In the Spring of ’92, Tom Martineau made a decision that would forever effect the future of hoops in Redmond. He decided to dig up the ol’ backyard of his Redmond home and put in a half court. It would have been easy for him to install a standard 10 foot hoop, but no, he put in an adjustable hoop with glass backboard and breakaway rim. And with that decision, a new pastime was born.
Dunk Hoops grew in popularity as the Martineau Boys grew in height. It soon became an after school ritual. If school sports weren’t in season, good weather became synonymous with Dunk Hoops.
The game evolved as the years went on. The game ball changed from a mini basketball, to a youth size, and finally to a regulation women’s or men’s ball. The rules have also mildly changed over the years. In order to add to the excitement of Dunk Hoops, touching the ball upon contact with the rim (international) became legal. For simplicity of scoring, the game was usually played by 1’s and 2’s but players such as John Minish made the 3-ball too dominating, thus changing the scoring system back to 2’s and 3’s.
A significant merger in Dunk Hoops history took place on the 9th grade Redmond High School select basketball team. It was there that Lee Martineau was introduced to Colton Trauter. This was their first formal introduction. They had encountered one another a year earlier when Trauter played for the Bothell High select basketball team. In a game versus Redmond, he gave Martineau a nasty elbow (which he does not recall, maybe because he gave so many) while Martineau was getting scrub time in a 20 point loss (Who does that?)! After uniting to play for the same team, the two put the past behind them and became friends.
During their sophomore year at RHS the two “Godfathers of the Tourney” planned out the original tournament that took place at Trauter’s house in March of 1998. The original “March Madness” Tournament had a $5 a entry fee with all money awarded to the champions. Friendship and competition became the foundation of the annual Redmond Dunk Hoops Tournament that continues to this day.
Upon graduation of High School in Redmond, players went their separate ways. The game of Dunk Hoops followed them in their travels. Dunk Hoops followed Martineau to Western Washington University and the tough treacherous terrain of Cornwall Elementary. Trauter found his way to Arizona State and was often out of town. A new spark in Dunk Hoops was needed.
It was then that a third member of Dunk Hoops management surfaced. Roy Bordner had always been a regular player on the court, but he soon became a pillar of the game in Redmond. He organized games as well as host them at the full court at the Bordner residence. In 2003, he took over Trauter’s duties as co-commissioner and hosted the 6th Annual Dunk Hoops Tournament, the first tournament to consist of full court play.
In 2004, Martineau decided he wanted to use the power of the tourney to generate money for a charitable cause. He had a small savings left after the ’04 tourney and didn’t know where to direct the donation. It was at this time that friend and fellow Redmond High graduate, Mat Brown, coincidentally called Martineau to see if he was interested in joining 3 other friends to create a scholarship fund. It was then that the Echo Community Foundation (www.echocommunityfoundation.org) began with the intent of helping others less fortunate receive a college education. Since 2004 the Redmond Dunk Hoops Tournament and its after-party have been the primary fundraiser for Echo.
The Tournament brings new excitement, emotion, drama, and humor each year. Here are just a few of the countless memorable events of the tourney:
•Tim Lindquist getting his tooth through his lip in 1998.
•The live tourney draft of 1999.
•The “Wet Tourney” of 1999.
•The “soccer boy screw-over” of 1999.
•Yarno’s “missed lay-up heard round the world” in 1999.
•Wyman’s 25 point championship outbreak of 2001.
•Ben Poort snapped tooth and Andy Urquhart stitches of 2002
•First full court tournament at Bordner's in 2003.
•Minish meets the "wall of Bordner" in 2003.
•Tourney begins donations to Echo Community Foundation in 2004.
•McFarland puts up 24 points (six 3-balls) in championship game in 2004.
•Doleac gets playoff game bumped up as he lies to tournament officials regarding outgoing flight. (2004)
•Shea butter gets posterized by a Stephen Martineau tip-jam, email clip is forwarded around the world. (2005)
•Sean Adams busts his head open, quickly gets stitched up, and returns to win the championship. (2005)
•Record high 96 degree weather leads to the hottest dunk hoops tournament on record (2006)
•Roy Bordner’s 89-year old grandma Hannah assists Jeremy Treat in dunk contest and then decides she’s going to score a hoop herself. Unanimous crowd voting by applause gives Hanna the dunk contest title. (2006)
•Stephen Martineau shocks crowd with an amazing leap-frog dunk over Kevin Shea. Brother Lee Martineau amazes crowd by not clearing a chair and eatting grass on his approach from the crowd on his dunk. (2006)
•The first ever dunk hoops SHUTOUT as Mike Brandt, John Minish and Ben Poort defeat Roy Bordner, Ian Smith and Hamid Yazarlou 21-0 in round robin play (2009).
•Jeremy Treat coming up short of a championship (ongoing).