Peter Schaefer, 54

Peter Schaefer, a graduate of Pierson High School who was a key player on the school’s only state championship basketball team, died on March 17 after collapsing at his home. He had been suffering symptoms of stomach flu before he collapsed, his family said. Mr. Schaefer was 54.

Born in Southampton Hospital to Vernon Schaefer and the former Elizabeth Page, he was a lifelong resident of Sag Harbor Village.

Bob Vishno was coaching the Whalers in 1978, the first year the state held a championship tournament. “Peter was a real leader. He inspired everybody,” Mr. Vishno said yesterday. The team advanced to the finals to face a squad from Elmsford, N.Y., at the Rochester War Memorial Arena. It was the first plane ride for many of the boys.

Peter Schaefer played in the backcourt. With the team trailing, he scored a basket at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime, then scored pivotal points to give the Whalers the victory. “He was a bright kid, very competitive,” the coach said.

The following year Pierson fell one game short of the finals, losing to the same opponents by one point.

Basketball was not the only sport Mr. Schaefer excelled in. Mr. Vishno also coached the Whalers’ golf team; Mr. Schaefer was its captain. He graduated from Pierson second in his class and went on to major in business at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. While there he got to know the Outer Banks, and years later often took his family there on vacation.

Returning home, he took a job at the Bridgehampton National Bank, starting as a mortgage lender and eventually becoming supervisor of the residential mortgage department. He met Susan Gaudiello, who also worked at the bank, in 1990, and they kept their relationship “very hush-hush,” Ms. Schaefer said, until they were married in 1998. Mr. Schaefer left Bridgehampton National that year and moved to the Manhattan Mortgage Company as a broker.

In 2005, the couple decided that Mr. Schaefer would become “Mr. Mom,” Ms. Schaefer said, to their two children. He was an attentive and loving father, she said. Long walks with the children were frequent. “He would take hikes down to Barcelona with the kids and the dogs,” or head to Sagg Main Beach. He enjoyed crabbing, too, his wife said, always taking his dog, Smokey, along to Fresh Pond and Great Pond Creek on North Haven.

He never lost his love for golf and gardening, but dropped everything to attend any sporting event his children were playing in.

In addition to his wife, he leaves a daughter, Paige, who is 15, and a son, Peter, 13. A brother, Perry Schaefer of Hart, Mich., also survives. Two other brothers, Paul and Patrick Schaefer, died before him.

Funeral services took place at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church in Sag Harbor, with burial following in the church cemetery.