Belvidere community mourns loss of high school athlete

Counselors are at Belvidere High School today as students and staff mourn the death of an athlete who died in an ATV accident.

Connor Barbaro, a junior who played basketball and soccer, has died, Belvidere Superintendent Christopher Carrubba told The Express-Times Saturday.

Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim said Barbaro was pronounced dead at St. Luke's University Health Network in Bethlehem, Pa. Barbaro was flown to St. Luke's, following an ATV accident.

"He died as a result of severe head injuries," Grim said. "I ruled the death accidental."

According to the New Jersey State Police's fatal accident database, the crash occurred on Route 46 in White Township, which borders Belvidere, at 7:28 p.m. Friday.

Belvidere High School Principal Ed Lazzara tweeted that counselors would be at the school throughout the weekend.

“Students, alumni and community of BHS, the faculty and staff are stunned and saddened by the loss of Connor,” Lazzara tweeted Saturday morning.

Carrubba told The Express-Times that counselors would also be on hand Monday. “We’re saddened to hear the news that he has passed,” Carrubba told The Express-Times. “He was a great student and an outstanding member of the Belvidere community.” Barbaro scored 20 points – a career-high – in a basketball game against Hackettstown last week, according to the Express-Times.

Posted by Connor Barbaro on Thursday, March 27, 2014

In his Facebook profile photo he’s standing alongside Darryl Dawkins, who played for the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets in the 1970s and 1980s. Dawkins, who Stevie Wonder famously nicknamed Chocolate Thunder, died in 2015, after suffering from a heart attack.

Lazzara’s tweets did not offer any information about the cause of Barbaro’s death.

Categories: New Jersey News