Twenty months after Ashley Kessner was named Rye High’s Athlete of the Month by the Lions Club and the school’s Athletic Department for her play on the softball field, her younger brother, current Garnets’ senior Jake, earned the same award for his efforts on the basketball court. It’s the first time a brother-sister duo has won this coveted honor. Ashley went on to also be named Athlete of the Year.
Jake Kessner, a tight end and defender who co-captained Rye’s state champion football team in 2023 and was named Class A Defensive Player of the Year this past fall, averaged over 16 points a game on the hardwood last month as Rye won three of their first four games.
New Head Coach Tom Proudian certainly appreciated his big guy’s efforts. “I have had the honor and privilege to coach Jake in basketball and football since his freshman year at Rye High School. He is an outstanding young man with great character and work ethic, the perfect role model for underclassmen to look up to and emulate. He was voted captain as an underclassman by his teammates for both varsity football and basketball. It’s a testament to the type of person he is and what his peers think of him.”
Coach Proudian went on, “I have observed Jake over the past four years take several teammates under his wing — whether it was to help them learn a difficult scheme or to offer a struggling teammate guidance and words of wisdom. It’s exactly what great leaders do.”
When told of the award, Jake replied, “I’d like to thank my teammates and coaches for pushing me every day in practice.”
As an undersized 6’4” high school center, Jake was asked what allowed him hold his own and excel against taller players. “I’d say it’s my physicality. I’m 240 lbs. and I have the strength to match up with tall guys, and the speed to get around them.”
His coach had a different answer. “Jake’s unselfishness may be his greatest characteristic. He’s never cared about individual statistics or awards. All he’s ever asked since the ninth grade is, ‘What can I do to help the team be better?’”
A four-year varsity starter who scored his 1000th point for the Garnets this month, Jake has been accepted to play football for Princeton in the fall. The effort to earn that acceptance led his dad, Adam Kessner, to co-found CSA Recruits along with another Rye father, Steve Miller.
“Being an athlete,” said Jake, “provides a major advantage to be accepted at a school that I would otherwise not get into. My Dad basically worked a second job as my college recruiter and marketing manager.”
So what will the December Lions Club honoree study in college? “Probably Economics. Princeton doesn’t have a business major.”
In the classroom, Jake has a cumulative 3.7 grade point average. Asked to name his favorite class, he quickly said, “SUPA Forensics. It’s the Syracuse University Project Advance course taught by Ms. Giaquinto. We learn fingerprinting and other forensic techniques I had never done before.”
His community service hours include creating and running a Holiday Toy Drive for underprivileged children, and manning a Mistletoe Magic popcorn stand as part of the Holiday Street Fair. In the summers he has been a camp counselor, passing on his sports training and skills to local kids.
At home, when he’s not studying, Jake likes to cook. Asked what he would have if given his choice, the young chef answered, “Chicken Parmesan.”
As with the other monthly winners, this win makes Jake eligible to be named Rye’s Athlete of the Year at the Lions Club’s annual awards luncheon this spring.
