Fundraising event to be held for planned Wantagh athletic field in name of William Desroches
William Desroches, left, with his father, Don Desroches, at Yosemite National Park. Credit: The Desroches family
Wantagh teen William Desroches’ life was cut far too short following a personal watercraft accident in August 2023. But Desroches, who was 15, will be remembered forever in his hometown.
The William Desroches Foundation, a nonprofit organization that was formed last year, was created to raise funds to build a new soccer and lacrosse turf field in Desroches’ name at Forest Lake Elementary School in Wantagh.
The foundation is holding a fundraising event, which will feature live music, raffles and auctions, on May 8 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Mulcahy’s in Wantagh.
“William was very athletic,” said Don Desroches, William’s father and the president of the foundation. “If he wanted something, he wouldn't stop until he got it done. He always wanted to make people laugh. He had a lot of integrity. He cared about people, and he had this quiet strength about him.”
The Wantagh School District approved the plan to build the field last year, and Desroches received a rendition of what the field would look like. The foundation needs to raise $1.2 million to fund the project, and he said they are around $4,000 as of last Wednesday.
They are aiming for the field to be built in the summer of 2027.
William was an avid soccer and lacrosse player and a member of both junior varsity teams at Wantagh. He was set to play varsity soccer as a junior in the fall of 2023.
Tom Desroches, William’s older brother by about 17 years and a treasurer for the foundation, coached William in soccer for years.
“Soccer is one of my favorite sports too, so it was a nice way to bond and grow together,” Tom said. “When I first started coaching him, he was a little peanut. I was almost like a father figure to him. Later down the road, as he grew older, we were basically peers and best friends and brothers on the field at that point, where he was starting to challenge me a lot more and started to pick my pocket a little bit.
“It was fun to see the progression that he had. Just the joy and the dedication that he had on the field too, it was awesome to see.”
Don Desroches’ idea to build the field stemmed from other fields in Wantagh that are named after children, including James Lodato’s Field of Dreams, a baseball field at Forest Lake that William played on.
William died on Aug. 6, 2023, when his personal watercraft was hit by another watercraft at Crescent Lake in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire.
Tickets for the fundraising event are available for purchase and donations can be made at WilliamDF.org.
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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