A skate park in Corte Madera honors the memory of Scotty Lapp, a Marin County teenager who loved to skate and ski but tragically died at 15 years old.
For his mother, Amy Lapp, visiting the park and watching the skaters is a reminder of the magic Scotty had when he was alive
“He was the kid that had the energy and was driving the train,” Amy said.
Sadly, after colliding with a friend while skiing, he died quickly from severing his aorta in February 2022.
In his memory, Scotty’s family founded the Scotty Lapp Foundation, aimed at making activities he loved – skating, skiing and snowboarding – more accessible to others.
One of the foundation's main goals is creating a skate park in Tahoe City, something Scotty had dreamed of before his passing.
“There wasn't an organized place for the teenagers or the kids for that matter,” Lapp said. “There's a playground in town at the school but there's not a lot of other activities.”
Bay Area Proud
The foundation raises funds every year at the Made in Tahoe Festival at Palisades Tahoe, but this past fall, it was more than just a fundraiser.
At the event, a drawing for an unlimited season pass to Palisades Tahoe was held, and the winner was Thomas Daly.
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“You won the pass and I was like, ‘No way.’ That feeling just erupted inside of me,” Daly said.
When Amy learned of Daly’s story, she knew Scotty had a hand in the decision.
“It was meant to be [Daly],” Amy said.
Daly, a passionate snowboarder from Upstate New York, moved to California to pursue his dream of gliding down the Sierra mountains.
“I left New York with my snowboard, my wallet and flew to Tahoe for the first time,” Daly said. “The mountain was always a place where I could go and find my inner comfort, inner peace.”
But in 2023, while operating a grooming machine, he crashed into a stump and was thrown into the windshield, leaving him with severe spinal injuries.
“I pretty much lost all control of my limbs at that moment. I ended up sitting in the snow cap for about two and a half hours,” Daly said. “I compressed my neck and broke all of the vertebrae from my C2 to my T2. They fused me from my C2 to my T2 vertebrae with 14 screws.”
After the accident, Daly had to relearn how to do everything. After intense physical therapy, although he eventually regained the ability to walk and snowboard, the journey was mentally challenging.
“Is this place that I was always safe at and had my whole life, the mountain, still available for me?” Daly said.
Daly got his answer after winning the pass.
“It completely put me on a different route and path. In that moment, I was meant to be back in this place,” Daly said
Today, a photo of Scotty is displayed on the tip of Daly’s snowboard. Whenever he looks down, Daly is reminded of the 15-year-old he never met but who changed his life.
Amy believes its Scotty’s magic still at work.
“Like older people, younger people, he really, really touched people and was a magical kind of person and still is. Scotty planted all the seeds and we're just helping them grow,” Amy said.
