Timber Lake Camp, as we all should, remembers young Drew Hassenbein

Remembering Drew Hassenbein, star in the making

On Sunday, July 23, the Drew Hassenbein Tennis Tournament was held at Timber Lake Camp in Shandaken, N.Y. The event, which featured competitors from sleepaway camps around the Tri-State area, was played in the name of the late Drew Hassenbein, who grew up on Long Island and loved the summers he spent at TLC.

There were far too few of those summers. Two months earlier, Hassenbein and his friend, Ethan Falkowitz, were tragically killed when the car they were traveling in was hit by a drunk driver. They were both just 14 years old and had just been celebrating a victory for the Roslyn High School tennis team, with Hassenbein having won his singles match just a few hours earlier.

From many accounts, Hassenbein was a tennis star in the making. As a 12-year-old, he was the top-ranked player in the country for his age, and he was already hearing from college scouts and recruiters as an eighth grader.

It’s rare for a middle-school student to play on a high school tennis team; but Hassenbein wasn’t just doing that, he was a big-time contributor. Everybody that spent time with Hassenbein spoke of his positive energy, boundless work ethic and burning desire to be great. Those are traits that separate the ordinary from the extraordinary.

Hassenbein was an all-around athlete, but tennis was his true passion. His father, Mitchell, says that his son had become obsessed with the sport, enjoying it on and off the court. Hassenbein was a big fan of some of the top American players, including Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul, and he also had grown to love Carlos Alcaraz. Like Hassenbein, none of those pros know how to quit, always trying to outwork their peers.

It was fitting that Hassenbein had a moment on one of tennis' biggest stages. With his success as a USTA player, Hassenbein was given the honor of handling the ceremonial coin toss before the 2021 US Open final (in which Daniil Medvedev denied Novak Djokovic a calendar-year Grand Slam). Before the match, Hassenbein was able to chat with two-time Grand Slam champion Stan Smith. It was an amazing experience for the budding seventh-grader.

Given Hassenbein’s love for both tennis and camp, Jay Jacobs, the Chair of the New York State Democratic Committee and CEO of the TLC Family of Camps & Inns, helped put together an inter-camp charity tennis tournament in his honor. The Hassenbein family has a great relationship with the Jacobs family, so it was only fitting that Jay offered up his beautiful campus as the venue for this exciting, emotional event, benefiting The Drew Hassenbein Foundation, among other charities.

The Drew Hassenbein Foundation is a nonprofit organization that has been set up to honor Drew’s memory. The foundation is dedicated to helping underprivileged children learn and excel in tennis and life. Through the foundation, Hassenbein will forever leave his mark on the tennis community. The money raised by The Drew Hassenbein Foundation will provide talented juniors with lessons, scholarships and, in some cases, sponsorships. The hope is that The Drew Hassenbein Foundation will help develop new tennis champions. So far, the foundation has raised nearly $340,000 on GoFundMe.

Jacobs raised $10,000 through The TLC Foundation for Children to use as prize money for this tournament—with the first-place team winning $5,000 to donate, second place winning $3,000 to donate, and third place winning $2,000 to donate. Timber Lake Camp ended up winning the tournament and donating its $5,000 to The Drew Hassenbein Foundation.

All are welcome and encouraged to contribute to this amazing cause, in the name of an amazing person.