Recent Wi-Hi grad struck by vehicle while cycling, dies
It was just another routine summer evening.
Jake Schertz, 18, left his gig as a lifeguard at the Frontier Town campground in West Ocean City and made it home in Salisbury at 6:30. He had his usual "healthy meal" and went for a 9-mile bike ride, taking his usual route.
“Call it mother’s intuition — I don’t know what," recalled his mother, Pamela, who was waiting for him at home last Wednesday night, June 29. "But at 10 to 8, I thought, 'Oh, Jacob’s not home.' But it was only five minutes beyond when he was supposed to be home.”
When Jake still hadn't returned by 8:30, she called the police and gave them a description of her son. The voice on the other side of the line told her she needed to go to Peninsula Regional Medical Center.
Jake had been fatally injured while riding his bike. A car, also heading westbound, had hit him from behind, police told the family. He had been pedaling westbound at the time on Mt. Hermon Road between Waste Gate and Sixty Foot roads, an area about 1½ miles from his home.
Maryland State Police have confirmed that a man was struck by a vehicle earlier this week while riding a bicycle along Mount Hermon Road near Parsonsburg. But the agency has declined to release any further details Saturday and Sunday, including the victim's name, citing an ongoing investigation into the incident.
The news nonetheless spread quickly among Jake's large network of friends at work, in the Salisbury community and at Wicomico High, where he had graduated just weeks earlier with a 4.3 grade-point average.
“He was wonderful," Pamela Schertz said. "He was very outgoing, very friendly. He would do anything for anybody, always had a smile on his face.”
Anyone who knew Jake knew he was a consummate athlete, said his father, Stephen. Heck, you only had to look at him to know that. He ran and biked regularly and was fastidious about the foods he ate.
“He couldn’t walk into a room without doing 10 situps and 10 pushups," Stephen said.
As a lifeguard the past couple years at Frontier Town, Jake earned the nickname "Shirtless" for his choice of body covering — or lack thereof. The job gave him a chance to show off the body he worked so hard to mold without the typical boyish boasting he would have found immodest, his father said.
“He’s the most humble young man there is," Stephen said. "Never wanted any attention.”
The Schertz's adopted Jake from the Ukraine when he was 3 years old. The couple has an older daughter also adopted from the former Soviet Union republic.
As a child, he worked hard at learning English and delighted in playing with Legos. He planned to attend the University of Maryland in the fall, majoring in mechanical engineering.
In a Facebook posting dated Saturday, July 2, Wicomico High teacher Bill Duck referenced the incident involving Schertz as a "tragedy of a life cut short far too soon."
"My prayers for the family and many friends of Jake Schertz," Duck wrote. "He was a fighter until the end."
Indeed, he was a wrestler and had made it to the state finals.
Jake liked to help others whenever he could, Pamela said. He had registered to become an organ donor. Before he died, doctors had successfully donated five of his organs, she said.
While Jake was on life support, more than two dozen friends and co-workers gathered by his bedside to say goodbye. They told stories and laughed. Stephen said he learned that his son had told others that he had good parents.
A funeral is planned for 2 p.m. Thursday, July 7, at Holloway Funeral Home, 501 Snow Hill Road in Salisbury, with visitation at noon.
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