By selling window decals for $5 a pop, the late Terry Gallagher had devised a workmanlike way to create a college scholarship fund for two deserving players from the Osseo Maple Grove Hockey Association.
Despite battling colon cancer, which metastasized to his liver and abdominal cavity, for three years, the Maple Grove man selflessly orchestrated the idea, approval and action plan for two $1,000 awards for a young man and woman who demonstrated excellence in the classroom, leadership on the ice as well as contributions to the community.
Gallagher lost his battle with cancer in January 2011, but the scholarship program lives on. The first Terry Gallagher Award for Academics were presented last April and the second installment will come next month.
“He would be very proud to see that it’s moving forward,” says his widow, Mimi Gallagher. “He would be very happy with these two recipients, knowing what they represent academically and from a volunteer standpoint and a leadership standpoint.”
The embodiments of Gallagher’s vision are teenagers Steven Popowitz and Mara Pearl. At Maple Grove High School, they carried grade-point averages higher than 3.4, were captains of Crimson varsity hockey teams and volunteered as youth coaches or at their church.
“Their academic achievements were very strong, and Terry stressed academics, but he also stressed that they need to be a good, all-around person in academics, athletics, community and service,” Mimi explains.
Popowitz and Pearl knew of Terry and his reputation in Maple Grove. On top of his career at Hershey’s, Terry was a father of three, a volunteer football coach and hockey team manager.
“What I know about him and his family is that they never think about themselves first,” Pearl says. “They always think about others first, and with the hardships in their lives, they have always put others first and that’s extraordinary. That is what everyone should strive to be.”
While the freshmen are away at the University of Minnesota – Popowitz in Duluth and Pearl at the Twin Cities campus – both plan to give back to the association that gave them scholarships as well as their start in hockey.
“I’m just going to try and carry on what he was doing, which was inspiring people to do their best,” Popowitz says of Terry. “The times that I met him, he inspired me to be a good person and basically bring good to others.”
Behind their kids, Terri and Mimi Gallagher attended the annual OMGHA Scholastic Night, a celebration of the 300-plus players who would maintain a B-or-better average in school.
“Terry, after attending a couple of these, thought that this is great, we recognize our kids up through high school, but then we don’t do anything to recognize their efforts once they leave,” Mimi says.
That’s how the scholarship was born. Terri approached the board of directors with the idea to give 100 percent of the profits from window decal sales to a scholarship fund. More than $1,500 of the $2,000 was raised through those sales and the rest came though donations. The fund is flush enough to provide for the 2012 recipients, a move that would make Terry Gallagher rest easy.
“He would want to make sure that we had enough funds in the bank account to continue it moving forward,” says Mimi, who is seeking other fundraising avenues.
After a handful of applicants applied in 2011, Terri also would have wanted to make it equal opportunity.
“He would want to make sure that every student that was a viable candidate to receive this scholarship was aware,” Mimi says.
Popowitz and Pearl already had plans to pay it forward.
“I will put back into the OMGHA and try to spread word about this scholarship and get more people to know about it next year and get more people to apply for it,” Popowitz says. “Try to help out.”
Get Involved
To contribute to the scholarship program, checks can be made out to ‘The Terry Gallagher Award for Academics’ and sent to PO Box 434, Osseo, MN 55369. Address it to ‘The Terry Gallagher Award for Academics c/o Osseo Maple Grove Hockey Association.’
The deadline for scholarship applicants is April 1. Email Mimi Gallagher for more information.
