GWINN, Mich. (WLUC) – Two hundred and twenty teams have signed up to play in this year’s Gwinn Gus Macker 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament.
Friday was the kick-off for the event. The tournament is normally played outside, but was moved into the Gwinn High School gym because of severe thunderstorms.
The first two games featured the area 36 Special Olympics athletes on one court and first responders at the other. The coordinator for the tournament says it means a lot to the community to host this event.
“It’s one of the biggest events that we have here in Gwinn, and last year it brought in over 7,000 people over the weekend so, the businesses, the hotels, everyone kind of just thrives off of it,” Gwinn Gus Macker Coordinator Jessica Styer said.
The Gus Macker Event Manager travels across the country, setting up tournaments. He says he’s impressed with the community participation.
“I didn’t know what to expect but I’m very impressed with the town and the turnout and it looks like we have a lot of teams, which is pretty impressive because I don’t know how populated the area is but, it looks like they have 220 teams on the weekend which is really great. I think we’ve had a lot of community involvement,” said Gus Macker Basketball Event Manager Marshall Newman.
Newman says the whole mission of the Gus Macker is to celebrate basketball and bring communities together.
“I think more than anything this is a celebration of basketball, a celebration of community, celebration of friendships. You see what kind of ties the community has. I got here at noon and there were already people set up out here and grills going and people working and it really is a community event,” Newman added.
The Gus Macker Tournament continues Saturday and wraps up with championship play on Sunday. This is the 51st year for the traveling tournament.
Copyright 2025 WLUC. All rights reserved.