Albert Einstein (one of Luke Santi's heroes)

 

Saying that I feel cheated for not having had the opportunity to ever meet or know Luke Santi makes perfect sense on many levels.

 

For starters, he is the one member of the Santi family I never had the pleasure of meeting.

 

Like myself, Luke's father Luigi and older sister Andrea are proud members of the K-W Board of Basketball Officials, an organization where fellowship is part of our flagstone.

 

Luke's mother Shelagh and I have had several pregame chats when I had the privilege of officiating at the Luke Santi Memorial Tournament at Resurrection CSS in recent years.

 

And although I only formally met Luke's younger sister Janelle recently, I had refereed some games in which she was playing for the Phoenix in the past.

 

My sense of being cheated - something that felt very real to me as I drove away from the Santi family home after an extended visit - made perfect sense because I learned so much about who Luke was.

 

As a son. As a brother. As an academic and an athlete.

 

As a friend who laughed and played and zestfully engaged with peers during good times - but also acted as the ever-present, selfless supporter during the tough times.

 

Luke was so much more than an exceptional athlete and basketball player.

 

He was a burgeoning Renaissance man who loved cars and theoretical physics as much as he loved all sports, drawing and listening to music.

 

So, ya, it makes perfect sense that anyone who never had the privilege of knowing Luke should feel cheated.

 

What doesn't make sense is why his sixteen-year old self - so full of life and love and endless curiosity about the world around him - was taken from his family and his friends at such a young age.

 

What doesn't make sense to the Santi family and others is that it's now been twelve years since Luke passed, a victim of inoperable brain cancer that came out of nowhere.

 

But this isn't a story about loss or grief or feeling cheated - although those elements certainly play a part.

 

This is a story about love and life, family and friendships - and honouring a wonderful "old soul" who made this community a better place to be during his much-too-brief time here.

 

This story is about the legacy of Luke Santi.

 

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When the Santi family invited me into their home to talk about Luke, I knew very little about him compared to when I left a few hours later.

 

Shelagh, for example, explained the "science side" of Luke.

 

"I think it started when he was in grade six" she said. "He wanted to attend these public lectures hosted by the Perimeter Institute, so together we went."

 

"Before you know it, he's volunteering at monthly lectures, conferences and festivals and he becomes very well-known there by everyone. He was absolutely in love with theoretical physics."

 

When Luke's illness started to progress in the spring of his grade 10 year, he was bed ridden and weak from radiation treatments. The Perimeter Institute sent Luke the entire file of public lectures for him to have.

 

"After he passed, Perimeter contacted us" recalls Luigi "about wanting to create a scholarship in his name."

 

As per the web site, The Luke Santi Award is "presented annually to a Canadian student who demonstrates Luke’s many qualities - academic performance, interest in science, extracurricular activities, and volunteering – and is graduating high school to begin post-secondary education in Physical Sciences at a Canadian university."

 

The Santi family is invited to meet the recipient and his/her family each year and they have dinner together.

 

“The Perimeter people have been so great to honour Luke in this special way” says Shelagh.

 

There certainly is no shortage of formal tributes to this remarkable young man.

 

In addition to the annual basketball tournament re-named in his honour (held this year on February 7-8 at Resurrection CSS) and the Perimeter award, there is an academic scholarship given out at Resurrection on graduation night and an annual flag football tournament in cottage country also held in his honour.

 

When Luke was a camp counselor up there, he asked if he could organize a science component for the younger campers (of course he did!) and proceeded to mastermind various experiments which he lead while wearing a lab coat, glasses and an Albert Einstein wig.

 

Among other things that Janelle retrieved from various places in the house for me to see (trophies, photos, a personalized Blackberry gifted to him, etc.) was an Altoids mints container he had converted into a USB charger. She even showed me the photo of Luke's "eureka moment" when it actually worked with an iPod.

 

"He loved to take things apart and put them back together" explains Andrea. "When he and I would play with things like Thomas the Tank trains or Lego, he and I had very different approaches as to how we would do it."

 

"I would look at the instructions and do it how you were supposed to but he wouldn't even look at them" she says with a smile and a tear. "I'd build a track in the shape of an '8' but his would be all around the room, over the couch, everywhere…"

 

When I asked the four of them how they would describe "Luke the athlete", everyone had a slightly different take.

 

"I always thought of him as being very graceful as an athlete", said Janelle. "Very fluid. Just a really sound player who made things look almost effortless."

 

Luigi described him as "the perfect teammate" while Andrea recalls his "great court sense."

 

Luke's mother remembers that he always seemed to take on a leadership role, even in elementary school.

 

"There weren't many teams where he wasn't one of the captains" says Shelagh. "And he never asked for it or sought it out. That role as a leader just seemed to come to him naturally."

 

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I asked three of Luke's many pals - Kevin Rodrigues, Jarrett Humphreys and Matt Stocco - if they would share some thoughts about the friend they miss dearly and will never forget.

 

Rodrigues described Luke as "one of the most loyal friends and teammates I ever had growing up."

 

 "As talented and gifted as he was in the gym and classroom, he epitomized the definition of friendship."

 

"Luke was there for you. He challenged you when you needed it and supported you otherwise - always. That’s what made him so fun to play sports with, but more importantly, to spend time with."

 

Humphreys echoed those thoughts.

 

"In every sense of the word, he was the perfect friend. He challenged you by being the person you aspired to be - but was also there to support you anytime you needed him in any way."

 

"He was brilliant (top of the class in academics), a strong athlete (I still remember the three-pointers he scored on me in Grade 6 - St. Paul’s vs. Holy Rosary - which is part of how we became friends) and an extremely supportive person who was incredibly humble about his many talents."

 

When Stocco reflects back on this exceptional athlete who was also a relation, he too thinks about the cerebral side of Luke.

 

"Looking back, what I found to be the most amazing thing is how he was wise beyond his years."

 

"Even before he was sick, Luke was a bigger thinker than most teenagers. He was a big dreamer and had the ambition that most of us cannot even fathom as young teenagers."

 

"As someone interested in theoretical physics, he thought beyond social conventions and school - he was reaching for the stars."

 

"To this day, I believe Luke would have been one of those transformative minds that would have been revered in the Kitchener-Waterloo region, much like how Donna Strickland is today. Luke was someone who thought bigger than most and I feel wanted to use his brilliance to change things."

 

"His work would have made the world a better place." 

 

Luke had an absolute passion for cars - as Humphreys can attest.

 

"I remember him (humbly) beating me in 30 consecutive games of 'twenty-one' on the Santi’s driveway while we debated every new car coming out that was in Road and Track Magazine."

 

"He had an encyclopaedic memory of every car and spec and could casually recite the spec and his thoughts on a car while hitting shot after shot after shot."

 

"Anyone else would have bragged about their streak or hot hand. Luke would just revert to his math mind and say 'statistically, if we keep on doing this, you will win once. At least you should...' "

 

So often in life, it's the simple things that leave a lasting impression. Such is the case for Rodrigues when he reflects back on the good times spent with Luke.

 

"When we were in 9th grade, Luke’s locker was three down from mine."

 

"We had to fill time after school when we had late volleyball or basketball practices so we bought dollar store mini-basketball hoops and stuck them inside our locker doors."

 

"We probably should have been doing homework but most of us ended up getting snacks and chocolate milk down at the plaza and then playing mini-basketball on these hoops to pass the time."

 

"It got to the point where we’d have custodians and teachers taking turns trying to knock down a shot from across the hallway when they passed by."

 

"It’s one of my favourite high school memories."

 

 

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The Aldworth family is well-known locally for their connection to the game of basketball on various levels - playing the game, coaching the game and officiating as well.

 

Chris Aldworth is a geography teacher at Resurrection who's coached all the Phoenix basketball teams at some time or another - junior and senior; boys and girls.

 

He was Luke Santi's junior coach for his grade nine and ten seasons and like everyone else, was impressed by how well Luke was able to balance his family and social life with the demands of being a three-sport athlete and a true academic.

 

"Luke was a leader both on and off the court," says Aldworth. "A quality guy that people gravitated towards."

 

As for Luke as a player, Aldworth's assessment comes as no surprise.

 

"Luke picked up things quickly and was able to immediately translate them onto the court making him a joy to coach."

 

"But despite his obvious basketball talent, Luke always put the team first. He was unselfish - the type of player that would gladly pass on his own shot to make that extra pass to an open teammate for a better scoring opportunity."

 

Dan Berry, a retired high school teacher/coach (also well-known in local basketball circles) coached Luke for a number of years in rep ball with the K-W Vipers (who also held a tournament in Luke's honour) and says his contributions to those teams were "invaluable."

 

"Not because he was the best, or fastest, or most skilled," says Berry "but because he brought a tremendous spirit for playing, for learning, for enjoying - to everybody, in everything, everyday."

 

"Luke was that 'glue' that just made our team and our lives mesh, run smoother and seem better."

 

Similar to Aldworth, Berry says that Luke was "the same young man on and off the court."

 

"His genuine dedication to others, his commitment to improve, his capacity for perspective, his sense of humour. And that intelligence - wow!"

 

In many ways, Aldworth's final thought illustrates the core component of Luke's legacy.

 

"To this day, I still appreciate the joy of life he modeled for those of us who were lucky enough to know him."

 

 

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I apologized to the Santi family for ending my visit with such a cliché question but I couldn't resist.

 

I was curious about what they wanted people reading this piece to know about Luke.

 

The youngest of the family did not hesitate with her response.

 

"He was incredibly patient" said Janelle. "As the brother in the middle of two sisters, he was so patient."

 

"I was always bugging him to play or to help me with homework - all the things that a younger sibling asks. He was just very, very patient."

 

"He was awesome in every way" was Andrea's reply. "We were only 18 months apart so we were very close."

 

"We would do things like tap on our bedroom walls to communicate with each other. Then he told me he was using Morse Code, which I had no idea" she says with a chuckle.

 

"Or we would pretend to speak French - which we weren't - in front of Janelle just to tease her. Stuff like that."

 

"We just had a lot of fun together doing all kinds of different things."

 

"He was a very easy child to raise" says Shelagh. "He loved his family so much but also had so much respect for everybody else."

 

"What I loved about him most was his kindness. He was so kind."

 

"He was always aware of other people - a teammate after a tough loss, a struggling classmate…"

 

Luigi nods in agreement.

 

"I lean on him during tough times" he says with a quiver in his voice.

 

"He never questioned 'why?' or 'why me?' "

 

"So during difficult times, I look to him for strength."

 

"I want to be more like him."

 

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There are a lot of people, family or otherwise, who could quite capably have the final word on the legacy of Luke Santi but I thought his friend, Matt Stocco, said it very well.

 

"What I find great about Luke occurs when I think about the Toronto Raptors."

 

"Luke was a true sports fan. He was someone who loved his teams, and did not care if they were good or bad. He loved the team regardless of a bad move or a bad trade."

 

"When Luke was alive, we were in the 'Chris Bosh era' of Toronto Raptors basketball - which if you look at the different eras (Vince, Bosh, Derozan, present-day), it is by far the darkest era of the team. Drama, bad trades, poor coaching, less than stellar players, etc."

 

"But Luke did not care. He instead cheered and loved what he loved."

 

"What makes me smile about this is that if we as humanity treated life more like Luke – treating life as the amazing gift that it is, loving every day, and not letting a few clouds feel like a thunderstorm, we would be much happier as a whole."

 

"Luke has taught me this - and whenever I get the chance to thank him, I will."