Hoopa tribal basketball tourney brings excitement, talent from across country
Friday through Sunday, Hoopa's Mattz Gym played host to the 63rd Annual All Indian Basketball Tournament, a showcase for traveling basketball squads with myriad professional and amateur experiences and a chance to grow community and stimulate local economy for the Hoopa Tribe.
Nearly a dozen teams from throughout the country took part in the tourney, which had a $10,000 prize for first place, $5,000 for second, $2,500 for third, and $700 for fourth-place. Prize jackets were also given away to the players.
Tribal membership or decendence was required to take part in the competition.
Current and past Hoopa High basketball head coach Inker McCovey was one of the organizing forces of the event, and took over his duties four years ago. "The quality of players who've been coming for quite some time, some guys pro-am, a lot of Native American players, this is what they do," he said. "They travel all over the country competing in these money tournaments, which is how they get their revenue. They put some really good teams together."
The last tournament preceding this one was the "Battle of the Nations" in Spokane, Washington, with 84 teams, which required competitors to be from the tribe they're playing for. The Hoopa tournament combined different players from different teams, Division I and Division II, some professional.
"The quality of basketball there is very high," said McCovey.
Buffalo Nation out of New York took this year's tournament title and Nate Kingz from the Nalato Tribe was named Most Valuable Player, currently playing for Syracuse University. Trayson Eaglestaff, another participant, was a player for West Virginia. Ronnie Battle, an older competitor, brought pro-am and Mexican League experience, also having played overseas. One of his close friends and workout partner is NBA star Ja Morant. A couple 7-footers played for Fastbreak Warriors from Oklahoma.
McCovey himself won the tournament three times as a player in the '70s-'80s, and has many ex-players participate, especially recently graduated high school seniors. The team McCovey organized specifically for this year's tilt, the local Buckeyes, went 2-2. FLA participated out of Florida, and there were two teams from that state, the New York squad, one from Wyoming, South Dakota, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, and California.
As to how the community benefited from the action and the camaraderie and the basketball, McCovey said, "The kids get to come watch a high quality of players, sometimes they think they're the best players in the world and then they come and watch these guys play. They're like, ‘Oh my god, these guys are on a different level altogether.' Which is good for the youth. Next year, some of these guys are actually going to come back and do a camp for me because they want to do something for the community. Overall, it brings the community together," he added, wishing in retrospect that the motel offerings locally were more accommodating, saying "it overall helps the community and making money for our economy there."
Some of McCovey's graduating seniors formed a team, as did a squad of local grads from McKinleyville who McCovey said got "humbled really good," matching up in the opening round against Buffalo Nation. He acknowledged the Panthers had a very good team this year in high school play, but they were up against some stiff competition.
McCovey especially touted the "elevation" present from competitors, with several alley-oop plays or 360-degree slam dunks.
"Even the officials said it's like a high-level college game," said McCovey. "I think it's good for not only the community but the kids seeing high-quality players, and maybe some of the people from Eureka can come out and watch and even help with the tournament," he said of planning for the 64th annual that is already recruiting for volunteers. Next year, traditional dancers will be incorporated in the proceedings.
Adrian Villegas, the Hoopa Valley Tribe's spokesperson, said there were positives from the tournament.
"The quality of the players that were there, it was very entertaining for everybody, I believe," he said. "It was a fun thing to watch over the weekend, something to do, enjoy some basketball and the competitiveness of the tournament. It was fun, but also competitive, which was good to see, with really high-level players."
"I'm looking forward to next year's tournament," he said.
From the Tribe's perspective on how the tournament has gained a reputation to allow it to attract such worthy competition, Villegas said, "Connection throughout the year. This tournament has been going on so long and has been part of the community. (Those) built throughout each tournament, people are able to reach out and invite new teams to come and compete. Some teams have consistently come, and over time, people connecting and playing against each other, talking about the tournament leads to more people coming and competing."
He added that the sport has a long local tradition.
"Basketball is a big part of everybody's life here, so it's really important to continue tournaments like this. It turned out to be a really good event."
Ken McCanless can be reached at 707-441-0526.
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