Post date: Dec 29, 2011 5:23:59 PM
PAUL DANZER Columbian staff writer
July 11, 2006
Columbian Newspaper, Vancouver, WA - www.Columbian.com
No big deal, really.
Sure, Tyler Tugaw missed a break-away slam dunk, throwing the basketball off the back iron and falling to the court.
"I panicked," he said, explaining how a highlight basket turned into a humbling landing.
The good news for Tugaw: His big miss happened on a court tucked away in the Hockinson area, just one of countless shots taken on a warm summer Saturday.
The bad news for Tugaw: His can't-miss miss came on a day made for dunking. And there were witnesses.
Plenty of them.
"The spotlight was on me, and I didn't concentrate," Tugaw explained.
More than 100 people surrounded the small court at the home of Greg and Lisa Klodt, where the third Clark County Dunk Hoops Invitational was played on Saturday.
The tournament was born two summers ago when a pair of hoops-lovin' Prairie High grads decided a dunk tournament was a good way to keep in touch with friends.
Luke LeCount and Matt Larson gathered some of their basketball buddies for a tournament where even the small guys can dream big.
LeCount and Larson dreamed of a tournament for old high school buddies. They quickly expanded the list of invitees to college friends and friends of friends. Saturday's one-day Slam-a-ganza featured 16 four-player teams, and included former Greater St. Helens League hoopsters, along with friends of the founders from high school and college.
"We had no idea it would turn into something this big," Lisa Klodt said. She was smiling as she surveyed the scene in her yard, where teams from Prosser, Gig Harbor, Redmond, Wash., and Albany, Ore., were among those creating the highlights.
The Klodt's court is approximately 60 feet long. For this event, the rims stood 8 feet, 9 inches off the ground. "Short enough that little guys can dunk, but not so low that tall guys can stand and dunk," Larson explained.
The rules -- goaltending is allowed against shots from inside the key -- are designed to encourage highlight-type plays.
There are trophies, an all-tournament team and most valuable player. The Star Spangled Banner was played before the tournament tipped off at 9 a.m., a touch that impressed Lee Martineau.
Martineau runs a similar tournament exclusively for Redmond High graduates. This was the second year he's been invited to bring a team to Hockinson.
Martineau has a Web page -- www.dunkhoops.org -- devoted to promoting the fun-first brand of basketball. He said Larson and LeCount have taken dunk hoops to another level with their all-star teams, hall of fame and playing of the national anthem.
"Every year, it's something new," Martineau said.
Larson added something new to the experience this year: he played for the winning team for the first time.
Larson, Marty Reid, Eric Fiegi, and Jeff Dunn, who all played basketball at Western Baptist (now Corban College) in Salem, called themselves the Ball Hogs. In the championship game, the Ball Hogs got the best of the Bayside Tigers, another team of former Western Baptist players and the defending champs who took their name from the high school in the TV show "Saved By the Bell."
For the record, Dunn was named tournament MVP, and Fiegi repeated as slam dunk champion. The all-tournament team included former Prairie High player Devin Uskoski. Another former Prairie player, David Winters, and former Washougal player Ron Wideman were among those earning honorable mention for their play Saturday. The slam-dunk champion was defending champion Eric Fiegi.
Larson and LeCount plan to hold their tournament annually as long as they have a place to play. But they also dream of staging a bigger event -- perhaps in the parking lot of a mall -- so they don't have to turn any Dunk-lovers away.
On Saturday, Tugaw was wearing his championship T-shirt from the inaugural Clark County Dunk Hoops Invitational in 2004. He was quick to credit the play of Patrick Oury, a former Prairie all-GSHL player, for carrying himself, Reed Newcomer, and Nik Raivio to the 2004 title.
But it wasn't the T-shirts or the braggin' rights that brought Tugaw to the court on Saturday. It was a chance to play purely for the pleasure of it, in an environment more laid back than your average pick-up game. "These guys, they all enjoy the game. But it's not as serious here," Tugaw said. "It's a nice change."
As for strategy, Tugaw kept it simple: "Just go out and have fun."
In this setting, having fun looked like a slam dunk.
Paul Danzer covers community sports for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-759-8020 or e-mail paul.danzer@columbian.com