Oak Lane native Sean Grevy is showing inner-city hockey players they belong — just like his dad did

Sean Grevy was on his way to a party in Yardley 20 years ago when his father pulled over their white Ford Bronco. He would soon drop Grevy off at the house of a hockey teammate but first Sean Grevy Sr. had some advice for his teenage son.

The suburban homes were much bigger than their Oak Lane apartment that backed up to tracks leading to Fern Rock Station. And there would probably be a movie theater in the basement, a swimming pool in the yard, and every video game system you could imagine. His dad told him that pretty much everything they didn’t have at their apartment would be inside this Bucks County mansion.

“You’re going to feel insecure and you’re going to feel like you don’t belong there and you’re going to feel less than and I’m telling you right now not to feel that way,” Grevy’s father told him before restarting the old truck with the bucket seats. “Just because he has those things doesn’t mean he’s any better than you. You guys are the same and I need you to know that.”

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Grevy carried that advice with him into the party — “I had him in my head the whole time,” he said — and used it to fuel him on the ice as a kid from North Philly playing on teams of suburban skaters. He was good enough to play at an elite New Jersey prep school, proving that he was the same as the kids who had swimming pools in their backyards instead of train tracks.

And now Grevy is giving that same advice to inner-city hockey players in New York City, helping them overcome the challenges of advancing in a sport that often leaves them behind.

Grevy started The 43 Oak Foundation in 2017 to give kids like him the chance to continue their playing careers at levels that might otherwise price them out. The foundation connects kids to triple-A hockey teams and then pays their way to play the highest level of youth hockey in the U.S.

“If you don’t start playing triple-A hockey at 12 years old, the odds of you playing Division I hockey are almost impossible,” said Grevy, who still plays hockey three times a week after injuries cut his career short in high school.

Grevy left Oak Lane every weekend to play in a hockey tournament somewhere in the suburbs, the troubles of his neighborhood seeming to fade away as he drove down North Broad Street. Hockey, Grevy said, was his escape. He knew he didn’t have as much as his buddy in Yardley but he didn’t feel that on the ice.

“Just stepping inside the glass, it was like everything disappeared,” Grevy said. “I got to pretend when I was at the hockey rink for just a couple hours everyday that I was just like everyone else financially.”

His mom, Joyce Eck, worked three jobs but still managed to be at the rink every day during the summer while Grevy trained. His dad brought him on the ice when he was 2 years old, passing on the love he found for hockey as a kid in Olney when he would ice the street with his friends. Grevy learned to play hockey at city rinks like Scanlan and Tarken and seemed to be the only kid in his neighborhood who was playing hockey.

Grevy played triple-A hockey for the Mercer Chiefs and still marvels at how his parents pulled it off. Triple-A hockey, Grevy said, costs a minimum of $10,000 per year as a 14-year-old so it’s easy to see how the sport can price out players. His foundation wants to eliminate that.

“I wish there was a 43 Oak when I was coming up because my parents definitely could’ve used it,” Grevy said. “Say Timmy’s mom can only afford $6,000 so normally she would say, ‘Sorry, Timmy you can’t play triple-A, you have to play double-A since it’s $6,000 a year.’ Now we’re saying, ‘Hey Timmy, you can play triple-A and we’ll cut the check for $4,000 so you guys can afford that.’ That’s where we’re coming in big time to make sure these kids aren’t being left out of that triple-A level.”

Grevy began coaching a youth hockey team in 2012 after moving to New York to work in advertising. He soon saw the racial disparities in the sport and started a team in the Bronx three years later made up of Black players. The program was a success but Grevy thought he could do more than just get kids on the ice. He wanted to find a way to help them climb the hockey ladder.

So he started the foundation, raised money from people he knew back in Philly, and was able to support seven kids. It was a start. He partnered last year with UBS, the Switzerland-based financial company, as they wanted to get involved in hockey at the grassroots level after buying the naming rights for the New York Islanders arena. Grevy’s foundation proved to be a match.

UBS and the Islanders pledged $1 million over five years to the 43 Oak Foundation and also hold mentoring sessions with the players, and give them ice time at the Islanders facility to hold clinics throughout the year. The assistance has allowed the foundation to take off as Grevy’s roster has grown to more than 70 players.

“It’s been incredible,” said Anneliese Mesilati, UBS’ head of brand activation, sponsorships and events. “Also, we’ve become so close with the organization and have regular phone calls and Sean just picks up on anything. It’s completely flexible. If a player needs ice time, it will be ice time. If they need equipment, it will be equipment. It’s not rigid. It’s just a program that grows and evolves according to the needs of the players.

“If you’ve spoken to Sean, you know his commitment is kind of contagious. The unbending commitment he has to his organization. We just really felt like we could get in on the grassroots level and make a significant impact on the players who were involved.”

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Three players the foundation assisted are now playing college hockey with “way more on the way,” Grevy said. The foundation does more than just cover the cost as they meet with the players throughout the year, offering life and career advice, and setting them up with business executives as mentors. It’s more than just hockey.

“It’s so much bigger than I had ever envisioned,” Grevy said. “When I started it, it was just this ragtag group of kids from the Bronx and Harlem. I would drive these kids home from the South Bronx to Harlem at 11 o’clock at night because that’s when we could get the ice and the NYPD would pull us over and be like ‘What are you doing in the car with these minority kids?’ I’d say they’re hockey players and they’d be like, ‘Yeah, what are you doing?’ I’d say, ‘Don’t you see the hockey sticks in the back?’ That’s what it was when we started this.”

Grevy, who owns his own advertising agency, was house hunting last year as he wanted to move back home after 10 years in New York City. The Realtor brought him and his wife to a home in Yardley. Grevy didn’t even go inside. That was his house, he told the Realtor. He had wanted to live in Yardley since his dad dropped him off years ago at the party he would have felt insecure at if it wasn’t for that advice. And now he lives there.

The kid who grew up in an apartment on 65th Avenue and used hockey to better his life is now telling inner-city hockey players the same thing his dad told him after pulling over the Bronco: they belong.

“It’s full circle,” Grevy said. “It’s pretty incredible when you think about it. All those small talks between me and my father and I’m able to give that now to these kids. It’s pretty incredible.”