Turning an Athletic "LifeVenture" Into Charity
(The Times of Northport, July 24, 2008)
By Arlene Gross

Movers and Shakers

Since its seventh annual May golf outing was postponed due to rain, Hoops of Northport is praying for good weather for the rescheduled event on Aug. 4 starting at noon.

"We'll take more foursomes," said Steve Shorrock, who recruits sponsors, donors and other volunteers for the group's charitable ventures.

Hoops, as an outgrowth of St. Philip Neri Church's Holy Name Society, is a group of 25 or 30 men who play weekly Monday night basketball games for fun and the greater good.

"We essentially play for the guys' night out," said Shorrock, who has been a regular at the weekly games since moving to Northport in 1992. "It's just a group of guys who like to be with each other and enjoy it — but we definitely give."

In addition to the Crab Meadow Golf Course outing, which they hope will draw more than 100 golfers, the group holds an annual football tailgate party in December and other functions throughout the year. Together, the events raised a total of $10,000 last year, Shorrock said.

Along with raising money for St. Philip Neri Church and its gym, the Daniel Trant Recreation Center, Hoops helps support the Northport Food Pantry and Northport little league football and baseball teams, Shorrock said.

Anyone caring to tee off with Hoops may call Mark Kleczka at 261-7777, ext. 15.

People attend the tailgate party, held each year at Kleczka's Eaton's Neck home, he said, with arms full of Christmas presents for children at the Little Flower Children and Family Services in Wading River.

"I think most of us are pretty fortunate," said Shorrock, of his basketball buddies, most who work and/or live in the Northport area. "We enjoy giving back. It's not like we're out there killing ourselves to raise money. The guys who come are real givers. It's good stuff."

The Hoopsters, he said, are also grateful to St. Philip's for housing their pickup games.

"We realize that the church has done a great thing for us," he said. "They've given us the ability every Monday night to go down there and play basketball. We definitely have an incentive to give back."

The group changed its name from Holy Name Society to Hoops, Shorrock explained, when the players decided to spread their beneficence beyond the church: "As we got bigger … we've increased the amount of money we give to the gym but now we have more money to give to other organizations."

Still, much of their largesse continues to benefit the church.

"We became very charitable to the church as the Dan Trant center was being was built," Shorrock said. The center was rededicated in honor of Daniel Trant in October 2003. A popular local youth basketball and soccer coach, Trant worked as a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center, and perished at the age of 40 in the 9/11 attacks.

"We helped sponsor a lot of the changes in there," Shorrock added. "We bought the mats that go around the walls so kids don't get hurt; we refurbished the floor; we bought a defibrillator in there; we bought water machines. This year, we're buying curtains."

Aside from money, the men donate their time, bartending and helping in other ways at St. Philip Neri's parties.

"We're people who are having a good time, trying to raise some money," he said.

The former president of Holy Name, Mark Kleczka, said that in terms of making things happen, Shorrock is the frontline person. "He's our leader when it comes to getting things done," Kleczka said. "He makes it happen."

Through Shorrock's efforts, Kleczka said, Hoops added the tailgate party and a blood drive, held July 19; not only procured the gym's defibrillator but also trained everyone in its use, and got the water machines in the gyms, among other things.

Growing up in Doylestown, just outside of Philadelphia, Shorrock graduated from Gettysburg College in 1977, where he met his wife, Sally, and went on to Temple University for his master's in business administration.

After five years in Aurora, Colo., the Shorrocks moved in 1990 to Sally's childhood town of Garden City before buying their first home in Northport. Today, they live on School Street in the harborside village.

Having served as chief executive officer for Bankers Life Insurance Company from 1990 to 2003, Shorrock struck out on his own two years ago with Life Ventures Corp., developing products for life insurance companies; and Select Life Settlement Corp., an intermediary that finds institutional buyers for people who no longer want their life insurance policies. Both companies are based in downtown Northport.

Sally is a professional flutist who runs the Canta Libre Chamber Ensemble and is a professor at St. Joseph's College. The couple has two sons: Clay, 24, studies patent law at Touro Law School; and Matthew, 21, who after two years at Villanova University in Pennsylvania joined the Navy and is training in San Diego.

Shorrock said that enlisting is something his son had been wanting to do his whole life. "Matt is remarkable," he said. He's the type of young man that you want protecting our country."

Like father, like son, according to Kleczka, who pointed to Shorrock's own exceptional qualities. "He's a wonderful man," Kleczka said. "He's so giving of his time. He's never one to not try to do the right things for other people. He's always there."