Ballin' in Wakefield

By P.J. GLISSON

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Wakefield - The small town of Wakefield experienced a big flurry of activity this past weekend as it hosted the Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament.

A portion of M-28 closed between mid-day Friday and Sunday evening in order to accommodate a long row of half-courts that served 145 teams, 580 total players and an enthusiastic crowd to cheer them on.

"You can hardly get through up and down the street," said Mike Fuller, who has been with Gus Macker for three decades and served as the key announcer here.

"It's been awesome," said Mark Lane of Wakefield on Sunday. "It's a lot to put together, but it's sure worth it for the kids and the community."

Lane and Fuller both credited Mike and Danielle Grayson of Wakefield for acting as the primary local organizers of what Fuller described as a "community-driven" event.

He said his own eight-person Gus Macker organizing team traveled from various downstate towns, but he added, "I can't thank the locals enough. They've got to have 70 to 80 volunteers."

Lane agreed, adding, "Without that, there's no chance of doing this."

Lane said that food and product vendors also were "amazing" and assured that "everything pretty much has run really smoothly."

Fuller explained that each team of participants - organized according to age, gender and skill - had the opportunity to play three games on Saturday, with championship games then following on Sunday.

There were even kids as young as 5 to 8 playing.

The games operated with a minimum of officials such as scorekeepers and referees, but many teams likely worked with their own casually designated coaches ahead of time. For instance, Jason Svoke coached the Hurley Hotshots.

Danna Fuller, who was in charge of registration and trophies, said participants had come from local communities, as well as from other U.P. locations such as Iron Mountain, Kingsford, Baraga, Negaunee, Ishpeming, Dollar Bay and Sault Ste. Marie.

Some teams also came from downstate cities such as Grand Rapids and from other areas in Wisconsin. There even were teams from Indiana and Minnesota.

Mike Fuller, who was stationed at the "dream court" next to the Wakefield-Marenisco K-12 School, said the economic impact from all the activity is good for the region, as visitors support hotels and buy food, gas and other products.

He credited Wakefield City Manager Robert Brown Jr., who is originally from downstate Belding, where the Gus Macker operation is based. "He's the one who got it up here," said Fuller, who introduced Brown as "a great guy" during Friday evening's kick-off game among members of local law enforcement.

One team consisted of members of Michigan State Police Post 86, and the other team had a mixture of players from the Gogebic County Sheriff's Office, the Ironwood Public Safety Department and the Hurley City Police Department. The latter team beat MSP 20-11.

That competition produced a lot of laughs, with occasional kidding about older players handing the ball off to their younger cohorts.

"It makes you feel good," said Fuller about the whole experience. "That's why I do it - seeing the smiles on everyone's faces."

Fuller, who said his team had arrived on July 26 to begin setting up for the weekend, said he loves coming to the U.P.

"It's a beautiful site," he said. "It's one of our top 5 sites in the Gus Macker tour."

Fuller said this year is the 49th year of Gus Macker's 3-on-3 tournaments, calling it a national movement to encourage community fun and related fund-raising for locally based charities.