Old friends, LV and Coach Devon Gilliam, discuss how between them, "It's personal!" 'Just For Funds' Garber Charity Basketball Game Huge Success
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(All MyBayCity Photos by John Keuvelaar)
When Devon Gilliam took over as boys varsity basketball coach at Garber High School, he vowed that he wanted to do more than just win basketball games, he wanted to help change lives. Friday night he took his first step by joining with local radio station, 93.7 Jams in putting on a charity basketball game at Garber High School. 50% of the proceeds from the event will go to the American Cancer Society with the remaining moneys to support the basketball program at Garber.
The competition pitted 93.7 personalities like LV, Ian, K-Dubb and Pete along with recent alumni including Mike Schroeder, Todd Walraven, Brett Eichorn and Nick Bouckaert against Garber coaches including head football coach Jake Coquillard and his staff, new girls varsity coach Dave Duford to name quite a few. Officiating, and often lack thereof, was handled by varsity players who joined in the fun.
Coach Gilliam and LV addressed the well attended crowd expressing their intention of making this an annual event as just a small part of their organizations' efforts to continue the fight against cancer.
The game had all the earmarks of an NBA all-star game (okay, with a little less talent!!) but surely not lacking in friendly taunting and tons of smiles. But make no mistake, while the ball was in play, the competitive juices were flowing. And for the officiating, let's just say if blood wasn't drawn, it wasn't a foul.
To insure that the "former athletes" had plenty of time to catch their breath, various contests were held between quarters. Such contests were a free throw contest for pizzas, half court shots for a $25 cash prize and a three point contest for t-shirts.
As for the actual game itself, there was some good basketball out there. There was the personal contest between two old friends in LV and Coach Gilliam, and on the coaches bench there were the Kylie Carrick three point bombs, Tracy Archer with his Bill Laimbeer "don't bring it in my lane" impression and Jim Miller showing some mad skills to name only a few. They all showed flashes of "they still got it".
On the Jam and alumni side, LV, Ian, K-Dubb and Pete all showed they have plenty of game especially Pete with his long range three's. It was also a great crowd pleaser to see former stand outs like Brett Eichorn and his ball handling skills, Todd Walraven with his jump to the rafters play, Nick Bouckaert and his brick wall defense and Mike Schroeder showing his scoring touch from driving to the basket, to fade away jumpers and his love for long range bombs.
One play exemplified the fun of the event when Schroeder made one of his patent big time shot blocks only to knock the ball hard off the glass and into his own net. The whole crowd, players and Mike himself marveled at the block and laughed with delight at the resulting basket into his own net.
The event kicked off a new era and spirit of Garber basketball but more importantly, did great things for a good cause, fighting cancer. Oh, as for the game? It ended in a 101-101 tie. That's what the scoreboard said.
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stormdjshow Says:
On November 15, 2010
at 11:50 AM
Great job John!!!! :) . . . Dave
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John Keuvelaar |
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