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VoL. 60 No. 8
FEBRUARY 20 - 26, 2025
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Survivor visits Island Park
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Oceanside Chamber celebrates community By KEPHERD DANIEL kdaniel@liherald.com
Mellissa Baptiste/Herald
Cory Knopf, center with plaque, and Thomas Lehman, to her left, with Oceanside Chamber of Commerce members.
Tom Lehman, athletic director of the Oceanside School District, was honored on Feb. 13 as the Ocean Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Citizen of the Year, and the Hal Knopf Team at Compass real estate was awarded Business of the Year. The honors came during the chamber’s annual installation and awards dinner at Temple Avodah, recognizing outstanding contributions to the community and honoring individuals and businesses that exemplify excellence, service and leadership. The event, attended by local officials, business leaders and COnTinued On page 16
A return to the ring for ‘the cancer fighter,’ Sean Wachter By KEPHERD DANIEL kdaniel@liherald.com
For many, professional wrestling is just entertainment. For Oceanside resident Sean Wachter, it has been a guiding force after a hard-fought battle with cancer, and he is making his return to the ring. Wachter, 40, a business development manager, was a lacrosse and football player at Alfred State College, but his true love was always professional wrestling. In addition to wrestling and advocacy, on Feb. 3 Wachter took on a new role as the director of operations for Long Island’s upcoming arena
football franchise, the Entertainment Football Association. (He played outside linebacker in the Arena Football League in 2008.) The team’s name and lo go were scheduled to be revealed on Friday. Wachter had trained to become a professional wrestler, and when the Arena Football League went defunct, he tried out for World Wrestling Entertainment, but a neck injury he had suffered in an accident derailed his dreams of becoming a wrestler. Later he coached high school football in Long Beach and Baldwin, where he discovered a passion for mentoring young athletes.
He has had two battles with rare Stage 4 melanoma with leptomeningeal enhancement. After months of recovery, he is now preparing to make his wrestling comeback. He will do so at New York Wrestling Connection’s Psycho Circus on Saturday at the Farmingville Fire Department. A week later, Wachter will make his debut in the National Wrestling Alliance during its Northeastern tour, wrestling at the Factory, on the Nautical Mile in Freeport, on Feb. 28, followed by shows in Greenport and New Jersey in the coming weeks. Wachter’s bouts with cancer
began unexpectedly in September 2016, when he collapsed in the living room of his parents’ Oceanside home and suffered severe neurological symptoms. A CT scan revealed a golf ballsized tumor in his cerebellum, and doctors initially gave him about 12 weeks to live. Rather than succumbing to despair, Wachter leaned on the strength of his family, particu-
larly his parents, whose unwavering suppor t helped him endure multiple surgeries, treatments and the grueling process of relearning how to walk. “I realized I needed to be strong for my parents,” Wachter said. “‘We got this. Let’s fight.’ My mom said, ‘I’ve never been prouder of you in COnTinued On page 15