Youth basketball in Buena Vista is back!
An eight-week schedule of games for third through seventh-graders begins Saturday, Feb. 18, at the Community Center on Outer Drive.
Parks and Recreation Director Duane Fairris, a standout player and then coach for the BV High Knights, recalls his youthful excitement on Saturday mornings during the 1970s, when basketball fervor was so high that even kids’ games would draw hundreds of enthusiastic fans.
“When we (Claytor) would play Highland Park, those would be the really big games,” Coach Fairris says. “and then for a championship game, they would let us go full court with the glass backboards.”
But four decades later came the 2014 state shutdown of Buena Vista schools, and the program died out at the same time.
Fairris continues to attend high school games across the region and his push for a revival — even without the old “Boystown” label — has roots in what he observes.
“You see the older players lacking the basics that they should have learned in grade school,” he notes.
Teams may register by calling the rec office at (989) 752-1655. For an individual, staffers will find a team to join, or will organize new teams. The fee is $10 per player, a bargain at only $1.25 per game. Girls also are invited, and if enough interest is generated, a separate league for girls will be organized.
