Hometown
Malverne, New York

College
United States Naval Academy

 

When Aidan Healy addressed the baseball team on Senior Night in May, he closed with these words: “A lot of you might be sitting here right now thinking you have it all figured out, but the reality is you probably don’t. Life can change a lot in just a couple of years, so never let an opportunity pass by, always give your best no matter what you embark on, and be OK with your plans changing. You have no idea what tomorrow will bring, so be adaptable and always be grateful for the journey.”

Aidan knows whereof he speaks. 

Aidan was cut from his high school baseball team his freshman year in Malverne, N.Y. Then COVID-19 knocked out his sophomore year. “So that was two years with some unfortunate circumstances that led to me having a real hate for the sport of baseball,” Aidan says.

When he arrived at Loomis Chaffee for the 2020–21 school year, hockey was top of mind. It had always been his favorite sport. His father had encouraged him to play both hockey and baseball so long as he was enjoying each. But COVID interfered again and forced the cancellation of Loomis’ hockey season. 

Frustrated at the prospect of the anticipated shortened baseball season ahead, Aidan almost went home at the start of the spring term of 2021 to take classes online and forgo baseball altogether. Fortunately, both his father and Baseball Head Coach Donnie McKillop urged him not to give up on the opportunity to stay at Loomis and play baseball. 

“For those two I am so grateful,” Aidan says of his dad and Coach McKillop. “Looking back, I am grateful that I had those important people in my life to help keep me here for those three months because it altered the trajectory of my future. Playing baseball here made me fall in love with the sport again.” 

That spring he also applied to reclassify for a second junior year at Loomis, a decision primarily driven by the cancellation of the hockey season and the shortened baseball season. “Also, being young for my grade with an August birthday, it just made sense to give myself another year given the circumstances,” Aidan says. “The extra year turned out to be the best thing for me as it opened so many doors and … allowed me to mature so much as a young man and really take ownership of the leadership positions I was taking on.”

Aidan was a prefect in Kravis Hall, an underclassman dormitory, during the 2021–22 school year and a resident assistant in Warham Hall, a dormitory with juniors and seniors, in 2022–23. The two positions appear similar but require different skills, he discovered.

“It’s easy to lead people younger than you because I suppose you have a built-in power dynamic and you’re a little wiser in your years,” Aidan says. “But the challenge is leading your friends, especially those you have built a relationship with prior to being in that position. How do you straddle the line of keeping people doing what they are supposed to and being a friend? How do you maintain both? That’s something I learned that was beneficial.” He put these lessons to good use in his role as a hockey captain this winter as well.

Loomis won the Founders League hockey championship this year with Aidan as a captain. At the winter sports award banquet, he received the Joe Birarelli “Living the Dream” Scholarship Award, which was started in 2014 in honor of Joe, his love of watching his son Tim ’16 play hockey, and the place Joe earned in the Beverly, Mass., hockey family before his passing in 2014. 

“Aidan has been one of the best leaders Loomis hockey has seen,” Head Coach John Zavisza said when presenting the award. “He truly embodies the team’s leadership creed that includes authenticity, humility, and generosity. His commitment to being at his best is evident every day through his efforts on the ice, in the locker room, and on campus.”

In baseball, Loomis finished 18-2 and won the Founders League championship in 2022. This season the Pelicans finished 15-5, losing in the Founders League championship game. Aidan hit .423 and was the Founders League Player of the Year. “Aidan is an amazing human,” Coach McKillop says. “The way he attacks life, team, dorm, and sport is incredible. He has excellent character and integrity and is mature beyond his years.” 

At this year’s annual Celebration of Excellence, the boys varsity coaches awarded Aidan a Frank Grubbs Prize, a honor that goes to “the young man or men in the senior class whose skill and devotion to sport embodies the ideals of sportsmanship.”

Now Aidan takes all the accumulated lessons from the classroom, dormitories, ice rink, and baseball field to the next stop on his journey, Annapolis, Maryland, where he will attend the U.S. Naval Academy … and play baseball.

 

Quick Takes

Favorite place on campus: “The balcony attached to my dorm room. My roommate and I have Adirondack chairs out there. In the warm weather, especially, it’s a great place to hang out.”

Three things you could not live without: “My toothbrush … if I don’t brush my teeth in the morning, I feel nasty. Got to have that. ... My family. I talk to them all the time. Can’t live without them. … And sleep. I value my sleep.”

Describe yourself as a first-year student and now as a senior: “When I first got here, I’d say immature, a little more reckless, and I lacked a little bit of the big-picture perspective. … Now I’d say I’m wiser, more mature, and just more composed.”

If you could invite one person to dinner, who would it be and why? “My more sentimental answer would be my Uncle Ted. He lived in Chicago and passed away four years now. I didn’t get to see him too much, but he was a fascinating person. He had a lot of layers to him I’ve heard since his passing, so it would be good to get to know him more. On a lighter level, [seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback] Tom Brady. He’s had great success, so to soak up things from him as much as possible would be great.”