Just For The Fun Of It

With just a few days left before our Awards Banquet and Hot Dog Feast on March 3rd, we conclude our Trophy Origins series with a look at the Carm Londry Trophy.

Awarded to the player in each Division that “Best shares the ball with teammates” .

First presented in 2009, the award was the brainchild of local businessman and long time Biddy Division coach Carm Londry, and was inspired by Greg Faulkner, a player on his team who later played Canadian University basketball and professionally in Europe. He wanted to have us recognize the contributions of the unselfish playmakers in the league with this award.

Carm was a kind and caring man, who passed away in 2011, leaving behind this reminder of the kind of player and coach he was in his life.

Results of the Last Game of the Season Played February 27, 2024

Tarheels 28 (Nathaniel Tilley 20, Connor Warren 6, Jace Menard 2); Hoosiers 14 (Hudson Mercer 6, Owen Morris-Pocock 2, Colt Denison 2, Miles Olner 2, Lennox Denison 2)

Hoyas 36 (Grayden McMillan 11, Corson Hull 8, Sylas Vickery 4, Otto Bailey 3, Max Zeltser 2, Leyton Locke 2, Callum Petras 2, Wyatt Petras 2, Chris Mills 2); Mustangs 32 (Sebastian Romeo-Matthews 20, Morrie Mignault 6, William Huddle 4, James Gowsell 2)

Huskies 24 (Ben Arnold 8, Felix Arnold 6, Benson BreckenRidge 4, Cameron Shibley 2, Davi Castro 2, Daniel Smith 2); Wolfpack 14 (John Allen 8, Emmett Grant 4, Maveric DaSilva-Cobb 2)

Jayhawks 27 (Wynton Fishers 15, Blake Thomas 10, Gabe Svensson 2); Wildcats 25 (Parker Heyman 14, Avery O’Connor 5, Cassius Heighing 4, Sawyer Rix 2)

Today we review the history behind the Tony Pettitt Award, a trophy you will see presented at the Awards Banquet on March 3rd.

Through this series of explanations we have attempted to give you some background about the people the awards are named after, and donated in memory of.

This award, established in 2007, is given annually to “A non -coaching adult volunteer” that contributes to the league success. Tony had a daughter, Trish McAuley that was involved in the league as a member of our executive, as was her husband Greg and Tony had grandchildren playing in the league too. He became a fixture on the score clock on game nights, but it was at the banquet, however, that his “free spirit” shone through the brightest.

Always there for the pre-banquet set up, on banquet day Tony would patrol the hall with a box of chips doing his best ball park vendor imitation tossing bags to the outstretched hands of players calling for more, and laughing the whole time he was flicking his wrist to send another bag flying. Dave Noble , who still volunteers, was the first recipient of this very special recognition of people that do what they can to make the league work on a regular basis.

Results of Games Played Monday February 26, 2024 LAST NIGHT OF SEASON

Hawks 56 (Jamie Deak 5, Mason Beleza 4, Cooper Broome 5, Misha van Anders 7, William Kerr 10, Jericho Bridgen 6, Aidan Murphy 9, Kyle Feeney 2, Joshua Romero Brown 4, Cash Cameron 2); Bulls 55 (Michael Hanson 18, Colton Irwin 2, Jack O’Connor Wordley 2, Colton Olner 5, Graham Henry 6, Sasha Wheeler Dee 22)

Celtics 51 (Luke Van Der Pryt 6, Lucas Woodman 2, Parker Hollywood 4, Carsen Livingstone 6, JJ Stotz 13, Simon Drumm 6, Graham Hinch 6, Santiago Zamora 6, Bode Splinter 2); Heat 45 (Parker Haynes 2, Warren Cosgrove 2, Ryan Kyle 12, Matthew Edmunds 2, Aiden Rooyakkers 2, Coby Yonick-Mundacruz 4, Ryder Bailey 8, Theo Sothman 5, Niall Fogels 2, Jacob Bell 6)

Warriors 61 (Dylan Sutton 4, Noah Heisterkamp 24, Riley Garrett 2, Patrick Lloyd 2, Ben Lloyd 2, Memphis Drew 5, Preston Weaver 4, Nathan Lamothe 4, Pierce Carr-Harris 11, Otis Fairley 3); Sixers 49 (Bacher Abdoulhafize 6, Darren Fernandes 16, Chase Leonardo 13, Oliver Hofaster-Chester 10, Nathan Orr 4)

With just a few days to go before our year end Awards Banquet and Hot Dog Feast, we continue our look at the history behind the league trophies that you will see presented at that event, with The Don “Pete” Petersen Award.

This award, formerly The President’s Award, was renamed in 2017 following Don’s passing and is given to “The individual from each division rendering the greatest and most faithful service to the general good of the league.”

Don Petersen founded our program in 1955 as a 17 year old caretaker at St. Pat’s school to give the children in the neighbourhood a safe place to play and learn our game. He was a selfless man of deep faith that spent his life committed to this league, and was a mentor to many of us involved. This award recognizes some of our volunteers that demonstrate those same qualities lived by Don. It is a high honour for our volunteers to be recognized with this award named after a very special man.

Yesterday we received a VERY generous donation from St. Joseph’s Parish in support of our program. Our thanks to the parish leadership for believing in what we do for the children in our community. Your donation will go directly to making a difference in the lives of our players and their families.

Results of the last games of the Season Played Monday February 26, 2024

Jazz 42 (Hudson Murray 12, Rueben Collins 10, Heath Coombes 7, Keegan Roberts 6, Tahjae Daly 3, Mason Campbell 2, Lucas Valente 2); Raptors 23 (Dylan Morris 9, Koen Walmsley 9, Lincoln Locke 5)

Magic 43 (Russell Koopman 10, Levi Vanyolai 8, Miles Cahill 8, Logan Hollywood 7, Moxen Drew 4, Connor Broeders 2, Reed Gauthier 2, Chris Couture 2); Orange 39 (Landon Moreland 14, Alex Bridgen 8, Grey Malinowski 8, Carter MacKenzie 5, Liam Baird 2, Seth Thompson 2)

Spurs 25 (Liam Kirkpatrick 6, Eli Sothmann 5, Ashton Vivian 4, Kolton Buscaino 4, Reid Davis 4, Keoni Larson 2); Grizzlies 13 (Nathan Morrison 4, Eddie McNutt-Brown 3, Noah Bedard 2, Myles Weaver 2, Jaden Huganas 2)

Suns 25 (Charlie Bellemare 9, Jake Shibley 4, Tyler Tadeu 4, Elvis Fisher 2, James McCarthy 2, Harland Armstrong 2, Oliver Moreland 2); Nuggets 23 (Dylan Johnston 15, Jacob Piat 4, Charlie Harnden 2, George Spiridakis 2)

Today we talk about the origins of the Trinity VanHeddegem Memorial Award.

First awarded after the 2014-15 season, this award is given to recognize the Little Gals Division Rookie of the Year. The award was established by the family of Trinity following her sudden and tragic passing during the first year she played in the league. It had been her dream to be part of the year end slide show but she never got the chance to see her photo on the big screen.

The “TVH” memorial patches on the Golden Gals uniforms – her team- are another recognition of a little girl gone too soon.

We continue our look at the origins of some of the trophies that you will see presented at that event with The Lenny Falcoa, Team of the Year Award. The description below from the league 50th Anniversary history book tells the story well.


“The Lenny Falcoa Award (Team of the Year) Award is given out annually to the team that best demonstrates the values of the league – sportsmanship, fair play and teamwork, but where does the name come from? Lenny Falcoa had a disability that prevented him from being an active participant in the league as his brother was. The family appreciated what our programme represented and would often bring Lenny down to games to watch the activities. In appreciation of the enjoyment that the game gave to their family, they donated the trophy that bears Lenny Falcoa’s name as a lasting tribute, and as a gift to the league that he was not able to participate in.”

Today we continue our look at the origins of the trophies that you will see presented at the banquet on March 3rd with the story behind the Gerry Besselink Award.

Along with the description below, taken from the league 50th Anniversary History Book, you should know that Gerry was a player in the league along with his siblings, who lived in the neighbourhood – Pete’s neighbourhood- around St. Pat’s school. The school where the league began. After a very successful high school career at Regiopolis and KCVI, Gerry was awarded a basketball scholarship at the University of Connecticut where he had an exceptional NCAA career as well playing for the Huskies. The Huskies in the Little Guys Division were added because of Gerry’s connection to that NCAA team. Gerry went on to have a great professional career in Europe, where he still lives with his family.

The Gerry Besselink Award

This award, established by Gerry in 1992, is presented annually to the player or individual that “demonstrates effort, respect and dedication to the league”. Gerry continues to have a fond place in his heart for the league and in particular for Don Petersen, a solid supporter throughout Gerry’s basketball career. Each year a member of Gerry’s family is invited to the banquet to present the award on his behalf. Gerry’s sister Mary Jane will do the honour this year.