Bishop Grimes alumni celebrate Lt. Hoosock’s life with fundraiser

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) – A man known as Lieutenant Hoosock to the community he served but known as something else to his friends.

“So, he wasn’t ever Lieutenant Hoosock to me. He was always Hootch,” Anthony Bielak, a high school baseball teammate of Hoosock at Bishop Grimes, said.

Hootch, the kid from down the block.

“He was a childhood friend. He grew up around the corner from us. We played together, played baseball together, played street football together, played basketball together. He’d come over to our backyard, we had this big tree in our backyard and he’d climb it all the time. He was just a wonderful, wonderful, human being,” Bielak remembered.

Hootch, the good example on the diamond.

“We played baseball together on the same team part of one year, but mostly just in practice. I was one of the younger guys, and he really was just one of the leaders on the team and just kind of looked up to him,” Kevin Weinheimer, a teammate of Hootch said.

The fundraiser was an opportunity for people to come together as a celebration of life for Hoosock.

“Bishop Grimes is a really close community, so when this happened, it hit us all pretty hard, so it’s great as a Bishop Grimes community to celebrate his life and just kind of be together with each other,” Weinheimer explained.

A life worth celebrating.

“Because a person like that should always be remembered forever, no matter what,” Bielak said.

So, his memory will live on forever.