WAVERLY, Ohio — The annual Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament Event took place at the Waverly Stadium on Saturday and Sunday, June 11 and 12. This event was the only Gus Macker Tournament in the state of Ohio for the 2022 season and was hosted by the Community Action Committee of Pike County (CAC).
“The weather was beautiful,” stated Lisa Pfeifer, the Director of the Workforce & Business Development Program at CAC, who volunteered throughout the event. “It was so wonderful to see our community coming together again and enjoying this year’s Macker event.”
The Gus Macker Tournament is designed so that anyone can play: male or female, young and old, short and tall, the most experienced or no experience at all. This maintains the purity and integrity of “the driveway game.”
Since 1987, the Gus Macker tour has expanded holding a total of 972 tournaments with over 2.2 million players – male and female from 7 years old to 50+ – and more than 23 million spectators.
This year’s event began on the evening of Friday, June 10. With 104 teams registering to participate in the event, the games began Saturday morning at 8:30 am with 3-on-3 games lasting on average twenty minutes (or until twenty points were achieved by a team). The first day of the tournament ended at 7:00 pm and rosters were created for Sunday’s games began at 8:00 am.
The Gus Macker Tournament brought people from throughout the Midwest area to Waverly, staying in local hotels and patronizing local restaurants throughout the weekend. It also provided the community a safe event to enjoy the sport and cheer the players on!
Volunteers from the CAC and the Pike County Recovery Council partnered together to organize and conduct the “behind-the-scenes” tasks of player registration, scorekeeping, selling concessions, and other vital operations needed to ensure the success of the tournament. Local businesses such as Beast & Bottle, Lupo Nero, Waverly’s McDonalds, and Waverly’s Papa John’s Pizza made generous donations of food to the Concession Stand.
Staff of the Valley View Health Center were available in the medical tent throughout the weekend and were very happy to report that no major injuries were suffered by any of the players or spectators.
The Community Action Committee of Pike County would like to express their gratitude to all of the local organizations that sponsored the event: Molina Health Care, DHB (Davis, Howard & Brown), Bristol Village – National Church Residences, The Village Brew Coffee House, QuikStop Lube and Tire, Workforce & Business Development Program, and OhioMeansJobs of Pike County. As well as, all of the volunteers who generously donated their time and efforts in ensuring the success of this event and giving Pike County a weekend of fun and excitement.
The Tournament was a partnership between the Gus Macker organization and CAC in an effort to raise funds for many of the agency’s programs that provide assistance to low-income members of Pike County.
“We are very grateful to the Pike County Recovery Council for their partnership and support as well as the Gus Macker organization,” stated Amber Wheeler, the Executive Assistant of the CAC. “We appreciate everyone who came out to play in the tournament, the spectators who were cheering them on, and the volunteers who gave their time and talents to ensure that this event was a success. It was a shining example of what makes Pike County the community we’re so proud of.”