LAKE The 11th Annual “Hoops 4 Healing” Basketball Classic will be held the weekends of Dec. 5 and 12 in Wooster and Canton, respectively. Wooster High School will host the women’s high school games on Dec. 5 with Wadsworth, Medina, Wooster, Uniontown Lake, Orrville and Northwestern High Schools participating.
The men’s high school segment of the Classic will be held at Lake High School on Dec. 12. Participating teams for the men will include Poland, Louisville, Walsh Jesuit, GlenOak, Canfield and host Uniontown Lake High Schools. See attached schedule for exact game times for both weekends.
This year’s primary sponsor is Allstate Insurance. Along with several other donors, the participants will be supported through these generous gifts and assistance.
The “Hoops 4 Healing” Classic started 11 years ago as an opportunity to promote liver disease research and organ donation education. The event has grown into one of Ohio’s premier basketball showcases for high school basketball in this part of the state. Additionally, the teams and public are feted at a large Saturday meal along with event speakers hosted near their respective sites. The women’s high school teams will be served a brunch at the Greenbrier Party House in Wooster on Dec. 5; the men’s high school teams will be served breakfast at the Hartville Kitchen on Dec. 12.
During the past few years, more than $200,000 has been donated from the “Hoops 4 Healing” Foundation events to the American Liver Foundation, LifeBanc of Ohio, the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and several other similar groups.
Along with the Basketball Classic, the “H4H” Foundation has previously sponsored a golf outing and a benefit auction/dinner which has also helped generate monies earmarked for liver disease research and organ donation support.
The concept of the “Hoops 4 Healing” Classic was generated by some unique circumstances. Three Canton-area basketball coaches, Hal Smith of Malone College, Steve Loy of Walsh University and Bruce Brown of Lake High School (presently director of athletics) were all diagnosed with a rare liver disease known as primary sclerosing cholangitis, or PSC. The acknowledgement of all three men’s illness became national news and received the attention of people from literally around the world. Adding to the coincidence was the diagnosis of another area man’s episode with PSC: Chuck Cooper, then-director of athletics at Wooster High School and yet another former basketball coach.
Of these four men, Smith and Cooper eventually had transplants (Hal Smith recently underwent a second liver transplant, along with a kidney transplant, in October of 2008). Steve Loy’s condition developed into cholangiocarcinoma (liver cancer); he succumbed to the disease in February of 2004. Bruce Brown continues to monitor his own condition.
The bond of a common illness, along with the four men’s shared relationship with the sport of basketball led to the eventual development of the “Hoops 4 Healing” basketball games eleven years ago. The event took a one-year “road trip” to Indiana in 2005 as the high school games were played in the famous “Wigwam” Gymnasium at Anderson (IN) High School. The event has generated local and state-wide media exposure over the eleven years of its existence.
Tickets for the “Hoops 4 Healing” Women’s Brunch in Wooster (Dec. 5) are available by calling Chuck Cooper at 330-465-6661. Tickets for the Men’s Breakfast are available on Dec. 12 at the Hartville Kitchen for $10 per person. Each of the participating teams and coaches will be guests at each meal and the public is invited to attend. There will be a brief program prior to each basketball coach introducing their respective team. The Wooster Brunch begins at noon. The Hartville Kitchen Breakfast begins at 8:30 a.m.
Tickets for this year’s games are on sale at each participating school. Pre-sale tickets for students are $4; pre-sale tickets for adults are $6; reserved seats are $8. All general admission tickets at the door are $7. One ticket is good for all games at the same venue. All profits from the event will go toward donations for liver disease research, organ donor education and other related causes.
