Big Shot Helps Raise Big Money

One of Long Island's more popular tribute bands, Big Shot, performed at  on Saturday evening to help raise money for a new wireless scoreboard in the school's gymnasium.  

The show was put on by Chris Hillier, president of the West Islip Hoops Club, and Bob Christiansen, who's on the board of directors for the WI Breast Cancer Coalition, in an effort to generate enough dollars to support several athletic booster clubs. 

"This is the first time we're having Big Shot play at our school, so we are extremely excited to have them here,” Hillier said. 

Many West Islip residents, school officials and town officials came out to support the student-athletes and rock out to great music. Hillier said 477 tickets were sold and about $20,000 was raised, which covered all concert expenses. 

Islip Supervisor Phil Nolan, was among those in attendance.

"Perhaps nothing has taught me more about life than sports,” he said. “I'm honored to be part of this benefit and hope to see the West Islip basketball team win another championship."

was awarded with a plaque from Hillier and Christiansen for being the event’s biggest contributor. Employees Carlos Vargas and Farrell Shapiro were on hand to accept the award on their company’s behalf.

Big Shot took the stage at 8 p.m. and started with a medley of Billy Joel's older material, including “”The Entertainer” and, of course, “Big Shot.”  

In addition to the concert, there was a 50/50 raffle and 42" flat screen television prize raffle.  The West Islip Cheerleading Squad handled the selling of the raffle tickets, of which over 170 tickets were sold.

Several high school booster clubs were also able to sell concert tickets and kept a portion of whatever they sold. Hillier said the new wireless scoreboard would replace the old one in the high school gym, which is “beyond repair.”