AVON LAKE – The Wizards are coming to Avon Lake. No, not Harry Potter nor some group from Wicked, but rather a world-renowned basketball team that travels throughout the country to bring joy, basketball and fun to local communities. In this case, the Harlem Wizards will visit Avon Lake and put on a series of basketball and fitness clinics at the local schools, and culminating in a big game at Avon Lake High School on February 17th, and help raise dollars for Avon Lake athletics and extracurricular activities.
The organizers hope to raise more than $50,000 from attendees and sponsors. Organizers are also looking for volunteers, donors and local businesses to get involved. More information and ticket purchases are available online at www.AvonLakeAnchoringCommunity.org.
The game starts at 7 p.m. and doors open at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are currently on sale and the high school gymnasium fits 1,000 spectators. Folks who arrive early and purchase a Harlem Wizards jersey can even participate in warmups with the actual Wizards team on court prior to the game.
The event is organized by the Avon Lake Schools partnered with Avon Lake Travel Basketball Association and they say the event will be a night filled with basketball magic, laughter, and community spirit. Event organizer Ken Remy said this event will continue to anchor the city’s spirit of community and support for our student programs.
The Harlem Wizards will showcase their incredible skills, including dazzling tricks and high-flying dunks, as they face off against a group of Avon Lake teachers, administrators, travel basketball coaches, and board members. The final roster is not yet complete, Remy said, but they’re getting close and expect to have at least one practice before the event.
“This is more than just a game,” Remy said. “It’s a chance to create lasting memories with your family while supporting our student-athletes and school programs.”
But the game itself is only part of the story.
Howie Davis, the founder of the Harlem Wizards, and father of current Harlem Wizards CEO Todd Davis and grandfather of Vice President Rick Schreiber, had a passion for the merger of sports and entertainment. He audaciously believed he could create a basketball show better than the famous Harlem Globetrotters.
The seeds of rivalry were sown in 1943 when Howie, the director of recreation at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton was asked to replace the eighth team in the World Championship of Basketball in Chicago. His Dayton Dive Bombers had one of the greatest sports upsets ever, defeating the mighty Globetrotters.
Fast forward to 1959 and Goose Tatum, the Globetrotters' original showman, had formed his own team, called the New York Stars and asked Davis to book a series of games in New York City. Those successful events led to Davis creating the Harlem Wizards in 1962.
And the group has been going strong ever since. The Wizards have toured nearly all 50 United States and many countries. The Wizards have had ten tours of China since 2000. Other tours included a tour of the Far East, as well as trips to Italy, Belgium, Taiwan, Israel, Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina, Poland and Venezuela. Crowds as large as 10,000 have watched the Wizards in soccer stadiums, bullrings, as well as basketball arenas of many teams in China, and in Tel-Aviv, at Menora Mivtachim Arena. In addition, the Wizards have done numerous charitable events at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
And, this promises to be quite a spectacle say organizers who thought up the idea of bringing the Harlem Wizards in to Avon Lake as a fun night out for area families and as a means to raise some dollars for the school. The Wizards provide their special brand of basketball to schools throughout the country to help them raise money.
Organizers are also taking the opportunity to showcase local businesses and organizations in the Avon Lake community who support the schools. They’ll have tables and booths set up for spectators to peruse and purchase and share information about their local business.
Remy said the organizers are also looking at getting some local folks who served during World War II to be part of the color guard and the rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner. There is an interactive halftime show and several concessions will be available for purchase.
“We wanted to demonstrate that we’ve got a unified community that wants to get together and support our businesses and more importantly support our kids and their athletics and extracurricular activities,” Remy explained. “The other thing the Wizards will do, which we’re super excited about, is that on February 12th, they’re going to go to six different schools including our parochial schools and they’re doing a 25-minute demonstration of some of the cool, fun stuff they do on the basketball court.
“They’re going to teach things like why it’s good to keep yourself physically fit and showing some fun experiences so that people get excited and then hopefully those kids also want to come to the game the following Monday,” Remy said. “
This is the first time Avon Lake is hosting the Harlem Wizards. Avon Lake High School principal Michael May said Remy approached him with the idea, and he agreed that the event could be great for both the school and the community. The pair, along with fellow volunteer Erin Rudy and others have been meeting with the Avon Lake mayor and other community leaders to try to get them engaged with the event.
“We want this to be that community event that traverses all of these different entities, but the one thing that I hope that comes across is this is not just a basketball fun game for just Avon Lake,” May said. “If you live in Bay village or Westlake or Avon and want to take your children to a fun event to see an interactive game where these players take you onto the court and interact with you, please join us. It is a great entertainment opportunity for a low cost.”
Rudy helped with marketing and promoting the event, creating the website and other promotional materials. She is a local small business owner and wanted to make sure small businesses had an opportunity to be involved and showcase their services and wares.
“Let’s find an opportunity to bring everyone together, raise money for the kids and highlight local businesses,” Rudy said. “Shop Small is so important and this is a way to live that out. It’s just a really unique opportunity to bring it all together. It’s just a nice way to get visibility into our local businesses that support our schools so then we can support them in turn.”
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