It was his junior year and Jack Demareski came off the field after a subpar effort as the Hopewell Valley Central High quarterback. Offensive coordinator Rob Radice saw a downtrodden Demareski walking to the locker room and approached him.
“He said to me, ‘You’ve had worse days in your life,’ and I said, ‘You’re right,’” Demareski said. “That kind of put it all in perspective.”
The absolute worst day came in April of his freshman year, when Demareski was told that his mom, Kristine, had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. He spent the summer preparing for his sophomore year as the Bulldogs’ JV quarterback, while Kristine was in the midst of 10 months in the hospital and treatment centers.
“Jack displayed a level of maturity and courage that was purely remarkable,” head coach Dave Caldwell said. “He not only continued to maintain his grades and be a three-sport athlete, but he became like a second father to his three younger brothers.”
With his mom in a New York hospital and his dad, Roger, trying to be at her side, Demareski had little choice but to become a temporary patriarch for his brothers Peter, 14 at the time, Joe, 8, and Patrick, 5.
“When my dad wasn’t working, he was making the two-and-a-half hour drive up there whenever he had the chance,” Jack said. “I kind of became the caregiver in the family.”
While it might seem football would be a terrible burden, it was just the opposite. Demareski embraced even more tightly the sport he had always loved.
“That was a tough time in my life, but it kind of instilled this no-excuse attitude,” he said. “Sports is a great way to just kind of throw all that to the side for a minute and get my mind off it. The football team, coach Caldwell, they played a huge role helping me through that time. Coach was always there for me. I’ll always be grateful for that.”
Demareski was also helped by his mom herself, who bravely never let on how serious the issue was or could become.
“I was kind of, for my sake, kept out of the loop of what she was going through, treatment wise,” Demareski said. “I went to visit her every other weekend. She always had a smile on her face. She was always doing a puzzle or playing a game, trying to keep our spirits up as best as she could; which she did. We never really got the feeling that she was not feeling too great.”
Fast forward to October 2015. Demareski was playing for the JV team but was on the sidelines for the varsity games. After a Friday night home victory over Ewing, the team emerged from its post-game huddle and there was Kristine looking on with a smile.
She had come home for good earlier in the day. Kristine Demareski had beaten cancer like the Bulldogs had beaten the Blue Devils.
“A good night just turned into a better one,” Demareski said. “That was a special time. It was kind of surreal. I knew she was coming, but that was my first time seeing her home, without being in bed and all that.”
The best news is that she has gotten to watch Demareski play varsity quarterback the past two years.
“She’s great now,” he said. “She’s doing awesome.”
Once everything settled, Demareski was not about to let the support his family received during those dark months go unreciprocated.
‘Jack serves as an inspiration to all of us who strive to be strong-willed in the face of adversity, challenges and opportunities.’
Once Demareski’s mother was able to return home, he continued to be a source of inspiration, Caldwell said, participating in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year Campaign. Demareski felt fortunate to have his mother back home with her cancer in remission. He wanted to give back to the community that had supported him.
So Demareski and classmates Ali Schragger and Max Brass formed Team JAM for a Cure—the JAM correlating with the first letters of each guy’s name. They set a goal of raising $25,000 for the seven-week campaign.
That was a pleasant underestimation, as they raised $43,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and were named the LLS’s Students of the Year.
“My team was awesome,” Demareski said. “We put together a great campaign. We did so many things. We wrote letters to people, we had a comedy night. My brothers played a huge part in helping us out.”
Demareski is intent on continuing to help those with cancer. He recently joined the Be The Match organization, which is a bone marrow donation organization. His reasons were personal, as Kristine’s life was saved by a bone marrow transplant from an Ohio resident.
“Cancer affects everybody,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re young, old, rich or poor. You never know when it can hit you. I think I’m gonna keep giving back to the community and doing all I can to help.”
He’s also doing what he can to help the football team. Last year Demareski threw for 808 yards and five touchdowns while throwing 13 interceptions as the Bulldogs went 3-7. Through Hopewell’s 0-7 start this year, Demareski had completed 50 percent of his passes for 938 yards and seven touchdowns with seven interceptions.
The Bulldogs winless record can partially be attributed to a grueling schedule in which Group III HoVal plays four Group V and four Group IV schools. Demareski won’t use that as an excuse.
“The schedule’s the schedule, we can’t change that,” he said. “We just try to replicate the game situation the best we can in practice. It’s my job to keep the guys motivated, make sure everybody’s going 100 percent every play.”
With that mindset, it’s not surprising that Demareski’s first choice for college is the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. If that does not materialize he is pursing different paths in ROTC and other colleges.
He would like to continue with football, but his selection will be based on becoming an officer.
“The dream is to serve my country,” Demareski said. “I’ve always had this feeling that if you’re able to, you should be able to give back to your country that gave you so much. That’s kind of what’s been driving me throughout these years. The military is everything I believe in and everything I stand for. The honor, the courage, the tradition, all of that. It’s something I embody and admire.”
That’s an attitude that Caldwell has long known about Demareski.
“Jack serves as an inspiration to all of us who strive to be strong-willed in the face of adversity, challenges and opportunities,” the coach said.
Hopewell Valley quarterback Jack Demareski in action at home against Lenape High, Oct. 20, 2017. HoVal lost, 49-7. (Photo by Mike Schwartz/mikeschwartz.photo.),
