CHICOPEE— The founder of the George Webb Memorial Basketball Tournament was thrilled to meet the mark of raising $150,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of Chicopee after the 13^th annual event for youth players this March.

Soon after the tournament wrapped up, founder Kevin B. Vann of The Vann Group of Springfield met with Jason Reed, club executive director, and Richard Bernard Jr., president of Pilgrim Interiors of Chicopee and a member of the club’s board of directors. Other board members and tournament supporters, volunteers, players and coaches were also in attendance when Vann presented an honorary check to the Chicopee Boys & Girls Club of Chicopee to represent the amount of money the event has raised since its founding in 2005.

The three-week basketball tournament was created by Vann to honor his best friend, the late George Webb, a basketball player and club supporter who died of cancer at age 52.

“These funds have greatly benefitted the Boys & Girls Club over the years,” said Jason Reed. “It supports the young people who are members here in many different ways.”

The Boys & Girls Club of Chicopee offers various activities to young people and serves 3,500 youths each year.

The tournament is the largest of its kind in Western Massachusetts and Northern Connecticut, this year drawing hundreds of spectators and players; this year it grew again with the addition of two new high school divisions—one for ninth and tenth graders, and one for eleventh and twelfth.

In keeping with Webb’s spirit, the basketball tournament is for teams of boys and girls aged 8 to 18 who are not top players and may not otherwise get to play in a tournament.

“What is remarkable about the Webb Tournament is that it has withstood the test of time,” Reed said. “We had 48 teams this year. Many of the older boys in the club don’t play ball in high school for a variety of reasons, but they can play here, and they love the game. They were able to practice on their own during teen nights at the club and then play together as a team here in the tournament.

“High school students also volunteer their time to help us run the tournament, whether it’s selling drinks and snacks or assisting the coaches,” Reed added. “This gives them an opportunity to do community service, which is something we encourage here.”

At the check presentation in the club’s gymnasium, Vann said, “The tournament is named after George Webb who was my best friend. George spent some years growing up in Chicopee and later returned to play basketball at the club in the new gym we built in 2007. He was extremely competitive, but more importantly driven by great sportsmanship win or lose!”

Bernard said, “Young people are our future. As a business owner in Chicopee, I like to support local organizations. I can see the difference the club makes in these young people’s’ lives. I know how hard it is for them to overcome what they have been given in life, and I have been very moved to see what they can accomplish with the help of the club. It gives me hope that they can overcome and succeed in life.”

For more information about the tournament or the Boys & Girls Club of Chicopee, visit www.bgcchicopee.org. For information on sponsorship opportunities for 2018, contact Ruth Griggs at (413) 727-3354 or email her at Ruth@rccomms.com.

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Michael O’Brien, president of the nonprofit and a member of the NHS class of 2007, said the goal is to raise the funds over the next several years through donations as well as a variety of events, including the already existing annual basketball tournament, called the League Legends Midsummer Classic.

This year’s tournament will be held July 23 at Robert K. Finn Ryan Road Elementary School from 1 to 8 p.m., with an outdoor screening of “Space Jam” to follow at 8:30 p.m. Other fundraising events this year include a golf tournament on Oct. 1 at the Northampton Country Club and a trivia night and silent auction slated for Nov. 26 at The World War II Club.

O’Brien said League Legends aims to create a space where children and teens can enjoy playing basketball day and night, and he intends for the courts to be lighted to facilitate nighttime play. League Legends is currently working with the Northampton Recreation Department to locate a site for the courts.

The proposed courts will also be used for both summer adult basketball leagues as well as youth basketball clinics, at an affordable cost, O’Brien said. Long-term, the courts may also host such events as out-of-season invitational tournaments or other community events.

“The venue could even be used as an outdoor skating rink in the winters,” O’Brien said, adding, “We’re not going to build it and simply hope people come. We’re going to be organizing a lot of its use.”

As of this week, the organization had roughly $8,000 set aside for the courts, which will be developed in stages, O’Brien said.

Sam Caruso, a 2007 NHS graduate and a member of the League Legends Board of Directors with O’Brien, said building basketball courts in Northampton would allow the friends and family of Holman and Adams to have something physical to memorialize them.

“The courts would also be a source of enjoyment for hundreds, maybe even thousands of people who love basketball as much as David and Miles once did,” he said.

League Legends has its roots in a pick-up basketball league, then called The League, that Holman started by passing around a roster in an audio-visual class in 2006. Adams was also a member of that original league.

“David was the original commissioner who passed around the sign-up sheet and got the league going,” O’Brien said. “From there, we started having at least several weeknight pick-up basketball games at Ryan Road elementary. We would even do trades and suspensions within the teams, and hold meetings in AV class.”

The League returned and attracted even more attention, both from players and spectators, in 2007. That summer, Holman was killed in a car accident. Just a few months later, in December, Adams was also involved in a traffic fatality.

“Anyone dying at that age is such a tragedy,” O’Brien said. “For a lot of us, the organizers and kids around the high school, that was our first experience with death, and it was really a shock.”

As a way of honoring their classmates, Caruso and fellow league participant Tim Kane organized the nonprofit in 2008, named it League Legends and the organization held its first midsummer classic at Ryan Road.

The tournament began with six teams and raised $200 in its first year. It has expanded to attract 16 teams, and it now traditionally raises roughly $10,000 per year. It also attracts professional players, such as NHS alum Ellis Cooper of England’s Manchester Magic, who played in 2015.

“Miles and David’s families both started scholarship funds soon after they passed, and it was actually my mom who suggested doing a basketball tournament at Ryan Road Elementary to raise money for their scholarship funds and to remember our friends,” Caruso said, noting that the tournament helps fund the scholarship.

Going forward, the tournament will also help fund the goal to build the basketball courts.

Caruso remembers Holman and Adams first and foremost for their incredible sense of humor.

“They were both so funny, although in different ways,” he said. “Miles was always goofing around. It was as if he lived to make his friends smile. And David was a real people person. He would always be bringing people together. Sometimes it seemed like he was friends with almost everyone.”

This year’s July 23 Movie Night will be held in partnership with Northampton Community Television and the League Legends board, members of which are: O’Brien, Caruso, Kane, Elias NeJame and Nicole Sawula.

To register for the tournament, contact O’Brien at 413-210-8823 or leaguelegendsinc@gmail.com. Cost of the film screening is $10 per car.

League Legends has applied for 501C3 status so that donations to it can be tax deductible; it currently holds tax-exempt status in Massachusetts. The organization has a multi-tiered donation plan. For details, or to donate, visit the League Legends website at www.areyoualegend.org, or mail contributions to 70 Acrebrook Drive in Florence.

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