Hoopfest Grows Up In Hurry 17,763 Players On 4,524 Teams Have Tourney Directors Thinking Big

Up 621 teams from last year’s record registration, Hoopfest is bigger than ever.

It’s Rick Steltenpohl’s job to make the city’s annual 3-on-3 street basketball tournament better than ever.

Just a week and a half before the first brick is hoisted, Steltenpohl is confident of another success.

“We think it’ll be the best event we’ve ever had,” Steltenpohl said Wednesday. “One indication is the competition in the men’s open division. I don’t think it’s ever been stronger.”

For the record, Hoopfest is 17,763 players on 4,524 teams in 284 brackets. The event filled on May 17. Some 250 teams who registered after the May 9 guaranteed entry deadline were turned away, Steltenpohl said.

Last year’s championship team returns, now sponsored by Bayou Brewery.

Jackie Jones, a 6-8 veteran of the CBA, is back with team captain Clyde Woullard, former Whitworth star Kevin Smith and Jackie Johnson.

That team also won the Portland Hoop It Up and went on to the 3-on-3 world finals in Venice Beach, Calif., said Steltenpohl, Hoopfest executive director.

Bayou Brewery will have plenty of size to contend with in Eastern Washington University alums Melvin Lewis, Curtis Porter, Craig Stinnette and Antwan Miller.

Size is hard to come by. Lewis, listed at 6-9, is also registered in a different Open Division bracket on a team with ex-Eastern standouts Dmitri Rideout and Dana Adams.

If Jones was the most effective post player last year, the most entertaining player was Ronn McMahon, ex-Eastern Washington University point guard who teams with ex-Eagles Greg Olson, John Garrison and David Clark.

Shann Ferch, from Montana State and Pepperdine, will play with NBC Thunder Old Boys.

Another contender is Team State Farm with David Christy, Brian Kasbar, Aaron Smith and Jon Bergmeier. That team won it two years ago.

Luke Egan, who started at Eastern this year, is registered. So is ex-WSU Cougar shooting guard Chris Winkler, who returns with Rock ‘n Fire teammates Tony Beo, Heath Dolven and Terry Ross.

Milford Hodge, 36, an all-Pac-10 defensive lineman at Washington State in the 1980s who played with the NFL’s New England Patriots, is teamed with former Cougar basketball starter Herb Delaney.

The creativity of team names seems to be on a record pace. A couple of grabbers are “A Waste of $80”, a reference to the entry fee, and “Somebody Rebound!” Player packets are available Friday, June 27, from 10 a.m. to 7:30 at the Gondola Meadows area of Riverfront Park. Packets will also be handed out Saturday starting at 7 a.m.

Games begin Saturday morning, June 28, at 8.

About 25 additional court monitors were needed as of Wednesday. The Hoopfest number is 624-2414.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Online Friday: Check out your Hoopfest team profile and that of your opponents on Virtually Northwest, the online service of The Spokesman-Review. You can find out which teams you’ll be playing, the names of each player, how tall they are and a wealth of other statistical information. Point your internet browser to: www.virtuallynw.com.