ESSEX COUNTY EXECUTIVE DIVINCENZO DEDICATES

“YINKA DARE FITNESS CENTER”

AT ESSEX COUNTY NORTH 13^TH STREET TECH CAMPUS

 

Family of Late New Jersey Nets Player Donates Exercise Equipment

for Essex County Vocational School Students

 

Newark, NJ – Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. joined with administrators from the Essex County Vocational Technical School District and family members of the late Yinka Dare to dedicate the “Yinka Dare Fitness Center” at Essex County North 13^th Street Tech campus in Newark on Wednesday, May 27^th. A former player for the New Jersey Nets professional basketball team, Dare passed away in 2004 at the age of 32.

 

 

 

“The high-quality fitness equipment donated by the Dare family will be an integral part of our curriculum to promote physical fitness and healthy lifestyles, and inspire our students to work hard toward their goals,” DiVincenzo said. “We thank the Dare family for making such a generous contribution to our Essex County North 13^th Street Campus. While his untimely passing was a tragedy for his family, dedicating the fitness room in Yinka Dare’s honor will keep his memory alive,” he added.

 

Michael Dare had been storing the equipment since his brother passed away 2004 from a heart attack caused by an arrhythmia condition. The family decided to donate the set of free weights, a treadmill, exercise bicycles, an elliptical machine and additional equipment to Essex County North 13^th Street Campus where Michael’s mother-in-law, Finesia Dunovant-Walker, is a longtime history teacher. Dunovant-Walker helped coordinate the donation of the equipment with Michael, who is married to her daughter, Karana.

 

“The fitness equipment is great and will help the school and the students tremendously. But more importantly, it is the spirit of the donation and the message being sent to the students that someone cares about them,” Assemblyman and Freeholder Vice President Ralph Caputo said.

 

“My wife and I would like to thank the Essex County Vocational Schools for accepting the weight room equipment we have donated. If my brother was able to tell us what he would have wanted for the equipment, I am sure he would have agreed to donate it all to a high school,” said Michael Dare, brother of Yinka Dare. “Yinka believed that physical fitness was essential to the youth of today. Our family is proud to make this contribution to the Essex County Vocational School district. My only hope is that the students get a lot of use from the equipment,” he added.

 

“He was a very nice person, very quiet and very reserved,” Mrs. Dunovant-Walker said of Yinka Dare.

 

A native of Nigeria, Yinka Dare attended George Washington University and was a first-round draft pick by the New Jersey Nets in the 1994 draft. At 7 feet 1 inch tall and 270 pounds, he played 110 games in four seasons with the Nets and played intermittently in the Continental Basketball Association and United States Basketball League until 2003. He was residing in Englewood at the time of his death.

 

“Our North 13^th Street Tech campus is privileged and honored to accept the fitness equipment. The new facility will help our student-athletes train and will encourage other students to stay fit and healthy,” Superintendent Michael A. Pennella, Ph.D., said. “The Dare family is doing a great service that will benefit our school community. We appreciate their kindness and look forward to the students benefiting from the equipment,” he added.

 

“I’m extremely excited that our students will have a place to work out and become more physically fit. The students are excited and we’re just looking forward to opening the gym facility in the hopes that it will be beneficial for our athletes and improve our athletic program. The school is grateful for the family’s generous contribution,” said Essex County North 13^th Street Tech Campus Principal Patricia Clark-Jeter. She added a special thank you to former principal John P. Dolan Jr. for starting the process of getting the fitness center equipment donated by working closely with the Walker and Dare families last year.