Hoops for Aaron Basketball Tournament held in Red Lake

On Saturday May 16, 30 teams descended upon the Red Lake Nation to take part in a fundraising event for the Aaron White family. There were teams from Red Lake, Ponemah and Kelliher, Bemidji, Blackduck, several from Leech Lake who had players from as far away as Fon du Lac and Duluth, and 3 teams from as far away as Staples/Motley! The tournament featured elementary, jr hi and high school boys and girls divisions and took place in 4 gyms. Tipoff was scheduled for 9am and the games went on until 7pm! The talent level was impressive at all levels and the gyms were packed with players, fans and families throughout the day. It was really nice to see all these communities come together for this great cause. Also on hand was a full staff of volunteer refs, scorekeepers, T-shirt sales and a 50/50 raffle that saw the winner and Aaron split $1,020! At the end of the day over $3,800 was raised! None of this would've been possible without all the volunteers, players, coaches and fans!

In the elementary division the Leech Lakers took home the title while Native Thunder (Ponemah) finished as the runner up in the boys bracket. Other teams in were Red Lake Elementary Ogichidaag, St. Mary's Mission, Ponemah Flash, and the Lil Warriors. On the girls side RLES 1&2 and St. Mary's played in a round robin format with RLES 1 taking home the championship and St. Mary's as the runner up.

In the middle school division 8 teams faced off in a double elimination bracket. The teams were Red Lake, Red Lake Lady Warriors, Iron 5 (Red Lake team with 5 players), Blackduck, Leech Lake, CLASS, Young Guns (Bemidji), Aftershock (staples/motley) The young guns finished undefeated on the day beating Iron 5 in the championship game.

The high school boys bracket featured 11 very talented teams and some good competitive games. Finishing 3rd was the Leech Lake Chiefs, runners up were Ball Club/Fon du Lac/ Duluth and champions were the Sota Boys, which was a mix of Red Lake and Cass Lake. In the girls side we had two teams who faced of in a best of 3 series with the winner being the Sota Girls over Red Lake.

Each team received individual medals for champions and runner-up, along with a MVP, All-Stars, Hustle and a special trophy named after Aaron called the "Ogichida" award for the individual who displayed sportsmanship on top of playing their hardest, which is how Aaron plays the game.

Special thanks to our volunteers:

Wanda Lyons - Director of RL Detention Dept.

Penny - Thunderbird Graphics

Tim Goose - pine valley trophies

Junior Jourdain - Photo's

Ron Lussier - Humanities

Devon Anderson & Brandon Graves - Boys & Girls Club

Red Lake School Dist. (Use of Gyms)

Barb Stillday, Kay Pemberton, Annie Garrigan, Kristy White, Wendy Pemberton, Dheena English, Pam Needham, Elva Stillday, Ashlyn Charnoski, Starr Kingbird,

Our refs who worked non stop games all day: Gerald Kingbird, Sam Strong, Keveon Kingbird, Donavon May, Matt Graves, Peach Holthusen, Nolan Desjarlait, Ricky Spencer, Ricardo Soloman, Chris Jourdain.

Our scorekeepers: Wes Jourdain, Selena Jourdain, Linda Donnell, Verdell Cook, Rob Beaulieu, Vestanna Cook, Karen White, Jarrett Caldwell, Garrett Caldwell, Kim Pemberton-Kingbird, Darchelle Strong, Bev Pemberton, and all those who purchased shirts, raffle tickets and concessions items! The event was a huge success due to everyone who came together on this lovely day!

Photographs by Chris Jourdain and others.