Heat honor memory of hoops fan Alex Schachter
When 14-year-old Brett Lickerman stood up in front of 1,200 people to deliver a eulogy at the memorial service for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victim Alex Schachter, he wanted to make sure they knew two things about his best friend.
“He never didn’t have a smile on his face. I really wanted them to know that Alex is a special person. He’s the only person I know that I’ve never seen sad,” Brett says.
He also wanted the gathering, and his late friend, to know that the Parkland Basketball Club rec-league team that he and Alex played on would be bringing home a championship trophy to honor the kid who wore No. 5.
So far, so good: The team of eighth- and ninth-graders has won its first two playoff games and two more wins will put them in the championship game on March 18.
If the team needs any pointers, they can get them on Saturday night, when the Miami Heat have invited Schachter’s family and the entire Parkland team to their game at AmericanAirlines Arena, beginning with time on the floor during the pregame shoot-around.
The Heat’s opponent on Saturday is the Washington Wizards, a team known as the Washington Bullets until then-owner Abe Pollin decided to change it to something less violent in 1996.
One of Alex and Brett’s final outings together was a Heat game against the Milwaukee Bucks, a field trip with more than 50 members of the Douglas High School business and marketing club five days before the shooting.
“We were very excited. It was a great game. It was really fun,” Brett says.
Brett says that despite his teammate’s friendly demeanor and average height, Alex was known as a tenacious rebounder who would routinely be assigned to the tallest team.
“He always fought hard and got all the rebounds over really big guys. He was a defender you could count on,” Brett says of his friend, a fan of the University of Connecticut and the Boston Celtics.
As the Parkland team moves ahead in the playoffs, they’ll have help from a special player. The league agreed to allow Alex’s roster spot to be filled by his older brother, Ryan.
“It’s been so really taken the player on the other great. He’s kids under his wing,” says Brett’s mother, Aimee Lickerman.
Ryan has been playing in his brother’s No. 5 jersey and his favorite blue-and-black LeBron James basketball shoes.
“It makes me feel like I’m still playing with Alex,” Brett says. “It’s almost like we can’t lose a game, like Alex is with us.”
For information on the Alex Schachter Scholarship Foundation, visit GoFundMe.com/LifeIsLikeARollercoaster.
bcrandell@sun-sentinel.com