After five years at Drivers Village, the annual Cicero Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament will move to Cicero-North Syracuse High School this summer.
The move was forced by the opening of a new dealership at the complex off East Circle Drive in Cicero, though tournament organizers say owner Roger Burdick is still one of the event’s biggest benefactors.
“He has been and continues to be very supportive,” said Toni Brauchle, executive director of the CanTeen teen center, which Macker raises money to fund. “The location just didn’t work for their layout any longer.”
The space at Drivers Village was proving less than ideal in the last couple of years anyway, according to tournament organizer Julie LaFave.
“We had to move because with new businesses opening all the time, we were worried about outgrowing the location,” LaFave said. “Our tournament has continued to grow, and the green space in the area has declined. We wanted to continue to offer a great event venue for all the thousands of people that travel to Cicero for the weekend.”
The tournament has proven to be the biggest fundraiser for the CanTeen, which offers a safe place for C-NS students to go after school. The center offers food, activities and more to kids who might not have another place to go.
“Funds raised from this one event surpass all other fundraising endeavors combined for the [Friends of the CanTeen],” Brauchle said. “It allows our volunteers to focus all of their efforts on one solid, family friendly, community event as opposed to a bunch of little, work-intensive smaller events that netted much less.”
Macker first came to Cicero in 2010 as a way to replace those smaller fundraisers. Because of state budget cuts, the program has found itself in jeopardy and in need of a new source of funding. So in 2010, LaFave brought Macker to Cicero to bring in larger amounts of money.
“I grew up in Michigan, and that’s where Macker started,” she said. “I grew up playing in lots of Mackers and going from city to city to city, and I said, ‘Why don’t we look at this?’”
Gus Macker tournaments have become a tradition for people across the country. The first Gus Macker tournament was played by Scott McNeal (known to friends as Gus Macker) on his parents’ driveway basketball court in Lowell, Michigan in 1974, and it only grew from there. By 1987, it had become a statewide phenomenon. The first year, more than 10,400 players participated in five cities. Since then, the Macker tournaments have expanded, holding both indoor and outdoor games in more than 75 cities, with more than 200,000 players taking part each year.
The move to the high school offers a number of advantages to the tournament, including close proximity to the CanTeen’s home, which is located right next to the high school.
“Having the beneficiary of our tournament directly within view will really serve as a motivation to host the best tournament in our six years,” LaFave said. “Plus, the visibility along Route 31 should be much greater than it was on Hogan Drive.”
But the move also has a huge downside.
“Unfortunately, moving away from Marketplace Mall and Drivers Village has meant the loss of many sponsors that were located in the immediate area. We lost much more in sponsorship than we are used to,” LaFave said. “We are down a tremendous amount and have thus far not been able to recover from it. We’re still in a position to make a profit, but not what we’re used to from this event. At this point, we’re trying to attract new sponsors to join us in our new location.”
Additional sponsorships will allow the tournament to do what it’s meant to do: keep the doors of the CanTeen open.
“To date, we have raised approximately $115,00 for the CanTeen,” LaFave said. “That number seems gigantic, but it has in many ways meant the difference between staying open year-round for the youth in our community and closing our doors for part of the year. It has meant so much to the teens in our greater area.”
Brauchle said she recently talked to one of the CanTeen’s regulars about his experience with the center.
“I recently had a great conversation with one of our graduating seniors that happens to be on the autism spectrum about his time spent at the CanTeen over the years,” she said. “He was very articulate about how his social interaction with other CanTeen participants helped him in more ways than he could possibly explain. What a great testament to the value of the services, supports and opportunities provided daily!”
For more information, visit macker.com/macker-tournament/2014-gus-macker-tour/273-syracuse-cicero-ny.html or find them on Facebook.
