MacArthur, lacrosse community honor beloved friend on inaugural Trevor Michael Huggard Memorial Lacrosse Day
A Huggard child has attended MacArthur every year since 2008. The youngest, Kayleigh, a senior, graduates this year. Meet the Huggards, from left: Aiden, Tanner, Reese, Molly, parents Michelle and Matthew, Kayleigh, Matthew and Jack Credit: Photograph by Nicolle Boehm
It’s difficult to imagine the grief Michelle and Matthew Huggard felt in June 2025 when they learned their 30-year-old son, Trevor, had died in a motorcycle accident.
The second-oldest of eight kids, Trevor Huggard graduated from MacArthur in 2013 as a standout on the lacrosse team. He played at Nassau Community College before an ACL injury sidelined him and he became a diesel mechanic at Bay Crane.
Trevor's best friends, Bellmore JFK boys lacrosse coach Gerard Cunningham and Mepham boys coach Ryan Walsh, established the Trevor Michael Huggard Memorial Lacrosse Day. The inaugural event took place on April 11, with MacArthur High School hosting five lacrosse games.
The event fundraised money for three scholarships given to three senior lacrosse players. Cunningham’s wife, Kayla, said the amount will be announced in the coming weeks and that it “far exceeded our expectations.”
“I’m so honored to see how many lives he touched, and my family is forever changed,” Michelle Huggard said. “We have such an amazing amount of support, and people who are committed to helping us heal, and it’s very overwhelming.”
John Nessler, who is coaching MacArthur’s boys lacrosse team for the 32nd year this spring, described Trevor as a “special kid” who could “light up every room he walked in.”
Nessler — a MacArthur alumnus himself — joined his former players in Cunningham, Walsh, Island Trees coach Mike Papach, Jericho coach Brandon Mulholland and Massapequa coach Kevin Catalano as all came with their teams to compete.
Several of the varsity teams honored Trevor by wearing shirts that included the line, "Have a great time, all the time.” It was what Trevor said as a groomsman at Cunningham’s wedding.
“He didn’t realize what he was saying, but that’s truly how he lived his life,” Cunningham said. “He had a great time at whatever he was doing.”
A brother, a son, a best friend
Trevor Huggard shown in 2023. Credit: Photograph by Gerard Cunningham
Tanner, the oldest of the Huggard children, remembers coaching a youth lacrosse team alongside Trevor in 2014 and 2015 that included younger siblings Aiden and Matthew.
“[Trevor] was much more laid back,” Tanner said. “It was a good cop, bad cop. [The kids] were like, ‘Coach Trevor, why is Tanner so mean to us?’”
Michelle thought of Trevor’s generosity when he flew Aiden back as a surprise from Baylor “without us even knowing.” She still sees Trevor in the face of her second-youngest daughter, Reese.
“Trevor used to make this face all the time,” Michelle said. “Reese did it last night. They shared an incredible bond. She truly lost her best friend.”
Molly Huggard-Buchan, the fourth sibling of the bunch, became engaged to her husband, Brandon, in August. She chose March 14 for her wedding day because Trevor’s birthday was March 10.
“We wanted March to be something joyful, so when she was making her wedding plans, [Molly] wanted March,” Michelle said.
On Saturday, the Huggard family saw that spirit carry from March into April.
“Our family has been in this community for years,” Jack Huggard, the third-oldest of the siblings, said. “My parents are from Levittown; they went to Division, so we have a big family in a community that’s given us so much.”
Trevor’s father, Matthew, knows that better than anyone. Next year will be the first time since 2007 that a Huggard won’t be at MacArthur High School, and he knows his son would’ve loved the day that unfolded on the very same grounds.
“He would have been the star of the show,” Matthew said. “He was a good-time-Charlie kind of guy.”
An emotional finish
Trevor Huggard during the 2011 season for MacArthur boys lacrosse. Credit: Photograph by Kayla Cunningham
Nessler’s MacArthur faced Papach’s Island Trees to end the day, but that wasn’t all. Several of Trevor’s friends, wearing jerseys with their old numbers from 2013, announced that MacArthur senior Kayleigh Huggard — the youngest of the eight siblings — was the third and final recipient of the Trevor Huggard Memorial scholarship, joining Massapequa’s Owen Leisen and Jericho’s Greg Dixon.
“All of his teammates together again; it brought me back,” Michelle said, her voice cracking. “Every moment that we experience now, every happy moment like my daughter’s wedding: it is the worst-slash-best day.”
It was an overwhelming surprise for the Huggard family, who watched Kayleigh’s four goals and two assists in a win over East Meadow that morning.
“She lost a brother. But she’s gained a ton more,” Michelle said. “They’re there to hold her hand through all these milestones and into her future.”
And at that point, it wasn’t just the Huggard family smiling. It was the MacArthur community, too.
“My family is my world,” Michelle said. “And we have gained so many more family members throughout this experience. They’re friends who have stayed and are committed to helping us grieve and heal.
“They are now family; they’re all part of the equation. I could not be standing here — none of us could — without them all.”
Michael Sicoli covers high school sports for Newsday. He graduated from Quinnipiac in 2022 and left with a master’s degree in sports journalism in 2023.
