Kenny Karcher Jr. Honored at 2025 Maple Shade High School Varsity Dinner

Another night to remember.

Held on June 12th, 2025, the Maple Shade High School Varsity Dinner was already set to be a memorable event, but what happened right after the Welcome and Introductions made it truly unforgettable.

The event began with a heartfelt “Kenny Karcher Celebration” honoring Kenny’s lasting impact. Mr. Diamond opened the tribute, followed by Mr. Nicolino, who shared powerful words about Kenny’s many remarkable accomplishments.

Kenny's mother Sharon then took the mic on behalf of herself, his sister Mackenzie, and his father Ken. In addition to their gratitude, she announced that the Kenny Karcher Jr. Memorial Foundation is donating a Fully Automatic Timing (FAT) FinishLynx camera to the Maple Shade Track and Field division. This gift is made in Kenny’s name, to support the continued excellence of Maple Shade’s track and field program and to inspire future generations of student-athletes.

To cap off the celebration, the family was presented with a custom jersey featuring all of Kenny’s accomplishments. It will soon hang proudly in the school, a tribute to the track star who left an unforgettable mark on our community.

And as if the night wasn’t already special enough to the family, it was Ken’s birthday, and Kenny’s cousins were honored for their accomplishments: Emma Vassalluzzo for her academic and athletic excellence in Field Hockey, Basketball, and Lacrosse and Eddie Leahy for most improved in Football.

The standing-room-only crowd of Kenny’s friends and family said it all: Kenny was deeply loved, and his legacy continues to bring people together.

Thank you to everyone who made this moment possible and who continues to support the Kenny Karcher Jr. Memorial Foundation.

Check out Mr. Nicolino’s full speech below - he shared that the best way to truly honor Kenny was by revisiting the incredible highlights from his 2017 MVP season.

Ken Karcher Jr. MVP Speech June 13, 2017

MSHS Varsity Dinner

Our MVP is a young man who everyone knows. One coach said to us at the State Championships: “What this young man just accomplished is like winning the Triple Crown in horseracing - 3 times in a row!!”

Incredible/Unbelievable. Kenny has had an outstanding track career. However, this season was something extraordinary; in fact, nothing like this has ever been achieved in the history of our school. For the first time in a long time, Kenny was healthy all season and he worked like never before to be the best he could be. And he SURE became the best! Kenny was undefeated in all conference meets-that is the entire group 1 and group 2 divisions. He was ranked 4th in All South Jersey in the beginning of May in the 400. He won the intermediate hurdles and the 200 in our league too. Then the fun began. He took 4th in the South Jersey Elite Invitational at Delsea High School-the The Best vs. the Best; at the Burlington County Open he won the 400 and 200 meter races convincingly; He lowered his time and set another school record in winning the 400- That’s fastest by any New Jersey Group 1 runner this year and the fastest by all New Jersey Group 1 runners since 2014.

It’s the second-fastest all-time by a Burlington County Group 1 runner in 33 years and Kenny’s time is the fifth-fastest in The Burlington County Open Meet History!

He is the only Maple Shade track athlete to win the 200 and 400 at the meet since its inception.

Next was the State Sectional meet in Egg Harbor. Kenny again set school records in each of his events while taking second in the 400 and 200 winning the 400 hurdles. If you know Kenny, he hates to lose. I truly believe he finally took it upon himself to become more than just great-he made it his goal to become elite. In track terminology it means to be ranked with the best of the best in the state. He came out with vengeance at the State Group 1 Finals: State Champion in the 400 Hurdles, State Champion in the 400m, and State Champion in the 200m. An incredible weekend for him. Kenny became the first South Jersey athlete to record a Group 1 State championship Triple Event Winner in 25 years. He is only the second State Group One athlete to do this in 17 years. And the first South Jersey athlete to do this since 1992. He is the 1st Burlington County Athlete to win 3 events since 1984-40 years ago. Kenny is the first athlete to sweep the Two – 400 meter races in the last 20 years. He will be going to the Nationals in North Carolina, Friday to compete against the best of the best in his group in the nation. He is ranked in the top 25 for the meet at the present time. Lastly, I will put this in perspective statistically: there are about 37,000 high schools in the nation. Some have as little as 3-5 runners in an event and others up to 20. If we say between 17k and 20k high schools have track and each have 3- 5 runners in each event-well…you do the math. Kenny is ranked 252nd in the nation and is number 8 in the state of New Jersey in the 400 meter sprint. It has been a true honor and privilege for us to coach and watch this outstanding athlete and young man achieve all of his goals in track.

What Kenny has done is the single, greatest individual accomplishment in Maple Shade Sports History. As coaches, we thank you for allowing us to be part of this amazing sports achievement.

Our MVP: Mr. Ken Karcher Jr.