NORWICH – The 2024 Norwich Gus Macker Tournament returned to the downtown streets for the first time in five years, which sparked a whole new generation of players, volunteers, and spectators seeing the tournament back to its true form of “street ball.”
“ It was a time of remembrance of how to set up and run a downtown tournament,” YMCA Sports Director, Tom Revoir said. “ It all started coming back to us when we were setting up and some of the people that helped us and played over the weekend got to experience playing downtown for the very first time. A lot of people had only just joined when we held it at the high school, like City Church Pastor Zach Thorp. Overall, I was very pleased with the tournament. It gave us a chance to put on a show and showcase downtown Norwich.”
YMCA Executive Director, Jamey Mullen, added, “The tournament went well and it was great to return to the spot, where it was held for over 20 years,” Mullen said. “ We took it for granted what Macker really was and have done this for so long that we also took for granted a whole group of people that had never been downtown. We and the ones that were with us before knew where things would be, but the new ones didn’t, so we need to step up our game.”
The 27th annual Norwich Gus Macker Tournament had 298 teams, including the Norwich police and fire departments, playing over the weekend. Revoir said it was an increase of 50 teams from last year’s 256 that played at the Norwich High School. When Revoir saw the number climbing within the last few days of the deadline, he would’ve liked to see 300 teams, but no more divisions that would need an additional court.
However, 298 was close and comfortable with the numbers of volunteers, referees, and scorekeepers that could help out and certainly this number wouldn’t have worked at the high school.
“ There may have been some confusion on the deadline from the dates last year and there were also other events going on within a 50 mile radius, like the Boilermaker in Utica,” Revoir said on the smaller than usual registration numbers downtown. “But, Norwich is still the biggest tournament around, aside from Ludington, Michigan.”
There were also many firsts and special events over the weekend, including the first ever Battle of the Badges and Knock out competition. The Battle of the Badges was sponsored by Preferred Mutual and was a high noon game between the Norwich police and fire departments. The knockout competition was sponsored by BlueOx and replaced the traditional slam dunk and three-point competitions.
“These two events were creative and both organizations did a great job in getting more involved this year,” Mullen said. “It was so special that Preferred Mutual made a financial contribution to both the fire and police.”
Revoir had to volunteer his time reffing, so he missed seeing the high noon game between both departments, but he got to see the knockout competition that took place following the conclusion of the games on Saturday.
“I loved watching this event and seeing the kids’ faces and eyes light up with all the fun they had,” Revoir said. “We had 50 participants and anybody could play, so we hope to have it back next year.”
Aside from these two special events, there was a special announcement made at the opening ceremonies, which featured two more Macker legends being inducted into Gus Macker’s 50th Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Norwich’s own Steve Benenati and Jeff Abbott, who both join previously inducted Revoir and Mullen.
“It was a surprise to both Jamey and I until two weeks in advance,” Revoir said. “It was well-deserved, because they both have been with Jamey since day one. I, unfortunately, missed the first Macker. Steve did a lot more than just ref assignments. He was our right hand man with helping set up and tear down aside from reffing, and was there for everything.”
Mullen also applauded Steve and Jeff and agreed that they deserved this honor and that with their help, some of the stress was off Tom and Jamey.
“Jeff has been on the Macker committee since the very beginning in 1995 and is well-respected and has lots of contacts and helped get the event ready,” Mullen said. “Steve has been our right-hand man and both have allowed us to not have to worry so much because we knew things were in good hands with them.”
Even with the increase of teams from last year, Revoir said the tournament was still done on time, around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday evening, which made the tear down go quickly. Mullen said while the tear down went quick, they still needed a lot of helping hands.
“It was a hot weekend, so we started to lose a lot of our volunteer base,” Mullen said. “We had help with baskets on Thursday with NYCM and Friday with NBT Bank, but during the weekend, we had fewer help. We made a Facebook post asking for help tearing down and within a short period of time, people came and helped. If we had another six to 10 people, it would’ve gone more smoother, but we’ll get there and be ready for it.”
Mullen and Revoir, along with Steve Benenati and possibly Jeff Abbott will travel to Belding, Michigan to celebrate Macker’s official 50 year anniversary in early August. Then, Mullen and Revoir and the rest of the Norwich Gus Macker committee will come together to express their thoughts and come to an agreement if Norwich will be able to renew their Gus Macker contract for another three years.
“We could decide to renew for another three years or decide year by year,” Revoir said. “Having refs is crucial and we had some new certified refs this year that said they would come back and also spread the word to others.”
Mullen added on and said that with the new generation coming in, they hope to see more new faces volunteering.
“ I recognized a lot of the new generation and it was good to see that in a lot of our refs,” Mullen said. “We need that new generation to be there and keep coming back.”
The Norwich YMCA and Gus Macker hope to renew its contract and Norwich could see 28 years of Gus Macker next July, which everyone looks forward to each summer.