Reeve Golf Classic 2023 Honoree: Michael Levine

In 1985, Michael “Vino” Levine was spending a carefree summer attending Camp Baco Che-Naw-Wah in Minerva, NY, when a tragic car accident took the life of one of his counselors and left another, Danny Heumann, fighting for his life after sustaining a spinal cord injury.  For Levine, it was an impactful trauma that still resonates 38 years later. Heumann “was always a blast as a counselor,” Levine recalls fondly. “He was hilarious.  He coached tennis and had a rapper shtick that I recall vividly and made everything fun, even when he was drilling serves at me!”

Levine, at just 13-years-old, didn’t know it at the time, but Heumann’s jarring misfortune would continue to shape Levine’s life for years to come. Levine and Heumann shared a deep bond, as the lively counselor “was always so supportive and playful. Nothing has changed in our friendship since then.”

If anything, it’s safe to say, they’ve grown closer.

Blighting devastation met Levine and stayed with him well beyond that summer as a motivating factor to raise awareness and funds for the paralysis community; one of his earliest efforts was as one of the event Chairmen at Camp Baco Che-Naw-Wah Bazaar with funds directed towards the Daniel Heumann Fund for Spinal Cord Research.

As anyone who knows Vino or his family, Camp Baco has remained at the epicenter of his life, with many of his closest and longest-standing friendships rooting from that network.  

“The friendships I made at that camp, and at that stage in my life, are still hugely important to me,” Levine shares. “I’ve yearned to maintain that magical feeling ever since I was a kid, through the friendships that have lasted, including my relationship with Danny.”

Just a few short years after what Levine considers the first real tragedy of his life, he found himself in an uncomfortable, yet familiar, reality when spinal cord injury struck his inner circle once again. In 1988, Alan T. Brown was vacationing in Martinique when a wave flipped him over resulting in quadriplegia. In what seemed like a surreal connection, Brown’s younger brother Daniel, was college roommates with Levine’s best friend and bunkmate from camp, Eric Steinert.

Levine vowed to support spinal cord injury awareness since that fateful day nearly 38 years ago and the desire to help was then bolstered even more.

These unexpected life turns were a wake-up call for Levine, leading him to “a more personal sense of purpose philanthropically,” Levine says, “as I hoped, and still hope, to change the future for those living with spinal cord injuries.”

On July 24, Levine, a member of the Board of leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Co-Head of CAA Sports, will have a full circle moment as the 2023 Reeve Golf Classic Honoree as he shares a deep connection to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation’s mission.