In this June 5, 1999 file photo, crowds gather on the Jamestown Community College campus for the Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament. The Macker returns to Jamestown this weekend — this time on Harrison Street between Main Street and Foote Avenue. P-J file photo

EDITOR’S NOTE: Portions of the following article appeared in The Post-Journal on April 12, 1998, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournaments. With the Macker returning to Jamestown this weekend, it was deemed appropriate to run the story again.

“I never really knew what basketball meant

’til I went to the Gus Macker

tournament

It was lotsa people from different races

And everywhere ya looked there were smilin’ faces

And the only thing that coulda brought ’em all together

Was a li’l ball, made of leather.

ııı

Good old Robert S.

He’s the guy — is S really his last name? — from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who put the Gus Macker message into the above idiom in the summer of 1984.

That was back when the residents of Lowell, Michigan (population 3,707) annually allowed a guy named Scott McNeal — alias Gus Macker — to turn their village streets into basketball courts and their lawns into club seats.

That was back when McNeal’s intimate little gatherings brought hundreds of teams and thousands of spectators to Lowell, which is located 140 miles northwest of Detroit.

And that was back when Lowell was the only place that 3-on-3 hoops junkies could get their fix.

Things have changed just slightly since then.

While Robert S’s philosophy still holds, the tournament that McNeal conceived for driveway use-only in 1974 has grown into a nationwide craze that is now celebrating its 25th anniversary. This year Gus Macker tournaments will be held in more than 80 cities, including Jamestown on June 6-7, with nearly 200,000 players and two million spectators.

How’s that for growth?

“When we started it, we just wanted to get more competitive with our friends,” McNeal said during a visit to Jamestown earlier this week. “We never had a concept of developing it into anything. I think that’s why it made it so popular. We didn’t plan it, map it out. We didn’t have agencies representing us. It just sort of happened.”

In fact, it started with 18 friends playing competitively for $18 in McNeal’s driveway. It was their way of offsetting boredom during spring vacation.

But even a tournament with “just the guys” needed a name.

So McNeal, who had been called “Gus Macker” by a friend since they were in seventh grade, slapped his nickname on it. A quarter-century later, it’s stood the test of time, even if its origin continues to be the subject of debate.

“The fun part is making it bigger than it is, because everybody wants it to be some amazing story,” McNeal said.

Like the time a crew from Wide World of Sports came to McNeal’s mom’s house looking for Gus Macker.

“They said, ‘We thought Gus would look like Red Auerbach and be a bald guy in a rocking chair with a stogie in his mouth.’ A lot of people have this image,” McNeal said. “I hate to ruin it.”

Hardly.

McNeal, a former social studies and geography teacher, goes through life with a smile on his face and a quick wit that would make any standup comic proud.

Of course, it’s easy to be happy when you make your living from something the rest of the world does for fun in its driveway.

“This thing just took off,” McNeal said. “I took a leave (from teaching) in 1987 and started touring the country.

“My mom kind of shakes her head. She thinks something went wrong with us early in our lives. She doesn’t know exactly what.”

Along the way, McNeal’s tournament has received media coverage from the likes of ABC’s Wide World of Sports, ESPN and Sports Illustrated. It also has its own website, its own newspaper, its own line of clothing — Threads by Gus — and 15 full-time employees.

But beyond the enhanced visibility and technology the Macker has taken on, there is a sense of “community festival” that exists with each tournament, McNeal said.

“It’s probably one of the things that will bring the community together,” he said. “Basketball seems to be the magnet, but there’s a lot of other reasons people come together. It’s a social community festival that really can build not only a good time and a weekend to look forward to, but it also leaves charity dollars for each community we go into.”

ı ı ı

Jamestown first hosted a Gus Macker in 1997, and it was held downtown. Other venues through the years have included Jamestown Community College and Chautauqua Mall. The tournament, held Saturday and Sunday and sponsored by the city as well as Collaborative Children’s Solutions, and partially funded by the Jamestown Local Development Corporation, will take over Harrison Street between Main Street and Foote Avenue.

A confirmed field of 148 teams is expected. Pre-tournament activities, including registration, will be held from 4-7 p.m. today. Music, and food and craft vendors will also be on hand throughout the weekend.

Also of note, Harrison Street will close at noon today and reopen at 6 p.m. Sunday.