Rising From The Asphalt Volunteers Work Through Night To Transform Streets Into Courts

A word to Kris Martin: avoid the prognosticating business.

At least when it comes to foretelling how long it takes to lay down tape for the world’s largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament.

Friday night, Martin was way off.

As were most of his teammates from University High’s 4A state champion cross country squad.

This was Martin’s bold statement as his Titans taping crew prepared to get under way, slapping down tape for Hoopfest ‘98 just before 10 p.m.:

“Seven minutes for 18 courts,” Martin declared as his surrounding clan just laughed and cheered him on. “Roughly 11 seconds on each one. The cross country team has the skills to endeavor the workload ahead for the velocity of the philosophy of Hoopfest.”

What was that?

“Don’t trust this one,” said Titans coach Bob Barbero.

“He comes in and out of reality all the time.”

Good call, coach.

Barbero was a little more realistic.

“With this crew, we’ll be lucky to get done tonight,” he said.

Taping chief organizer Paul Danelo officially clocked the Titans as the No. 9 finisher out of 17 taping groups, each made up of seven or eight people. U-Hi turned in its radio and grocery cart of supplies at 11:45.

A trapezoid where Riverside meets Monroe slowed them down, said Barbero, a math teacher.

But with 10 athletes going at once, the Titans completed their last court in an impressive 53 seconds.

Not bad for a first go, guys.

“This is a school-to-work transition,” Barbero said. “It’s to get them in the streets, the real world.”

And thinking straight, perhaps? Fat chance.

Nathan Braid, U-Hi’s drum major and junior class president, teamed with former trumpet player Mike Hawkins to make instruments of the white plastic tubing device used to mark the courts.

They played a unique tune and named it “The D Bop Du Won.” Don’t ask.

Much of the downtown miracle transformation starts around 9 p.m. or a little after. That’s when Danelo does his taping demo, then sends the troops on their way.

9:50: The street barricading begins.

With the start of setup comes new rules for the road. Green lights and red lights no longer have significance. Sidewalks are transformed into roads if need be, because there must be a way to maneuver. Driving over curbs isn’t a big deal.

“I just find a way to get where I want to go,” Danelo says.

10:04: Dan Imler, who slept 3 hours in a nearby parking lot to rest up, is on his stomach taping under a car when the vehicle’s alarm sounds. This is a first for the second-year crew, headed by Danelo’s wife, Melissa.

Melissa’s crew is made up mostly of special education administrators and teachers from the Valley. Dan’s sister, Becky Imler, wears yellow rubber gloves to avoid chipping a fingernail.

“It’s really neat to see the community come together,” says Melissa Danelo. “It’s amazing to see it happen. It’s like clockwork.”

10:40: Paul Danelo is called on the radio, the other end wondering where to start planting hoops. Danelo sends him to three courts on Monroe and Riverside. Four six-person crews from the Airway Heights Corrections Center help with much of the hoop setup. It’s a community service project for the minimum security inmates.

“Buen ejercicio,” says inmate Alfredo Sanchez, 28. Good exercise.

Hoops have begun popping up the last 10 minutes.

11: Tournament founder Rick Betts is “just officially cruising for major emergencies.” None so far.

11:05: The Pjammas of Missoula, otherwise known as Jason Reimer, Aaron Hill and Mark Glidewell, are holding a practice on a court that’s just gone up at the corner of Monroe and Sprague. It’s a tradition to practice on their court on the eve of Hoopfest. Yet this isn’t their court. Theirs isn’t up yet. But 15 minutes later the team has moved to its court.

Many participants shoot into the wee hours on the court they’ll compete on the next day. Some play all night, but most are injected with some sense and leave to get a little sleep before early morning games.

12:35: Danelo is just about done. He was shooting for midnight, but this is an improvement from last year, when he finished at 4 a.m. after having to re-tape a bunch of courts. He’ll return around 5:30 a.m. to walk over each court to make any last-minute fixes.

He sends out a special thanks to 1998 Central Valley graduate John Knuth, who took his pre-calculus class. Knuth is responsible for the new template used to mark the key. He received extra credit for the design, which included attaching a tarp to plastic tubing. The tarp is held steady and tape placed around its corners. It’s a timesaver.

12:45: The media court on Spokane Falls Boulevard is nearing completion. Jack Cosby is the Spokane-based dealer for Sport Court, which is used on the two feature courts. This is his second year dedicating time at Hoopfest. It takes Cosby and crew 2 hours to complete Center Court and another 2 for the media court. Each court uses 2,310 red, purple and black plastic tiles that are snapped together on top of the street.

1 a.m.: Merchandise tents are being set up and people are still shooting.

4:40: Whew! Everything’s coming together, says operations manager Aaron Magner. “We’re just getting ready for a little event,” he says while scurrying away with face pads for the poles connected to the hoops and tape for the contest courts. More than 7 miles of tape have been put down through the night. Magner is a couple hours ahead of schedule.

5:08: Time for the annual cleaning of the backboard on Center Court and the infamous game of H.O.R.S.E. as the sun comes up. The contest gets shortened to P.I.G. because nobody can hit a thing at this hour. Paul Anderson, 19, who’s been up two nights straight, wins it with a 3-point swish.

Reserve Spokane police officers patrolling on bicycles reported that three men were caught climbing on the Old Post Street Bridge in Riverfront Park, and they had a false alarm about a gang fight rumored to be set for midnight in the park. There also was the job of picking up hundreds of 2-by-1-inch papers with racial overtones on Wall Street.

The courts are ready. Tipoff is scheduled for 8.

1. DID YOU KNOW? The 1998 edition of Hoopfest features more than 18,000 players. Hoopfest turned away more than 300 teams that failed to meet the guaranteed entry deadline.

2. POST STREET YIELDS NO NIGHTMARES IN ‘98 The 1997 set-up disaster was at Post Street. A new addition to Hoopfest a year ago, the curve of the street and a bridge made for a nightmare. What should have been about a 2-hour ordeal of laying down the tape for 292 courts turned into a more than 6-hour marathon for taping chief Paul Danelo, now in his third year as tapemaster. Greg Boltjes, a rookie crew head back then, and his crew re-taped half the courts only to have them torn down and done yet a third time by Danelo, teacher and wrestling coach at Central Valley. It’s a new tournament now. And this time Post Street’s 18 courts came together without a hitch. The spacing was better and the crew a year more experienced. -Janie McCauley