By Kurt Howard

The Tyee high school gym was the place to be for an evening of a family fun sports entertainment. On Friday, November 8, basketball teams made up of current staff and former players from Evergreen and Tyee met for a fun, but very competitive, basketball game. The intent was to help raise money for both of their sports programs.

So where did the idea for this staff/alumni fund raising game originate? Well, from the Tyee girls’ varsity soccer coach, Tricia Halvorson and Evergreen’s boys’ varsity basketball coach, Tony White. Both work at the Matt Griffin YMCA just up the street from Tyee. They presented their idea to athletic directors Mark Cross of Evergreen and John Yellam of Tyee. They both thought it was a great idea and something they wish they had started years earlier.

To get the proverbial basketball bouncing, the four of them sat down and talked about how they could make this happen. They discussed many different ideas on how they would like the game to be played. From who could play, to 10 players per team, made up of both staff and alumni. They also decided that the first game would be played at Tyee, and then at Evergreen the following year.

One of the main reasons for this game was to renew school spirit and create a relationship with their cross-town rival. It will also generate positive publicity about their athletic programs and encourage greater student interest and likely generate greater participation.

When I arrived at the game I was surprised, and then pleased, to see that it was going to be a co-ed game, the gals playing alongside the guys. John Yellam, who also played in the game, told me, “We all wanted to make sure we had a co-ed basketball team. We were very cognizant to make sure we had at least one female from each team on the court at all times. We thought it went well; in fact I thought that the girls sometimes played a little bit better than the boys, that they were in a little bit better shape.”

Ticket prices were very affordable; students with ASB only $1, students without ASB $2 and adults $3. There were about 150 people in attendance.

The money raised at the game will be split 50-50 between Evergreen and Tyee. It will probably be put into each school’s general fund and then distributed among their athletic programs. As for Tyee, the money will then be split evenly among all sports teams at Tyee.

“We made about $300”, John said. “We didn't make a million bucks but everybody that was there really enjoyed it, they were excited. A lot of alumni wanted to be out there playing. I think it's something that will be successful and it was year one and our expectations were very low. Even at $300, I think we exceeded our expectations.”

To get the crowd more involved in the game there was a raffle drawing. Raffle tickets were purchased for $1 apiece and the winning numbers were called after each quarter, and the Grand Prize at the end of the game. The prizes ranged from a $10 gift cards to Uncle Mike's Barbecue and Starbucks, to free admittance to the St. Patrick's Day 3 on 3 basketball tournament at Matt Griffin YMCA. The Grand Prize was a three month family membership to Matt Griffin YMCA, a $450 value -- nice!

I wish I had statistics from the game for you, but they were not kept. Players did not wear numbers and I only knew a few of the players. That being said, it makes it a bit hard to know who did what and to put captions to my photos.

Now to the game: The action was fast and, most of the time, furious with a lot of intensity. There were lots of three-point shots put up with actually a high percentage being made. Just because you're out of high school doesn't mean you can't keep up on your game, and it was evident. Fouls were frequent but there was one thing I noticed, after a foul was called both players had smiles on their faces. That’s not something that would happen during a game that actually counted in the win/loss column. There were also some dunk shots in the game, oh yeah, I was impressed and envious.

One interesting facet of the game was when the two high school boys’ varsity basketball coaches’, Tony White of Evergreen and AJ Campanelli of Tyee, went head to head against each other. Since both are tall, it was a good matchup. During the regular high school basketball season these coaches will face each other only from the bench, and only coaching their players.

One of the referees who called the game was Tyee sophomore, Deion Williams; he plays on their varsity team. With a smile I told him he should be careful calling fouls on his own coach, AJ Campanelli. You don’t want to sabotage your playing time in the upcoming basketball season now, do you?

Tyee did not have a practice with their players before the game. The first time they actually played together was at this game.

The halftime entertainment was the cheerleaders from both schools. Because this wasn’t an actual competitive school game everyone enjoyed both of their enthusiastic performances. Evergreen had some high flying cheerleaders as you can see from one of my photo.

When the game ended the scoreboard read, Evergreen 98 and Tyee 87. Like I said earlier, this was not a “slow down and run a play” kind of game, it was “run and gun.” Yes, there was some defense, but to score 98 points, in 12-minute quarters, you’ve got to be putting up and making a lot of shots. But that's what the people want to see, a high scoring basketball game.

A splendid time was guaranteed for all and I think they accomplished that. Now that this game is over, we will have to wait a whole year for the rematch at Evergreen!

Players for each team are as follows:
Evergreen’s alumni players: Dave Massington class of 2003, Joesiah Fanene 2005, Kayla Fanene 2007, Kwame Bates 2010, Dwayne Lawton 2010, Briana Fiso 2010, and Deandre Horton 2011.
Evergreen’s staff: Mark Cross – athletic director, Tony White – boys head basketball coach, Otis Templeton – JV basketball coach.

Tyee’s alumni players: Nick Hawthorne class of 2011, Demetrius Locke 2012, Taylor McMillan 2012, and Anthony Summers 2013.
Tyee’s staff: Rachel Camacho – adaptive PE teacher global connections high school, AJ Campanelli – math teacher global connections/boys head basketball coach, Brett Peterson – ILC teacher global connections high school, and John Yellam – athletic director.