Sacred Heart’s Courie Stevenson (5) slams in two points during the 2015 boys basketball jamboree game against Waterbury Career Academy at Kennedy High School in Waterbury,
Jim Shannon Republican-American
By JOE PALLADINO
The National Weather Service tells us that hazardous weather will hit this weekend, and that means one thing: The 44th city boys basketball jamboree has been cancelled. That word just came from Crosby High athletic director Dave Ieronimo. Crosby was the host school for the event.
This is the second time in four years that the jamboree was cancelled. In 2013, an early call was also made to cancel the jamboree due to the threat of winter weather.
At that time, then Wilby High athletic director Steve Baldwin said that his players “had tears in their eyes” when informed that the exhibition games that feature all city schools would not be played.
With the high school boys season starting next week, there is no opportunity to schedule a make-up.
The jamboree was first played in 1963, and it has become one of the most popular dates on the boys basketball schedule.
If I may — once again — use that old quote from the late Reggie O’Brien, about what the jamboree means to the players. Reggie, the former Wilby High coach, said this after the Wildcats won their third straight jamboree in 1987:
“Our kids have a lot of pride in themselves when they put their uniforms on. Whether we are playing in a scrimmage or any regular season game, when they put the uniform on, they play to win. They know that, scrimmage or not, they have to face these kids on the street tomorrow, and it’s more fun to face them after having won the jamboree.”
It’s a tradition around here, and it will be missed. If you love the jamboree too, you’ll just have to wait until December of 2017 for the next one.