It Started With
Jim Knute Schafer.
From starting a basketball program at Salem Middle School to the state championship years at Atlantic City High School, the Schafer family's story has always been about relationships.
For Jim “Knute” Schafer Sr. and Jim “Coach Schafe” Schafer Jr., trust and respect were the cornerstones of coaching. The relationships lasted long after the season ended. No matter how much time had passed, Knute would pick up the phone. Coach Schafe carries on that tradition.
More Than Coaching.
Across basketball, football, baseball, softball and golf, Jim Sr. and Jim Jr. built their teams around trust, respect and a commitment to their players. Winning mattered, but the relationships were lifelong.
Coaching has always been a labor of love in the Schafer family. The Foundation carries that same commitment forward.
Jim Knute Schafer's
Coaching Career
Jim Schafer's
Coaching Career
Across Multiple
Sports
Why I Started the Foundation.
Jim Schafer Jr.
My perspective began taking shape when my father coached the Atlantic Cape Community College men's basketball team. Traveling by bus to games across the East Coast opened my eyes to a world beyond Linwood and Mainland Regional High School.
When I began coaching, I welcomed as many players as we had uniforms for and made sure every child played in every game. We built teams where players supported one another and put “we” ahead of “me.”
After losing both of my parents in 2024 following their battles with dementia, I decided on my father's first birthday after his passing to start a foundation in his name. Our birthdays were two weeks apart in December. I wanted to keep helping the young people we had spent a lifetime trying to help.
Debby Schafer and I are committed to helping as many student-athletes as we can. We want to reach more kids with funding, equipment and scholarships, and expanding that work takes both financial support and volunteers.
Our only goal is to help make the world a better place for all, no matter what your financial status is in life.