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HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL: WHILE PALMER TOURNEY IS CANCELED THIS YEAR, LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF THE EVENT (2021-12-25)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
Days before the Josh Palmer Fund Holiday Tournament was set to tip off, and would have included the North Penn-Mansfield boys team, Covid caused it to be canceled for the second straight year.

Josh Palmer is determined to bring the tournament back next year, and the event has raised a lot of money over the years, but just how did the event come to be?

THE ORIGIN OF THE TOURNAMENT
In 1999 Josh Palmer was a football player at Mansfield University when he was diagnosed with cancer.

While a lot of people could spend all their time questioning why me, Palmer looked around and saw how lucky he was.

As he underwent treatments he saw others with cancer struggling with the costs, and not having the support system he had.

At the same time the All Sports Banquet Holiday Tournament had just died out. It was a tournament Palmer had played in while in high school and so Palmer had an idea. Save the basketball tournament and try and raise money to assist local cancer patients and their families.

“This was a replacement of the old All Sports Banquet Holiday Tournament,” Palmer said. Over the holidays, when I was growing up, they hosted a tournament at Southside High School. It was more of a local flair. It was a way to fill in from that side of things as an event. In 1999, I was diagnosed with cancer when playing football in college and I had to come home. When I came home and was dealing with treatments and chemo, radiation there were a significant number of people less fortunate than I that I saw. I was fortunate. I had a mom and dad who had good jobs, with insurance. I had friends in the area, and I wanted to think of how could we help.

“At the time that tournament (the All Sports Banquet) was going away. I played at Southside. My father was athletics manager at Southside and a teacher at the time. How could we raise money? Let’s see if we can save the basketball tournament over the holiday time.”

22 years later the tournament has grown into one of the marquee sports events in the area. Unfortunately, Covid caused the tournament to be canceled last year, and it led to the cancelation on Thursday of this year’s event.

The event has raised between $1.4 and $1.5 million dollars over the past two decades and this year’s event has five brackets and 28 teams in the field.

“When you think back you are kind of using the perspective if was one bracket of eight boys teams, and seven of the eight boys teams were in the Southern Tier of New York or Northern Tier of Pennsylvania and maybe one or two teams would travel from out of the area,” Palmer said. “As it went on it has more of an out-of-town flair.

“It’s grown. For us we added the girls bracket and then how do we get more local teams involved? We added the boys regional bracket and how do we expand boys? We have five brackets, eight teams in the national boys, eight teams in the girls, a girls regional bracket which is brand new and two regional boys brackets. 28 high school teams.”

While the tournament draws from all over, there is still a strong local draw to the field.

“Maybe 17 of the teams are local,” Palmer said. “There is a lot of power behind that, a lot to be said from that. We take a lot of pride in that. How do we get kids locally to be a part of this.”

The Josh Palmer Fund also includes an annual golf tournament and a baseball game. The money they raise is split evenly between the Arnott Ogden Fall Cancer Center; the Guthrie Cancer Center and CareFirst, which is hospice.

When the tournament first began Palmer thought it would be a nice replacement for the All Sports Banquet tournament, but he never imagined it would become what it is now.

“When we first started it, to think we would be where we are today,” Palmer said. “Some people closest to me have been encouraging of do we want to get bigger. I think now we are at our max. I never thought we’d get to the point of where we are. The use of two facilities, really using four facilities when you think of the JV portion. It’s beyond what we ever would have anticipated.”

And, Palmer knows that everything they do is for a great cause.

“For us there is so much that tis given, and so much more that could be given to research to help find a cure,” Palmer said. “For us it’s how can we directly impact someone who is in the middle of their battle. It’s our unique twist on how can we play a role. That’s the most important part. The basketball is important, the basketball matters, but my favorite part is when we recognize cancer patients and their families and their struggles. WE don’t lose site of why we do what we are doing. It’s the driving force behind the basketball tournament, the golf tournament and the baseball game.

“It’s a unique perspective you can get, it motivates us. Let’s use the last two years as an example. You do something for 20-21 years then it’s gone. You don’t want to lose site of why it’s important to the community.”

Knowing the tournament can help people, Palmer knew they wanted to bring it back this year if it was possible.

“For us, we were always committed as long as we could do it to the quality and standard we expect for ourselves,” Palmer said. “As long as we felt we could do it safely, we were committed to do it. We didn’t make a full decision until the end of summer, early September. Once we made a decision we were all in and put our best foot forward to put this on at the quality and level people should expect fo ra tournament of this magnitude.”

ELITE TALENT HITS ELMIRA
The tournament has brought in some big-time teams and players over the year.

In 2015 Archbishop Molloy came with Cole Anthony and Moses Brown on the team. Anthony is a 20-point scorer for the Orlando Magic in the NBA right now and Brown plays for the Dallas Mavericks. That team also featured Kahalid Moore, who plays at Georgia Tech.

Also in recent years the tournament has seen Kevin Huerter, who plays for the Atlanta Hawks, come to town and Quentin Rose of Bishop Kearney, who went on to Temple and was his conferences all-time leading scorer. He plays in the G League now.

It’s not just future basketball stars who have played din the tournament. When Don Boscoe Prep came Tommy Sweeney played in the tournament. Sweeney is now a tight end in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills.

Other standout alumni of the tournament include Robby Carmody, who plays in college at Notre Dame and Noah Locke, who plays at Louisville. George Muresan of St. Andrews, the son of the former NBA standout of the same name, and Esa Ahmad of Shaker Heights, who played at West Virginia and Paul Jorgensen of Don Bo

Even the regional tournament has produced future stars with Javon McCrea playing at Newark and then going on to play at Buffalo. He was an honorable mention all-American who played professionally.

“Early on when we decided we wanted to grow, we started making recruiting pitches,” Palmer said. “Making sales pitches to schools. We spent a lot of work and time and energy doing that. We had to fulfill and meet those expectations. We sold them on what an opportunity it was to be a part of this in Elmira, N.Y. We feel confident we have been able to make those expectations and exceed them over the year. There are a lot of lifelong friendships I have made, my family has made, the community has made. When you can turn on ESPN and see guys playing in the NBA that played for three days in Elmira, N.Y., it’s pretty special. To see all the players who played at any level of college basketball, I think it’s exciting.

“I look at the male and female side right now at all levels of college basketball who have played in the tournament. It was a thought process when we first got going and we have been able to cultivate those relationships over the years.””

For Palmer it’s been fun to watch the level of talent grow at the tournament.

“It’s been fun to watch the development of the level of talent,” Palmer said. “How it’s evolved over time. A lot of local talent has put on performances in addition to the kids out of the area. It’s enjoyable. Those are relationships we have to this day. It’s fun to watch ESPN and reach out to their head coaches and are you watching so and so.”

And, the tournament has been an opportunity for college coaches to see a lot of players at one place.

“I think for certain it gives them an opportunity to come to one place at one time, all levels of coaches,” Palmer said. “All levels and male and female and it gives them an opportunity for one spot at one time, and maybe they are looking for someone specific and they catch the eye of someone else.”

The girls tournament has really grown over the years and Palmer knows that has a lot to do with others.

“I think a lot of that credit goes to (Horseheads coach) Andy Scott and (former Elmira coach) Jake Dailey, Robert Kelly, who was at Notre Dame, and Mike Gill, who was at Edison at the time. A lot of credit goes to them, they really pushed for that.

“They did a really good job of helping us navigate through the process. A lot of credit goes to them, from there were were able to evolve and bring in teams out of the area.”

A BOOST TO THE AREA

Getting to know the coaches and build relationships helps make it so many teams like to return year after year.

“I talk to the coaches as friends,” Palmer said. “On holiday we are wishing each others families happy thanksgiving. We couch game during the offseason. Those relationships are lifelong, they are gracious enough tis hare their experiences with other schools who should think about this event. That comes from everything. That comes from the Fusco family and the hotel downtown, restaurants feeding kids and the way the community embraces tis at all levels.”

As a business owner himself, Palmer knows how the tournament can help the area economy.

“There is definitely something to be said for that,” Palmer said. “That’s taken into consideration, it gives the community something to look forward to during a time of year when it can be quiet. We take pride in being able to provide that opportunity.”

While the Josh Palmer Fund has been able to help a lot of people, Palmer knows it all starts with the players, coaches and schools.

“If there wasn’t basketball, if there weren’t players, if there weren’t teams, it would just be nothing, nothing to come to,” Palmer said. “That’s how much the players and coaches mean to the Fund.”
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IN TOP PHOTO: Orlando Magic point guard Cole Anthony puts up a shot for Archbishop Molly during the 2015 Josh Palmer Fund Tournament. . . STSR FILE PHOTO


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