Blue Devils Host Touching Ceremony for Fallen Player

There were tears in Huntington High School’s Louis D. Giani Gymnasium as the Copiague and Blue Devil varsity boys’ basketball teams prepared to begin their league game last Friday night. A brief, but touching ceremony honored the life of Carmyne Payton, a Copiague sophomore who passed away during basketball tryouts in November 2021.

Carmyne’s mother, Tiffany Wofford is now employed at Huntington High School in an office just a short walk down the hallway from the gym.

During the first week of tryouts, Carmyne unexpectedly collapsed and died. He loved basketball, drawing and skateboarding. Naturally his loss hit the Copiague team and community hard.

“One thing that can bring comfort is he passed doing his favorite activity; playing basketball,” said Huntington senior James Rosselli, who was the game’s master of ceremonies and public address announcer.

“Carmyne’s family, the Copiague community and more specifically, the Copiague basketball team dealt with this unspeakable tragedy in a beautiful and graceful way,” Mr. Rosselli told the crowd, which included Huntington UFSD Superintendent James W. Polansky.

“The team immediately proceeded to embrace Carmyne’s family; adopting them into their own basketball family,” Mr. Rosselli said. “This September, Huntington High School was blessed to welcome Carmyne’s mom, Tiffany as a member of our high school staff. Tonight, your Blue Devil family commits to Tiffany, her family and the Copiague basketball team that we’ve got you, too.”

Following a moment of silence in Carmyne’s memory, the two teams assembled at midcourt as Huntington sophomore James Vohs presented Tiffany Wofford with a bouquet of flowers before players and coaches surrounded her for a series of commemorative photos.