It’s the chance to see some of D-B’s premier basketball players from back in the day, as they come together to see if they still have “the right stuff.”
The second annual charity Dobyns-Bennett Alumni Basketball game is tonight at the John Sevier Middle School gymnasium, and organizer Fred Smith, himself a former D-B basketball player, promises even more fun this time around.
“One of the things I liked about last year’s event in the D-B Buck Van Huss Dome,” says Smith, “was the diversity of the crowd. People from all over Kingsport and the Tri-Cities came out to see some good competitive basketball from former players, who used to make DB basketball their living. We’ll have crowd participation this year as before, games for the little kids, door prizes, kid dancers. The D-B gym was good for the first one, but I think the event will be more intimate this year, because the Sevier gym is smaller and more compact. The noise level will definitely be louder.”
As last year, you’ll probably recognize names of some of the players who’ll take to the floor to see “if they still got it.”
“Dimingo Hale, JaMichael Mills, Corky Blye, are all playing,” Smith says. “This year, we’ve even got some female ex-DB players comeing out too.. Becky Blevins Mayes, Erin Armbruster and others. Coach Eckel’s son Anthony is going to be one of the coaches, in honor of his father. One of the things I want to do every year is to honor people who were influential in the lives of their D-B players. Although Coach Eckel was an assistant principal when I played basketball, I remember hearing from former players that he was a strict disciplinarian. He told you like it was, and he really didn’t care if you liked it or not. The other coach will be Laura Fowler, who coached the D-B girls team several years ago. Coach Fowler worked well with the women’s teams she was involved with, and she is still in the lives of many of the players that she coached.”
Smith says, money raised from the event will benefit a scholarship for a graduating D-B basketball senior to continue their higher education.
Tickets for the 2nd annual charity D-B Alumni Basketball Game are $5.00 apiece, with kids under the age of 5, getting in free. Doors to the John Sevier gym open at 5, with the game starting around 6 PM.
If you're looking for old friends, familiar names in the rolls of the DB basketball team’s history, Smith says, come on out. “You won't be disappointed.”
