Volunteers open custard stand in honor of lacrosse coach
Used with Permission from Grace Randall
Friends of Angie Kensinger created a logo design for their custard stand. The logo was printed on the volunteers’ aprons, shirts and hats.
May 13, 2019
The line wrapped around the display of old-fashioned pralines and out the door of the little candy store in Vero Beach, Florida. Girls’ lacrosse coach Angie Kensinger radiated with joy, a particularly uncommon sight for any other adult in charge of 40 teenage girls, as she watched her lacrosse players engulf cone after cone of one of her favorite desserts: frozen custard.
The cold taste of the extra-creamy ice cream from last year’s spring break lacrosse trip resonated with those close to Kensinger after her passing on April 22. To honor her memory, the girls’ JV lacrosse team opened a “Custard Corner” on Caven Field, where she wanted to serve frozen custard to players after she retired from coaching.
Originating in Coney Island, New York, the smoother-than-ice-cream texture of frozen custard became wildly popular and infiltrated ice cream shops all along the East Coast, yet it never quite made it to Texas. Having grown up in Connecticut, Kensinger sought to introduce this popular summer treat from the East Coast to Houstonians.
“I remember sitting around and joking about the millions of things that would be so fun to do in our free time,” Hailey Bechtol, a close friend of Kensinger, said. “[The idea arose because of] Coach K’s whole New England connection and that nobody here really understood what custard really is. She and her husband, Stuart, both would get so excited about sharing something with you that they loved, and often it was a food.”
Her dream came alive on May 3 at the varsity girls’ lacrosse SPC quarterfinals. With a customized red and white “Coach K’s Custard Stand” logo plastered on aprons, shirts and cups, the stand was marketed specifically to the SJS community. JV lacrosse players Janie Spedale, Lila Cary and Mary Louise Mannon helped decorate the table with a picnic table cloth, flower bouquets and ladybug stickers.
Despite the rainy weather, students came to Caven during lunch to cheer on the lacrosse team and enjoy scoops of vanilla custard topped with strawberries and Oreos.
“This stand exemplifies what Coach K had envisioned,” JV coach Molly O’Brien said. “Maverick spirited, beyond adorable, created out of pure joy and happiness.”
