Ryan Icart, Valley Stream football player and '26 graduate, dies at 18

Ryan Icart, a 2026 graduate of Valley Stream Central High School who was set to attend college next semester, died last Sunday, his family said. He was 18.

While the three-year high school varsity football lineman stood 6-3 and weighed 330 pounds, his family described him as a gentle young man who cared about other people.

"We call him a big teddy bear. He was big — he was huge — but he was a softy," Ryan’s cousin Odia Charlotin told Newsday. "If you were feeling sad, he would [go out of] his way just to make you feel happy. Being around him makes you happy."

Ryan died from a blood clot that started in his left foot, according to his father, Ricardo Icart, of Valley Stream.

The Thursday before he died, Ryan visited his doctor for a standard checkup before leaving for college at Monroe University. But his father said he was sent to the emergency room because his heart rate was unusually high.

Tests did not identify any issues, so he was released, his father said. Ryan appeared to be recovering, playing basketball on Friday and going shopping with his father on Saturday for his upcoming graduation party.

But shortly after midnight on Sunday, Ryan woke up and told his parents to call 911. An ambulance came to their Valley Stream home in less than five minutes and transported Ryan to the hospital.

"As soon as he got there, they told us that he was dead," his father said. "He did not make it. Just like that."

Ricardo Icart said Ryan loved basketball and football. He played on both the offensive and defensive lines for his varsity football team.

His father said Ryan wanted to work in finance one day.

Valley Stream Central football coach Tom Schiavo described Ryan as "an incredible human being."

"He was an inspiring team leader who left a mark on every teammate," Schiavo told Newsday. "Ryan was a great son and brother, a tremendous teammate and a true friend. Ryan Icart is a shining example of what is right and what is good in our world."

Ryan Icart was going to "redshirt" at Monroe this year because of a shoulder injury, according to Schiavo, who said Ryan’s "plan was to pick up with the team after he fully recovered."

In a YouTube video about the 2025 Valley Stream Central Eagles, Ryan spoke about what being part of that football team meant to him.

“It's a family. It's a brotherhood. It's something that's going to last for you for years to come because, remember, that's your family," Ryan said in the video. "That's your family for life."

Ryan’s going-away party was scheduled for Saturday.

His father planned to surprise Ryan with a new car at the party, describing it as a big gift for a son who never asked for much and always sought to pay his own way. He told Newsday Ryan scrapped and clawed to get a summer job, even when his father told him he didn’t have to work.

"Ryan was such a lovely kid," his father said. "Ever since Ryan was born, he was always nice."

Schiavo told Newsday that he has "never met a player who loved his mother and father as much as Ryan loved his mom and dad."

Ryan is survived by his father; his mother, Sara Jean-Baptiste; a brother, Bill, 8; and a sister, Eileen Amadea, 13.

Services will be on Aug. 29.

A viewing will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Cecere Fullerton Family Funeral Home in Baldwin. A Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church in Roosevelt. Burial will be at Pinelawn Memorial Park at 1 p.m.

"He will be missed," said Charlotin, Ryan’s cousin. "He was a best friend to everybody."