07/17/2026
Casey O’Keefe ’09 lived a sports fan’s dream this past weekend.
The former SUNY Cortland physical education major was among 50 everyday fans selected to compete against a group of elite athletes and celebrities in a variety of sport-inspired challenges at the Fanatics Games, held recently as part of Fanatics Fest in New York City.
“Fanatics Fest is pretty much the Comic Con of sports,” said O’Keefe, who teaches physical education at the Dr. Kenneth B. Clark Academy, a small public high school in Dobbs Ferry. N.Y.
Taking place for the second time this year, the Fanatics Games involved 100 people — 50 professional athletes and celebrities and 50 fans like O’Keefe — competing across eight challenges, earning points for each category. Those tests range from a putting challenge in golf to a field goal kicking competition in football to a WWE superstar entrance scored 1 to 10.
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Popular musician Justin Bieber was the top point-scorer across all challenges, earning the $1 million grand prize.
Although he did not come out on top, O’Keefe relished the opportunity as a physical education teacher.
“I’m either going to get fired from my job for being a fraud, or I’m coming out shooting and getting hot,” joked O’Keefe before the competition.
He also serves as an assistant coach with his school’s varsity basketball team and co-head coach of the Special Olympics Unified Sports basketball team.
“I didn’t know what the rest of the competition would be like,” he said. “...It’s almost like carnival events, right? You’re either hot or you’re not.”
Just to be selected for the competition was a win that O’Keefe cherished. Organizers shared with him that thousands of fans from across the country submitted video applications about their passions and talents.
O’Keefe credited longtime friend and fellow Cortland alum Tom McVeigh ’08 with recording and editing his entry, which highlighted O’Keefe’s outgoing personality and his lifelong interest in sports — including a photo from his playing days on the club baseball team at Cortland.
The video also shared O’Keefe’s connection to Duke University’s basketball camps. O’Keefe has worked at the popular summer camps for many years through a mutual connection to legendary basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. His primary role is somewhat unique: keep young campers entertained with his energy and his unique ability to sink trick shots.
“I started going nuts with trick shots,” O’Keefe said. “They’re all over social media. … I bounce one in from half court. Last year, I went all the way up to the announcers’ booth (at Cameron Indoor Stadium), made a bounce shot from there. … It was hilarious.”
A passionate, people-first coach, there’s more to O’Keefe’s professional work than teaching, coaching and quirky basketball talents. He also founded Bounce Back Basketball LLC, a youth sports outlet that offers clinics to children from preschool through fourth grade while emphasizing skills such as resilience.
“It’s just stressing that mentality that the chips can be against you, your back can be against the wall, but you can always find a way,” said O’Keefe, who also established a nonprofit, Chuck’s Pups, in memory of his late father. That organization raises funds for children in need of a service dog.
He credited his experience as a physical education major at Cortland, specifically conversations with former faculty member and men’s basketball coach Bill Williams ’69, with providing motivation at key points in his life.
Just having the opportunity to compete at the Fanatics Games was a blessing, he said.
“The best I can do at the end of the day is give it my best and set a good example for my kids,” said O’Keefe, who participated with his wife and the oldest of his two sons in attendance. “I just wanted to have a good time and try my best.”