Friends recall Zaher

Adam Candee

Thursday, Dec. 5, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

Mike Zaher shook off the oncoming tears and welling emotions long enough come up with his only possible reason why his big brother and best friend is gone at 18.

"God must have been recruiting for an all-star team and Joe was his No. 1 pick," the Bishop Gorman junior said.

Several hundred people packed an auxiliary gym at Bishop Gorman High School Wednesday night to memorialize Joe Zaher, the 18-year-old former Gorman soccer star killed in a car crash early Sunday morning on rainy Las Vegas roads. Few had dry eyes after Mike finished describing his closest buddy, who had just finished a highly successful freshman year playing soccer at Oregon State.

"I owe so much of who I am and what I accomplished to my big bro," Mike Zaher said.

Joe Zaher suffered major leg injuries as a passenger in the car accident, and he did not survive complications from the injuries and the following hours of surgery.

Family and friends provided a number of funny anecdotes to help paint a picture of Joe Zaher as a talented and confident young man who marched to the beat of his own drummer, and, by doing so, encouraged others to hear that same music.

"He was a trend setter," Mike Zaher said. "He did his own thing. He didn't follow anybody."

In addition to Zaher's large family, attendees at the memorial service included the entire Oregon State men's soccer team as well as scores of Gorman students and parents.

"He was unique was brilliant," Oregon State assistant coach Jesse Cormier said.

Joe Zaher was the second player the Beavers have lost in the past three months, as 20- year-old Stephen Hensor died of liver cancer in late August.

"You will join Steven, and together, always be our 12th man," Oregon State head coach Dana Taylor said.